Individual Therapy Toronto
Individual therapy can help you make sense of painful patterns, work through difficult emotions, and feel more grounded, clear, and connected to yourself again.
Individual therapy can help you make sense of painful patterns, work through difficult emotions, and feel more grounded, clear, and connected to yourself again.
Are These Things Happening to You Too Often?
- You feel anxious, low, emotionally flooded, or shut down
- You overthink conversations, decisions, or relationships
- You are carrying the impact of childhood trauma or painful family dynamics
- You feel grief after a breakup, divorce, or another major loss
- You are hard on yourself and struggle with shame or self-judgment
- You keep repeating the same painful patterns in relationships
- You have trouble setting boundaries without guilt
- You feel stuck between anger, sadness, fear, and numbness
- You want to understand why certain situations hit you so hard
- You seem capable on the outside, but internally you feel exhausted
- You long to feel calmer, clearer, and more grounded in yourself
- You want change, but do not know where to begin
Sometimes Present Pain is Rooted in Old Wounds
A lot of emotional suffering does not start in the moment you feel overwhelmed. It starts earlier.
Sometimes anxiety, depression, relationship struggles, or difficulty trusting yourself are tied to experiences that were never fully processed. The current page is explicit about this, naming physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, witnessing parental violence, severe bullying, racial discrimination, mistreatment, and transgenerational trauma as experiences that can continue to shape adulthood.
Even when the past is over, its impact can stay active in the body, in your emotions, and in the way you respond to stress, closeness, conflict, and loss.
That is why effective therapy is not just about symptom relief. It is about helping you understand what is happening underneath the symptoms so real change can happen.
Healing Usually Takes More Than Insight Alone
Many people understand themselves intellectually, but still feel stuck emotionally.
You may know that you are anxious. You may know your childhood shaped you. You may know a breakup reopened old wounds. But insight by itself does not always bring relief.
Healing often happens when you are able to slow down your internal reactions, understand your emotions with less judgment, and recognize the patterns that keep repeating in your life. Therapy creates space to process pain rather than just explain it, and to respond to yourself with more compassion, clarity, and steadiness.
This is how therapy begins to create real inner peace, not just short-term coping.
A Therapy Approach Grounded in Emotional Safety
At New Insights Counselling, we understand that individual therapy is not just about talking through problems or finding quick coping strategies. Many people come to therapy because they are carrying emotional patterns that have developed over time, often through painful relationships, family dynamics, loss, trauma, or repeated stress.
Our approach is grounded in emotional safety, attachment-based therapy, and a careful understanding of how past experiences can shape present reactions. We help clients slow down what is happening inside, make sense of difficult emotions, and begin responding to themselves with more clarity, steadiness, and compassion.
Who Individual Therapy Is Best Suited For
Individual therapy may be a good fit if you are functioning on the outside, but internally feel anxious, overwhelmed, emotionally stuck, or disconnected from yourself. Many people come to therapy when they realize that pushing through is no longer enough.
At New Insights Counselling, we work best with people who want to better understand themselves, their emotions, and the patterns that keep showing up in their relationships, work, family life, or inner world.
- You feel anxious, overwhelmed, low, or emotionally exhausted
- You keep repeating painful relationship patterns
- You are carrying the impact of childhood experiences, trauma, or family dynamics
- You struggle with boundaries, guilt, shame, or self-criticism
- You feel stuck after a breakup, divorce, grief, or major life transition
- You seem capable on the outside, but feel depleted or uncertain inside
- You want more clarity, emotional steadiness, and self-trust
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Experienced Toronto Therapists
Our team supports adults dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, relationship patterns, self-doubt, and the emotional impact of difficult life experiences. We help clients move beyond coping and toward deeper understanding, stronger emotional balance, and a more secure connection with themselves.
Allan Findlay, M.S.W. RSW
Christina Abounassar, M.S.W. RSW
EFT Therapist
Individuals and Couples
Online throughout Ontario
Vanessa Leggio, M.S.W. RSW
EFT Therapist
Individuals and Couples
Online throughout Ontario
Do not wait until anxiety, exhaustion, or pain becomes your normal
Many people wait a long time before starting therapy.
They tell themselves it is not serious enough. They stay busy. They keep functioning. They minimize what they are carrying. Then, eventually, the anxiety gets louder, the sadness gets heavier, the relationship loss catches up, or the old wounds start showing up in ways that are harder to ignore.
This is where therapy can help.
In individual therapy, we help you understand the emotional patterns that keep getting triggered, make sense of how your past affects the present, and process unresolved pain with more clarity and self-compassion. We also help you build healthier boundaries, reduce self-criticism, and feel more grounded in yourself and your relationships.
The goal is not perfection. The goal is to help you feel steadier, stronger, and more able to move through life with a greater sense of peace and self-trust.
What You Can Expect from Individual Therapy
Starting therapy can feel like a big step, especially when you have been carrying things on your own for a long time. The early sessions are designed to help you feel understood, supported, and clear about where the work is going.
Still have some questions?
When you book your phone consultation you will receive a link to our online calendar. You can then book a free Phone Consultation appointment into our online schedule. We want to know a little about your situation so we know whether we can help you and explain the process if we can.
When you book your phone consultation you will receive an email reply to your questions and a link to my online calendar. You can then book an Initial Phone Consultation appointment into my online schedule.We want to know a little bit about your situation so we know whether we are the right therapist for you. Many people may want to know what to expect. We book the first session at the end of this telephone consultation.
First Two Sessions.
The Individual Therapy session is 60 minutes long. This will give us a chance to learn about your concerns, get some background information and learn about what you would like to accomplish. We usually gather a history about relationships you have had in your life: your relationship with your parents in your first 12 years of life, and then all other significant relationships you have had – including the most current one. This helps us notice any repeating patterns and learn how you deal with separations, loss, and challenges. We will note any traumas in childhood or at any other times in your life.
Subsequent Sessions. All subsequent sessions are 60 minutes long, when you come once weekly. Some people come twice weekly for 45-minute sessions.
New Insights Counselling has in-person services in midtown Toronto at Yonge and Eglinton serving North York, Etobicoke, East York, Scarborough and is available online throughout Ontario.
What One Client Shared After Doing This Work
“I came for counselling for several periods over the past six years. First, it was for work-related stress, then family and relationship issues and finally my own personal struggles. I had recently separated from a 10-year marriage and was unhappy with my job. Counselling helped me when I felt overwhelmed by a nasty protracted legal battle with my ex. A few years later, with my new partner, Allan helped me to sort out issues with my new partner, money issues with his ex, with his daughter and with my daughters.
However, the key time was last year when I came to see Allan because I had to take a stand with people I loved. Ultimately, the problem at the core of my life was my own family – my brothers, mother and father. I had not realized that I had not truly dealt with my family, who in the past, had caused me so much pain. As a loyal daughter and sister, I had tried for so many years to keep the relationships going. But in doing so, I had allowed them to take advantage of me and my generosity. At times I tried to cut them off completely but that did not seem right. I had to learn how to put boundaries up and stop their manipulation of me. Allan gave me the strength to establish boundaries. Once I discovered the courage to put limits on things, I felt a huge weight lifted from me. Now, I am much better and more able to cope. I found a way to take control of my life without losing valuable connections with my family. Now, within a few days, rather than weeks and months of agonizing, I can work through life changes. Once I learned to take control out of the hands of others, I learned to take charge of my life.
I have met quite a number of therapists over the years, and I would say Allan has been better than most of them – by far. He just knows how to give the right amount of feedback. Some therapists listen and listen and listen and don’t give enough. Allan is a really effective listener and has an effective way of ‘clearing the fog’ for me. When I was going around in circles, he would replay the essence of what I was saying so I was clear about my own thoughts and feelings. Then, I could figure out for myself what to do.
As a woman, I always went to see a female therapist figuring they would understand me and be better at helping me. Allan has this remarkable way of connecting with the female perspective and at the same time helping one to understand how men might see things. My partner had seen therapists in the past and told me he thought they were all ‘Bozos’. When he saw Allan, he felt totally differently. He saw his approach to be much more like a coach.”*