"Perhaps you can pinpoint the exact event when things changed, or perhaps the changes happened over time. Either way, you feel stuck, alone or like you don’t know who you are anymore. You constantly feel overwhelmed and you find yourself unable to focus or relax. Your reactions can feel overly intense: sometimes you know what triggered you, sometimes you don’t, and yet other times it feels as though everything is a trigger.

Maybe this brings up beliefs of “there’s something wrong with me,” or “I’m broken.” You find yourself trying to numb those memories, thoughts and feelings with anything that can distract you, or by shutting down and isolating as a way to cope. But this is not how you want things to be.

You want to stop feeling like your thoughts, emotions or behaviours are out of control. You want to feel positive emotions again, and do the things you used to enjoy. To be able to work like before, or to be the partner, parent or friend you know you can be. Most of all, you want to stop feeling stuck in the past, or triggered by memories of trauma. I can help.

Within sessions, I bring a calm and warm approach, and go at your pace, bringing in the techniques you find most effective. I work with various types of trauma (occupational, abuse, & others), substance and behavioural addictions, and mood challenges. I am also experienced working with first responders, veterans and civilian populations from my prior residential treatment work in specialized trauma and addiction programs. With treatment, the distress caused by post-traumatic stress and various other symptoms can be significantly reduced – they do not have to hold you back. I have witnessed how treatment can bring about healing and change, and am passionate about supporting you in reclaiming your quality of life."

Elza Manukian, MSW, RSW