vitalminds

Virtual Therapy In Ontario, Canada In Person Therapy in Hamilton

Melissa Giguere

Student Intern, MACP Candidate Registered Psychotherapist, Qualifying

Melissa has twenty years combined experience working in frontline mental health, Child & Family Services, and healthcare. Utilizing a strength based, patient centered, and trauma informed approach, she helps clients uncover their unique strengths and needs, tailoring supportive strategies to foster resilience, self-awareness, and meaningful connections within their relationships. Melissa’s approach is holistic and integrative, combining evidence-based approaches including CBT, ERP, Somatic Therapy and EMDR. If you are feeling stressed, exhausted, or worried about the future, Melissa is here to help you. She believes that every person’s story is unique and fosters a therapeutic space where you can feel heard and understood. Melissa will support you in learning new coping strategies and tools, so you can experience more peace and enjoyment in life.

Melissa believes that you can learn a lot about yourself by exploring how your thoughts and feelings drive your behavior. If you are running on empty, feeling overloaded, and not like yourself, Melissa can support the cultivation of skills to help you bounce back.

Melissa also works with couples experiencing challenges and helps couples find their way back to a happy loving relationship. When this is not possible, working through separation in therapy can be a big relief for couples who want to do so in a peaceful and respectful way. Melissa’s background in mediation, negotiation and conflict resolution can assist in finding workable solutions and a pathway forward. Melissa utilizes The Gottman Method in her work to help couples work through unresolved relationship issues, which involves learning strategies to improve communication, exploring underlying emotions and finding solutions to conflicts.

Therapeutic Approach:

  • Gottman Method
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
  • Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)
  • Gestalt Therapy
  • Narrative Therapy
  • Somatic Therapy
  • Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
  • Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP)

Specialities:

  • Health Anxiety 
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Stress
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Panic
  • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
  • First-responders
  • Chronic Pain
  • Domestic Violence
  • Trauma & Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Eating Disorders
  • Family Conflict
  • Life Transitions
  • Relationships
  • LGBTQ+
  • Grief
  • Addictions

Supports

  • Child, Teen and Family Therapy Teens
  • Emotion Focused Therapy Adults
  • couples therapy Couples
  • Obsessive compulsive disorder Hamilton, Anxiety Therapy Hamilton, CBT Hamilton, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Hamilton, Cognitive behavioral treatment Hamilton, CBT therapy Hamilton ,Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Families

Credentials:

  • Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology- Yorkville University (Expected 2025)
  • Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) – College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario
  • Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA)
  • Certified Clinical Trauma Professional- PESI
  • EMDR & Parts Work for Treating Complex Trauma: Somatic Techniques to Decrease Defensiveness and Facilitate Trauma Processing
  • EMDR Interventions for Recent Trauma
  • Emotional Eating & Body Image, Chronic Dieting, Binge Eating, Trauma-Informed Certification
  • Calming the Anxious Mind & Body: Create New Neural Pathways for Regulation with Integrative CBT
  • Care for You – Trauma and Wellness
  • People Centred Care Leadership Program- CHA Learning
  • Trauma Informed Practice
  • Change Management
  • Treating Patients with C.A.R.E- Institute for Healthcare Communication
  • Allyship Training- District Public Health
  • Non-Violent Crisis Intervention
  • CBT and Exposure & Response Prevention for Treatment of GAD, Panic Disorder, OCD, Social Anxiety, & Phobias-PESI
Therapist Location Fees & Session Cost
Online Only $80-$120 Per Session, Sliding Scale, Affordable therapy

Favourite Quotes

“Love is a verb. Not a permanent state of enthusiasm”

– Esther Perel

“Empathy has no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It’s simply listening, holding space, withholding judgement, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of ‘You are not alone”.

– Brene Brown

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