Psychotherapy in Waterloo: Rewriting the Stories Behind Success, Pressure, and Identity
Therapy for students, professionals, and people feeling the pressure to succeed
Waterloo is a community built around ambition, learning, innovation, and possibility. It’s a place where people are constantly building toward something — a degree, a career, a business, a creative project, or a vision for the future.
But being surrounded by achievement can come with its own pressures.
For many students and professionals in Waterloo, the question isn’t whether they’re working hard enough.
It’s whether they ever feel like they’re allowed to stop.
Am I doing enough?
Am I falling behind?
What if I’m not as capable as everyone thinks I am?
Who am I if I’m not achieving?
Many people come to therapy feeling exhausted by the pressure to meet expectations — from school, family, culture, religion, work, or themselves.
They may have grown up with stories about what success is supposed to look like:
Get good grades.
Choose the right path.
Make your family proud.
Be successful.
Don’t waste your potential.
Keep pushing.
These stories often come from people and places that shaped us. They can motivate us, guide us, and help us accomplish meaningful things.
But sometimes they stop working.
Exploring the stories that shape how you see yourself
Part of my work as a psychotherapist is helping people uncover the narratives they’ve inherited — the beliefs, expectations, and definitions of success that they may have absorbed without ever questioning.
Together, we explore:
Where did this idea of “enough” come from?
Who taught me what success means?
What happens if I disappoint people?
Am I building a life I actually want, or one I learned I was supposed to want?
Sometimes anxiety, perfectionism, people-pleasing, and burnout are connected to more than just stress. They can come from years of trying to become the version of yourself you thought you needed to be.
Therapy can be a place to understand those patterns and begin creating a story that feels more like your own.
Therapy for Waterloo students and young adults
Student life can be an exciting time — but it can also bring intense pressure.
Between academics, co-op placements, career decisions, relationships, independence, and figuring out who you are, it’s easy to feel like you’re constantly being evaluated.
Many students struggle with:
academic perfectionism
imposter syndrome
anxiety about the future
difficulty slowing down
feeling behind compared to peers
pressure to choose the “right” path
balancing personal identity with expectations from others
Therapy can provide space to step outside of the constant pressure to perform and reconnect with who you are beyond grades, achievements, or productivity.
Therapy for creatives, entrepreneurs, and people building something new
Before becoming a psychotherapist, I worked in TV production and music — industries where creativity, identity, and self-worth often become deeply connected.
I understand the unique pressures that can come with creating, performing, and building something meaningful.
Whether you’re a student discovering who you are, a professional navigating change, or someone pursuing a creative path, therapy can help you explore the expectations shaping your life and decide which ones still belong.
My Approach
I draw from Narrative Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and other evidence-based approaches.
Rather than viewing people as broken, I believe our struggles often make sense when understood in the context of our experiences, relationships, values, and the expectations we've learned to live by.
I also offer One-at-a-Time Therapy, a short-term approach that treats each session as an opportunity for meaningful progress. Rather than assuming therapy needs to continue indefinitely, we regularly check in about what's helping and what you need next.
Online Psychotherapy in Waterloo and across Ontario
I provide online psychotherapy for individuals in Waterloo and throughout Ontario, supporting people experiencing anxiety, depression, perfectionism, self-doubt, burnout, identity questions, and the pressure to live up to expectations.
If you feel stuck between who you are and who you feel you’re supposed to be, therapy can help you understand your story — and begin writing one that feels more authentic.
Book a Free Consultation
You don’t have to wait until things feel impossible to start therapy.
Sometimes the first step is simply getting curious about the story you’ve been living — and whether it’s still the one you want to tell.
Services
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This is typically the first step: a free, 15-minute call to meet each other, hear about your hopes for therapy, and determine next steps.
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We will meet one-on-one over a secure virtual connection. Each session is approx. 50 minutes long.
$160.00 per session
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I’m excited to be offering supervision to CRPO therapists wanting to complete their clinical hours or receive further support in their careers.
Click here for (much) more information.
$160 for individual supervision
$95 for dyadic supervision