Colette is a no-nonsense, compassionate clinician. She can connect with anyone and provides feedback on patterns so others may see themselves. She has a wellness and whole health perspective to support clients to feel more empowered and more in control of themselves and their lives. She does this by supporting people to better understand their emotions, reconnect with their bodies, and get out of their own way. Life is enough; be as supportive to yourself as possible.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
In our first session together, we'll spend time getting to know each other and discussing the challenges that have brought you into therapy at this time. While the session will mostly involve me getting to know you, you also deserve to get a feel for who I am and how I operate. Lastly, we'll check in about all initial paperwork as I want to answer any questions that you may have.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
In my 10 years of clinical work across all ages, identities, cultures, and diagnoses I've realized something. While learning the "root" can be helpful, that information does not often lead to change. In other words, awareness doesn't always translate into action. Deeper still, knowing the root of an issue isn't always necessary for lasting change; sometimes the "root" is revealed after the pattern has changed. I have a unique ability to connect clients with their patterns in a way that leaves space for creating a plan that leads to sustainable and desired change over time.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
People find themselves searching for therapy options for a number of reasons. The people who find me are often seeking assistance to manage day-to-day stressors, coping with a major life shift, or even just trying to figure out if it's truly possible to retire 'survival mode' and begin to thrive. Clients may have a wide variety of issues including unresolved pain/trauma, mental illness, work-life harmony issues, 'adulting' transitions, adjusting to (health) limitations, and professional/systemic difficulties. Be seen and heard as who you are within all identities and cultures; lifestyles and lovestyles. If it's working for you, work it! If it's not, let's connect and create a space that allows you to grow into where you'd like to be.
About Colette McLeod
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VirtualMy treatment methods
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
This therapy approach allows us to talk about where you may be 'fighting' reality. This may look like wishing things were different, regretting the past, denying your feelings, or being 'stuck' in your current situation. ACT gives us a platform to discuss how to accept feelings (and therefore circumstances) in a way that allows us to be compassionate to ourselves and commit to the changes that have been difficult to create in our lives.
Compassion Focused
This is critical to the use of all treatment modalities in my opinion. People often struggle with a critical inner voice. Those same folks experience shame. It may have started with parents or loved ones or schoolyard bullies but at some point, those critical voices become our own. Compassion-focused treatment is a foundation that allows us to implicitly and explicitly be compassionate to ourselves (especially to that critical inner voice) so we can cultivate the changes we want to see in ourselves and our lives.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
I utilize this in my work with therapy clients, coaching clients, and in facilitating workshops for organizations. The ability to have tools and strategies to reconnect with ourselves by increasing deep awareness, acceptance, expression, and regulating our emotions allows us to improve our emotional intelligence and strengthen connection to other people. We often have narratives that we have told ourselves (and others). This treatment method allows us to re-write or re-classify narratives that have just always seemed to be true.
Trauma Informed Care
My experience is there is no care without trauma informed care. The perspective and knowledge that everyone walks around with unresolved hurts and experiences that have impact who they are (or who they are not). Every conversation includes the perspective that a person has an inner world (and likely inner battle) that I both know AND don’t know. This allows you to bring your own expertise and pair it with mine to become aware of and work through unprocessed and unresolved pain.
Solution Focused Brief Treatment
Sometimes, clients want to come into therapy, focus on something, and keep moving forward with their lives. SFBT allows us to tailor the time the client has to the goal(s) they want to accomplish. We know there is an issue. Let’s get focused on solutions, utilizing discipline, and get things done!