Queer affirming therapy in Whitby, for people who are tired of making themselves smaller.
I'm Holl, a Registered Psychotherapist working with teens and adults in person in Whitby and across Durham Region, and virtually anywhere in Ontario. You will not need to explain your identity before we can get to work.
Hi, I'm Holl.
I became a therapist because I spent most of my life looking for one who fit, and did not find them until I was an adult. So I built the practice I needed back then.
Most of the people I work with are queer, trans, non-binary, or neurodivergent, and a lot of them have spent years in survival mode, over-explaining themselves, or being told they are too much and not enough in the same week. I also work with athletes and first responders, who tend to carry a version of the same thing in a different uniform.
People bring me anxiety, trauma, identity, relationships, boundaries, and burnout, and often a general sense of being stuck that does not have a tidy name yet. You do not need a diagnosis or the right vocabulary before you start.
How I Practice
Kind, and direct.
I'm not going to sit back, nod, and agree with everything you say. Validation on its own feels good for fifty minutes and moves very little, so I will also name the hard things out loud, ask about the patterns you keep landing back in, and stay curious about what those patterns have been doing for you.
Two things can be true at once. The way you learned to cope made sense when you needed it, and it can stop being the thing that serves you now. We work with both.
This is trauma informed work, which in practice means we move at a pace you set and you stay in control of what you share and when.
I'm not a short term therapist, and I'm not looking to keep you here forever either. What I'm working toward is you, eventually not needing me.
THERAPY SERVICES OVERVIEW
Ways we can work together
Individual psychotherapy. Ongoing one to one sessions of fifty minutes, in person in Whitby or virtually anywhere in Ontario.
Therapy for couples and partnerships. Ninety minute sessions for partners of any configuration, including relationships that are not monogamous.
MENTAL HEALTH SEMINARS
Seminars for teams and workplaces
Alongside my therapy practice, I deliver psychoeducational mental health seminars for sports teams, first responder services, and workplaces across Ontario supporting staff under sustained pressure.
I have worked with first responders through the Health Apples programme with Durham Regional Police Service, and spent a season and a half delivering monthly seminars to an Ontario junior hockey league team.
Every seminar is shaped around your group, your people, and what they are carrying.
It starts with a phone call.
Fifteen minutes on the phone, at no cost, with nothing owed at the end of it. You tell me what has been going on, I tell you how I work, and we decide together whether I'm the right fit for you. You do not need the right words ready, and you do not need a clear account of what is wrong. Not knowing where to start is a completely reasonable place to start.