Wrapping Up the Year. Preparing for What’s Next.

 

For most people, the end of a year is a meaningful time. I often take time to pause from the busyness of my days to reflect and look back on the journey I travelled. As a nature lover, I enjoy contemplating the transition from fall to winter and imagine the road ahead when spring and summer come.

In this blog, I want to share some of this year’s key points about our team and the services we offer.

Fun facts about our team:

How did we spend our spare time after work and family responsibilities are done? In 2024, we explored new skills and engaged in playful activities, which we plan to continue in the new year. These include painting, drawing, personal story writing, playwriting, flower and plant arranging, weight lifting, and joining a group focused on walking and community connections, to mention a few.

Participating in activities outside of our routine and meeting new, like-minded people are excellent ways to maintain good mental health and spiritual and physical well-being. As therapists, we must dedicate time to self-care, personal development, learning new skills, cultivating relationships, and playfulness. This way, we can offer our best to serve our clients without abandoning our mental health or risking burnout.

Closing chapters, opening new doors:

Transitions offer a unique opportunity for transformation. They sometimes involve grief, as something is left behind as we move forward. However, the end of cycles are also opportunities to celebrate gains, reflect on how we carried ourselves through the challenges we faced, and set our sights on new goals and perhaps new values and purposes. As we close one chapter and prepare to open another, we can consider the possibilities that come with a fresh start.

Before winter, we can observe the trees shedding and dropping brightly coloured leaves to the ground. Change and adaptation—everything changes all the time. Once the leaves land on the ground, they nourish the soil and give refuge to the diversity of bugs surviving the cold weather. Trees shed their leaves to ensure their long-term survival and growth. Everything is interconnected! That is how, like in nature, we are meant to rely on each other to survive the winters of our lives. Like in nature, relationships and intimate connection involve relying on each other’s desire to offer refuge in times of need for security and learning to let go to allow growth.

Some of our changes and accomplishments of 2024.

A new member of the team is Lisa Bynoe-Stevens. Following her heart, Lisa became passionate about dedicating her work to supporting couples in different relationship stages. She started her psychotherapy practice in 2007 after completing her Masters Degree. Lisa has a warm, thoughtful presence and brings a down-to-earth approach to therapy. Lisa’s areas of work are:

• Premarital Couple Enrichment
• Communication skills, especially in conflict
• Post-affair
• Blended Families
• Interracial Couples
• Cross-Cultural Couples
• Arranged marital challenges

New services: Mental Health Support and Counselling for Men. It is vital to support young and adult men in addressing their mental health issues and leading more fulfilling lives. Clients’ responses and interest in these services continue to evolve and grow! We are honoured to be available to support men’s mental health, life transitions, and relationship issues. Brent Jarden brings a warm and empathetic attitude to the sessions and focuses on identifying the client’s strengths and resilience.

Two of our highly specialized services continuing to grow are sex therapy and ethical non-monogamy relationships. Sex plays a role in increasing intimacy and connection between romantic partners. Whether we are in a committed relationship or not, sex is vital in our lifelong development as it influences many aspects of life.

We identify as affirming therapists and embrace our clients’ identities. Jennifer Gratzfeld values inclusivity and diversity. She provides an affirming, embracing, and celebratory mental health and sex therapy environment.

One development that particularly excited me was that psychotherapy services have been exempt from HST/GST since June 2024. One of the year’s big highlights was communicating to some clients that the tax exemption would reduce therapy fees by 13%. This accomplishment resulted from the thousands of people who signed a petition to the Minister of Finances.

Rewarding facts: We are pleased to say that our client retention averages 85%. This indicates that the quality of our services offers significant, trustworthy, and consistent value to the people seeking individual, couples, and family therapy from us. We are very grateful to contribute to their mental health and relational and emotional well-being.