Trauma and Recovery
Many people who start therapy may not identify as a survivor but they do know they struggle in areas of life where others seem to have it all worked out.
I help clients understand how their nervous systems and attachment systems protected them in the past and how those same defenses may be getting in the way today. Together, we’ll unpack present day challenges to see the coping structures hidden underneath, loosen and process stuck emotions, and work on building distress tolerance so triggering events are easier to navigate.
Working at your pace, I help people befriend their bodies, brains, and emotions, supporting them to build on their own unique strengths, patterns of growth and emotional survival skills to enhance and build self-awareness and self-regulation to lessen their overall feelings of distress.
Relationships, Sex, Gender, and Sexuality
I work with clients to understand their attachment reactions, family cultures, and intergenerational patterns of relating that may be influencing the quality of their relationships in the present, focusing on enhancing self-awareness and exploring strategies for bringing your best self to your relationships.
I support clients who are exploring or questioning their sexuality, who are overcoming sexual traumas, or who are navigating the world as a sexual minority by virtue of who or how they choose to express romantic or sexual attraction. I am sex-positive and kink-affirming, and welcome frank discussions with people who want to fully express themselves through power dynamics or BDSM practices in emotionally and psychologically safe relationships. I am affirming and welcoming of clients who provide sex work.
Gender expression and expansion is at the heart of my lived experience as a trans man and I welcome clients who are seeking support in exploring their gender, who are navigating social or medical transition, or changing sexual identities and practices as they move towards a fully integrated self.
Life Transitions, Loss and Change
Change can come through illness, death, entering or ending relationships, or changing roles or identities. Adjusting to the loss of a loved one, a support system, or facing a life-limiting diagnosis can be paralyzing. I help clients navigate the anxiety and grief embedded in times of transition and offer an anchor of support during the rough seas of change.
I welcome fellow gender-expansive clients whose bodies and gender presentation may not yet be in alignment with their experience of gender, who are exploring their gender expression or transition, or who are navigating the challenges of life as a trans, nonbinary, genderfluid or genderful human.
I am experienced supporting clients with chronic or terminal illness, including those seeking Medical Assistance in Dying or MAID, supporting seniors and their caregivers in long term care settings, and people who live with chronic psychiatric symptoms and struggle with chronic or episodic suicidality. I offer a safe space to explore the joys, griefs, and mystery in the liminal spaces.
Mental Health and Substance Use Management
I work with individuals who carry major mental illness diagnoses who would like to add insight-oriented psychotherapy to their treatment regime. I am familiar and comfortable working with clients who have or are still experiencing psychosis, mania, anxiety, depression, dissociation and other psychiatric symptoms.
I work with clients to explore inherited and traumagenic origins of the development of mental illness and addiction, focusing on establishing trust, supporting stability with symptoms and function, and exploring a client’s unique life experiences that may underpin or aggravate day-to-day symptoms.
I support clients in active recovery from substance use and behavioural addictions, as well as those in active use that are seeking support to moderate their use or are working towards sobriety. I work with clients to explore the roots of addiction and support them to find the right combination of treatment, psychoeducation, and self-awareness to find stability and safety with themself, repair relationships with self and loved ones, and work towards a future worth fighting for.
Eli Hood, Registered Psychotherapist (RP) 