Areas of Practice:
Anxiety, Trauma, Self-esteem, Relationships, Career Counselling, Work Stress, and issues specific to Post-secondary and PhD students.
Approaches:
Mindful Self-compassion, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), EMDR, AEDP & Narrative Therapy.
Anxiety - Anxiety has become more prevalent. Societal factors such as social media and public shaming, fear-mongering in the media, and loss of community feeling can cause individuals to feel more anxious. Life experiences such as inconsistent parenting, trauma and stress buildup can also contribute. CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy) are effective counselling approaches for reducing anxiety.
What is ACT? Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is the third wave of behaviour therapies and builds on CBT. In ACT we drop the struggle with our thoughts and feelings and instead become compassionately mindful of them as we commit to actions that enrich our lives. ACT is about learning to respond based on our values vs. react based on our internal experience.
Trauma & Phobias - Maryam provides EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) for individuals who have experienced single incident trauma, such as car accidents or workplace distress, as well as complex trauma, such as abuse or neglect during childhood or in relationships. EMDR is also used to treat phobias.
What is EMDR? EMDR is a leading therapeutic approach designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories. Individuals briefly focus on the trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (eye movements). This typically results in traumatic memories becoming less emotionally distressing and less intrusive with fewer triggers, and for negative beliefs to be reformulated. Individuals typically notice their anxiety and trauma symptoms improving.
Post-secondary and Phd Students - Maryam provides counselling for academic anxiety and motivation, public speaking, procrastination, loneliness and social isolation, and issues with supervisors (for PhD students).
Career Counselling - This covers a range of issues from career exploration and assessments to career transition and finding one’s niche. Individuals also seek career counselling to improve their interview skills and set goals towards promotion.
Relationships - Maryam provides relationship counselling (individually) encompassing relationships with partners, parents, siblings, roommates, friends, coworkers and managers.
Self-esteem - Struggles with low self-esteem and low self-worth are common. Practicing self-compassion is a research proven way to feel more resilient, accepting and comfortable in one’s skin. Individuals who are more self-compassionate tend to have greater life satisfaction, better relationships and physical health, and less anxiety and depression. They also have the resilience needed to cope with stressful life events such as divorce, health crises, and academic failure. In fact, mindful self-compassion has shown to prevent post-traumatic stress. Often it’s not just the trauma itself, but how we relate to ourselves when times are hard that determines how we are impacted. Practicing self-compassion can greatly help us weather personal challenges. Learn more at self-compassion.org.
Motivation - Contrary to popular belief self-compassion also improves motivation by making us less afraid of failure - and fear of failure is one of the reasons why we are not motivated to achieve. As a result we feel less performance anxiety, are more willing to take risks, and if we do fail, we’re more likely to pick ourselves up and try again. Learn more here.