Diverse Roots Therapy

103 Ochterloney St, Dartmouth, NS B2Y 1C6
3790 NS-201, Bridgetown, NS B0S 1C0
admin@diverserootstherapy.com
902-593-0753

types of therapy

We are currently offering four types of therapy! 

Individual

Focus on your own needs and growth with a therapist in a one-on-one setting.

Couples/Polycules

Bring your partner(s) to therapy! Focus on your attachment styles and improve communication to foster growth and connectedness. We offer 50 minute or 80 minute sessions – talk to your therapist if you would like to have longer or shorter sessions!

Family

Family dynamics can be hard to navigate, especially when queer identity is thrown into the mix. Come get support in communicating with your parents, caregivers, children, family members, chosen family, etc!

Groups

We are currently running three therapy groups!

1. Transgender and Gender Diverse Support Group with Alexa and Damian

2. Grief & Queer Joy with Chalace and Kartik

3. Non-Monogamy for Newbies with Heather and Emily

Please reach out to us if you are interested in joining any of our groups or if you have ideas for other groups/topics that could be helpful to you or the community!

Approaches

We all have integrative counselling approaches at Diverse Roots but we mainly use the following four approaches as well as mindfulness techniques. Our students and therapists working at the practice each have their own individual approaches, which aids all of us in learning from each other. 

Psychodynamic

The psychodynamic model is one in which problems are seen as existing within the context of the self and relationships that have been influential from birth until the present moment and the underlying patterns that these relationships and issues live in. 

Queer-Affirmative

This model focuses on having individuals of any sexual orientation or gender identity work toward self-acceptance and deeper understanding in an entirely non-judgmental environment. 

Trauma-Informed

Trauma, whether acute or chronic, may have impacted your life and functioning and we can help you determine which existing and new resources you could have, find ways to process the trauma itself and cope with the potentially lasting effects.

Person-Centered Therapy

This approach focuses on the client as the expert of their own life and values the client’s autonomy and strength first and foremost, with the therapist playing a supportive role to help clients achieve their goals and work towards healing in a humanistic, non-directive way.

What all of this means in a more practical, less clinical sense, is that we look at the individual as a whole but also interpersonally and systemically. We can look at the patterns that you feel are no longer working for you, try to find their root causes and then work to replace them with more adaptive ways of functioning. 

We work mainly with adults but also work with some adolescents. Erica Baker-Gagnon and Alexa Morash see couples/people for relationship counselling (including polycules or those with diverse relationship structures). The rest of our therapists do not see couples or families on a regular basis but are happy to bring partners and/or family members (either chosen or biological) in temporarily as it is clinically relevant to do so.

We all regularly attend conferences and workshops to continue our professional development/education and to better serve our clients with an empirically-based, up-to-date and integrative approach to therapy.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of some issues that we can help you with:

  • Anxiety
  • Stress
  • Depression
  • Mood disorders
  • Personality disorders
  • Issues around sex
  • Relationship issues (communication, etc.)
  • Self-esteem
  • Questions around sexuality (exploration, internalized homophobia, etc.)
  • Questions around gender (exploration, internalized transphobia, etc.)
  • PTSD, C-PTSD and trauma
  • Substance issues
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Parenting
  • Chronic illness or pain
  • Racial identity/systemic racism
  • Self-harm