Hello! I’m Rachel (she/her), a Registered Psychotherapist at the Centre for Psychology and Emotion Regulation (CPER), and recently, new Team Lead of our Mood, Anxiety & Wellness track. I’m really excited about our new treatment track and stepping into this new role, and I’m looking forward to supporting our team as we get this track up and running. 

I’ve had the privilege of working with the CPER team for over five years now, and during this time, we’ve focused mostly on our three current treatment tracks, which are: our Eating Disorders (ED) Treatment Track, our Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) Track, and our Trauma/Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Track. While providing these specialized treatments, our team identified a need for additional services outside of our three tracks for individuals who struggle with anxiety, depression, or other mental health difficulties. We’ve also recognized that not only are our clinicians highly trained in these treatments, but they’re also already providing these services (oftentimes in conjunction with or following other treatments). So, we agreed that having a track to focus solely on Mood, Anxiety & Wellness will allow our team to better support the needs of our current clients, along with providing opportunities for us to deliver treatments to those with different needs outside of our three current treatment tracks. Yay!

The reason I’m so excited about this new track and stepping into this new role is because this track is very near and dear to my heart. What got me started on my path to becoming a therapist and finding my way to the CPER team, was my own personal experiences with mental health struggles growing up. Throughout my life I’ve struggled with both anxiety and depression and something that has always stuck with me from those times is how isolating and lonely it can be, and, how impactful it can be to have someone who helps support us through it. This is what ultimately inspired me to get into this field and, it’s also what keeps my passion for providing support to those struggling with their mental health, alive. 

As Team Lead for the Mood, Anxiety & Wellness track, one of my top priorities is to help support the team’s needs so that we can provide the best care possible. In this role I hope to cultivate a supportive team environment where clinicians can receive consultation from fellow team members and/or experts in the field, share resources and stay up to date with research and adherence, and collaborate with one another to help ensure that we’re meeting the unique needs of each our clients. One of the first things that I’ll be focusing on in this role is getting the Mood, Anxiety & Wellness track up and running, which will begin with getting the word out that we’re expanding the types of treatments and services that we offer. From there, I know we have many more ideas of what we’d like to see with this track and what’s to come – stay tuned!