Margaret Brennan, PhD

• EMDR

• Internal Family Systems

• Sensorimotor Psychoherapy

• Acceptance and mindfulness-based approaches

• Intuitive Eating Counselling

• Compassion Focused Therapy

• Trauma Sensitive Yoga

• Trauma

• Eating disorders and eating related-concerns

• Weight and body Image concerns

• Anxiety

• Nervous system and emotion regulation

• Embodiment

• Improving your relatonship with yourself (e.g., self-criticism, self-doubt, self-worth)

• Ph.D. in Counselling Psychology from the University of Alberta

• Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology from the University of Alberta

Specific Training for Eating Disorders and Eating-Related Concerns:

I have completed extensive training in working with individuals struggling with their relationship with food and their bodies. I am trained in many approaches specifically designed to help with eating disorders and eating challenges including:

• Enhanced Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Eating Disorders (CBT-E)

• Family-Based Therapy for Anorexia Nervosa (FBT-AN)

• Mindfulness-Based Eating Awaness Training (MB-EAT)

• Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor

• Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)

• Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFFT)

• Internal Family Systems (IFS)

• Somatic and self-compassion-based approaches

• EMDR & Eating Disorders

Specific Training for Trauma:

• EMDR

• Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

• Internal Family Systems Therapy (Level 1)

• Trauma Sensitive Yoga

Yoga Training:

• RYT-500

• Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitator

• Trained in the Kripalu Yoga tradition

If you choose to work with me, I will work collaboratively with you to establish goals and determine the direction of therapy. I am respectful of the fact that discussing personal matters with a stranger may be difficult and I will strive to create a a warm, supportive, non-judgmental, caring environment and anti-oppressive environment.

Depending on your aims, our work together may involve: a) increasing your insight and understanding about your own experiences, responses and tendencies; b) learning new information that is relevant to your concerns; c) developing new skills and capacities, allowing you to make changes that are meaningful and significant to you; d) shifting the ways you interact with and treat yourself; or e) processing past experiences so that you can integrate them and move forward in your life.

In order to be able to help my clients most effectively, I am trained in many different types of therapy. The specific approaches I use with you will depend on your needs, presenting concerns, and preferences. In my experience, working in an experiential and embodied way leads to the most transformative and lasting changes for my clients. Failing to incorporate the body in therapy may also limit the progress that is possible.

Incorporating the body in therapy may involve helping you increase your capacity to go inside and be with your body and internal experiences; increasing your awareness of your lived experience (i.e., not just your thoughts, but also your physical sensations, impulses, emotions and nervous system states); learning to listen to your body and what it is telling you; moving your body in ways that help you to experience feelings of calm and safety, energy, or empowerment; or embodying your strengths and resources at the physical level.