Tara Geraghty-Ellis

I come to this work with a BA in Psychology from York University in Toronto and a Bachelor and Masters degree in Social Work from Dalhousie University in Halifax. Since graduating I have worked in Employee Assistance Programs, in hospitals, CAMH, immigrant services, disability services and welfare services.

I was drawn to counselling because I empathize and work well with people who struggle. My personal journey has been one of health challenges that I have met and mostly managed to deal with nicely with perseverance. My therapeutic philosophy is that people respond uniquely to different interventions dependent on their individual characters, the situation at hand, and the rapport developed with the counsellor. That said, my preferred modality is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy because it focuses on looking at the individual's emotional state, the thoughts that led to and flow from those emotion, the actions that are prompted by those emotions and the results they garner. If you alter one of those variable you can alter the whole sequence. It really is quite amazing.

That's why my primary goal is to get to know the clients' and their pain, and use a variety of methods to address their needs until we find the ones that resonate with them. If we know myself and the clients will be working together for a series of sessions I also like to have them articulate their goal and co-create the path we will follow in reaching that goal.. I'm a proponent of leaving clients with ideas and tasks to engage in between sessions to the progress is maintained and they build a sense of their own power.

I see myself as an ally in my clients' journey toward self-healing. I bring my experience and expertise, but they are the masters of their lives. I am here to support them as long as they are committed to doing their work.