Violin Narooz-Gad (she/her)

Some may think that experiencing PTSD is connected to one major traumatic event a person encounters. However, it's important to know that it may not be something that one considers as 'huge' yet its effects can be quite substantial and need to be dealt with. Some PTSD symptoms are lack of sleep, eating too much or too little, intrusive thoughts/mental pictures throughout the day, nightmares, anxiousness, sadness, hopelessness. Keep in mind there could be so much more, but that's just an overivew

There are many issues women may face, I will only give you a brief snippet here: women may encounter issues including, but are not limited to: sexuality related difficulties, addictions, parenting issues, self-esteem issues, oppression at work or at home, cultural and/or spiritual oppression, difficulties coping, self-image issues, infertility, relationship issues with partners or other family members.

Being in a new country and a new culture can be extremely challenging, from language difficulties to adjusting to new expectations while trying to hold onto one's own cultural beliefs and values. This adjustment can be quite challenging, let alone if there are children involved. How can one acculturate and be accepted in a new culture while preserving the richness of their own culture?

Emotions give us information, all emotions are acceptable yet do we really want to accept all emotions with all their mess? Sometimes emotions make us feel so out of control because we don't know how to manage them. Understanding things from the emotions lens, however, can give us so much to work with. The awareness alone can be healing. However, we don't stop there, we allow our understanding to guide us into learning coping tools that lead us to better management and coping.

I do take an eclectic approach to therapy as we are not all the same. Each client is unique in their circumstances, personality, strengths, blindspots etc. Therefore, I find it extremely important to cater to each person and I do not expect the person to conform to my approach. We discover together what may be going on especially if the person feels confused or foggy, then we figure out what can be done about it, also together.

CBT is probably the most empirically researched therapy. I find it can be very helpful especially for individuals who appreciate a more methodical way of approaching therapy. It may include worksheet homework too if client is open to that and it can be extremely useful in visually seeing and assessing overtime the issues and the improvements.