Curious About Private Journal Therapy?

Private journal therapy sessions are an intimate, one-on-one experience of the reflective writing process. At the time of publishing this posts, all private sessions are offered online.

Journal therapy provides useful tools to help manage depression and anxiety. The practice of journal therapy is also a powerful support in moving through grief and trauma, and huge life transitions like postpartum, relationship challenges, divorce, and  new career paths.

With each new client, I begin with a 30 minute consultation to get to know them and discuss where they want to focus their writing. This is an opportunity for them to share whatever is happening in their lives, and where they would like help processing or becoming un-stuck. I also try to get a sense of their relationship to writing, and whether they've journaled in the past.

Then, I create an hour-long session that consists of writing prompts unique to each client. These prompts are gentle nudges to dig deeper, to articulate emotion and experience, and to allow patterns to emerge. I incorporate my knowledge of CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) and ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) to craft prompts that will challenge the truths my clients are holding on to and help them articulate what they most value.

By articulating and examining each client's core personal values, we investigate the ways in which they live within alignment, and the places where they can edit and adjust in order to more closely align.

I also encourage sharing. We explore what comes forth, not by reading what the client has written, but by discussing the emerging themes, ideas, thought-patterns and realizations that the writing generates. This discovery process challenges beliefs, invites a shift in perspective, and builds deep connections between present emotion and past experience.

My commitment is to build a safe container in which my clients feel held and supported and to create mindful interaction.  Developing safe space and a meaningful connection takes precedence over all else.

Journal Therapy is a powerful tool regardless of your writing experience or your writing skill. The focus is never on crafting  'clever writing' but on channeling truth, and I am there to guide you every step of the way.