Carly Degenstein

A bit more about me, my therapy philosophy and the modalities I use:  

I have worked as a counsellor in both public and private mental health practices for over 8 years, after graduating with an HBSc in Psychology from the University of Toronto  with a focus on cognitive development and neuroscience and a Masters of Counselling Psychology (MA) from Simon Fraser University (2018). I incorporate a lot of my neuroscience background in my work, and for anyone's who's interested, I am happy to teach you more about how your brain and body connection works so you can better understand how your symptoms arise, how cycles of certain emotion and thought patterns continue and how to use this wisdom to take better care of your mental health. 

I am passionate about the work that I do.  It is my mission to leave all clients who work with me with an experience of being understood and genuinely cared about, while connecting to more effective ways of approaching and working through what has brought them to counselling.  I truly believe and have seen through my years of practice, that when we are understood are able to step out of cycles of self blame and criticism that we've stopped being able to see are there, and come into more intentional, caring self responsibility taking and relating, that amazing healing potential can be unlocked even in the face of the most difficult mental health struggles and life circumstances. 

I describe my counselling approach as attunement primary. This means you feeling understood, and your experiences recognized, not just for the struggles and concerns that may be bringing you to counselling, but for who you are as a whole person, is my core priority. I describe my therapeutic approach as integrative, because that's part of attunement, as well as because I draw from several therapuetic modalities (DBT, CBT, IFS & EFT) as opposed to being a single modality therapist.  I consider myself particularly skilled at being able to adapt my counselling skills and techniques to various stages of the healing process, whether you are new to therapy and needing more guidance and direction or an experienced client that is looking for a counsellor to facilitate pattern work on block navigating, but also support your self-direction as part of treatment. 

My approach is relational and underscored by anti-oppression values and a belief in the core resiliency of each human. No matter how many difficulties life may have handed you, you have an innate ability to heal and live from self leadership and self-security! My background in neuroscience leaves me equipped to help you believe in and understand this, even if you have struggled with self disbelief for a long time!

 I believe therapeutic focuses/goals are best approached as collaborative endeavours - growth being something we are most empowered in when defined on our own terms. And I am here to offer guidance and clinical understanding through this process. I see my role as a facilitator and grounding point for getting to know what is impacting you the most, what needs are most are most available for reconnecting to to create stability while we figure out the bigger answers of what healing would look, feel, be for you and your circumstances. 

When I say I'm practical, I mean I know bridging the gap between session discoveries and daily life impact can pose it's challenges at times. That is where a lot of the skills based work I bring in from CBT, DBT, IFS and EFT can be helpful, as these modalities offer clear framing and perspective direction on issues/needs that can be translated into daily coping skills, self talk, & self directed emotional responding options for use in your day to day life. I'm also a big fan of initiating and supporting  conversations to clarifying how you'll want to translate your insights from therapy into opportunities for meaningful change in your life outside of session.  I focus on helping clients connect to greater self acceptance and regard while providing guidance for increased self and symptom understanding and skill building for working through challenging emotions and life difficulties. As in helping you connect to liking yourself through the healing process even when you may not yet be fully resolved in the distress or challenges you're experiencing. 

On the modalities side of things, I use therapeutic techniques and strategies from Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) and Compassion Focused CBT (great for anxiety, emotional regulation, overwhelm, and perfectionism based concerns) for most distress and symptom based concerns that clients reach out for support with. 

 I draw from practices and approaches from Internal Family Systems for most of the self exploration, identity and self trust repair work I facilitate, as well as perfectionism work, getting to know inner critics and what they are needing to shift into great acceptance of your existing strengths and vulnerabilities in order for you to stop reliving past attachment wounds or trauma symptoms. 

I draw on Mindfulness,  Self compassion and emotional listening and safety strategies from EFT and DBT to support clients in healing from burnout and boundary struggles, emotional dysregulation, post traumatic stress and CPTSD, relationship and self-worth struggles.

 IFS is great for any work you might be wanting to do/struggles you may be having with recurrent inner conflict as well as getting to know what inner boundaries  and self leadership permission you may want to connect to for a more grounded, coherent sense of self and self direction on complex life situations or stressors. 

I use a combination of DBT, IFS and executive function and emotional regulation coaching work in the ADHD support and treatment work I do. 

I know it can be easy to get lost in the acronyms and get bogged down trying to figure out what type of therapy would be best for you! For this reason especially I offer 20 min introductory consultations that give you the chance for us to meet each other and talk human to human before you proceed with service, so that I can give you more specific feedback and introductory info on what approaches I would use with you based on what you've been going through, what you want to improve through therapy and what may already be working/not working. You don't have to figure that out solely on your own - I very much believe in joining my clients in discerning the best course of action in your therapeutic treatment and offering my experience and guidance at each stage of the counselling process. 

Feel free to reach out even if you just have questions. No question is too silly or small. You matter :)