Simon Desmarais-Zalob

(he/him)

LCSW, 13 years of experience

Often rebooked

Authentic
Warm
Open-minded

You want to change your feelings, thoughts, or behaviors, but every time you try, it blows up in your face. (Not literally...hopefully.) How do you get unstuck?! The most important factor is the relationship with your therapist. My main focus is teaming up with you - not telling you what to do - in figuring out how to help you create new patterns. My practice mostly revolves around increasing your awareness of what’s happening in your mind and your body – and above all, respecting your experience. My approach focuses on mindfulness, DBT, and post-traumatic growth. This takes work, but with the help of someone you trust, you absolutely can change the structure of your brain! As much as I may be in the most privileged of demographics (see photo), I’ve taken a lifetime’s worth of feeling inferior and deployed it for good: Being able to empathize with you, the client. I've worked extensively with anger, grief, substance use, LGBTQ+-related issues, insomnia, racial identity, relationship issues, sports performance, etc. I have an easygoing way of communicating with clients. My communication style definitely doesn't have that solemn, overly serious tone that you might see depicted in movie therapists. Just to forewarn: My sessions can and will include some (very lame) jokes here and there, but that does not mean I don't take your struggle seriously.

Get to know me

In our first session together, here's what you can expect

In the first session with me, you can expect mostly listening and a bit of guidance here and there, but I also go with the flow. So I'll seek to know what brings you to therapy and what your goals are - or you might've had "a day," and we'll address that as well. Either way, it informs the process, and we'll both have a better feel for what we can work on together.

The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions

I'm a human being first, and I don't take myself too seriously. Life is too serious to take yourself too seriously! This means that it's most important that we both feel a connection, and that connection so often happens through laughing about our own human-ness. If I make a mistake, I'll be the first to admit it - and I encourage you to point out when I do. I also love my 0-10 scales. I'll often ask about how your anxiety, life satisfaction, or anger is on a 0-10 scale, because it can help to see how you progress in concrete terms. And while I encourage my clients not to over-apologize...I do apologize in advance for going back to this 0-10 well again and again.

The clients I'm best positioned to serve

My ideal client is someone who is motivated to make a change in their life. However, don't be scared away if you're feeling not-so-inspired; depression has a way of eating away at motivation, and just the fact that you're here tells me a strong part of you is driven enough to make a change. I support my clients' needs by holding them accountable for the work that needs to be done, but in an understanding way. There is always a reason why you did or didn't do the "homework." (Yes, I have a tendency to assign homework.🙄) We're here to figure out how to best set yourself up for success, and we'll act as a team in doing so. You are the foremost expert on yourself; I'm just here to help you access more of yourself.

Specialties

Top specialties

Anger Management

Anxiety

Other specialties

Depression

Grief

I identify as

Man

Serves ages

Teenagers (13 to 17)

Licensed in

Accepts

Location

Virtual

My treatment methods

Mindfulness-Based Therapy

While I am informed by a variety of approaches - e.g. DBT, motivational interviewing, solution-focused, psychodynamic - I am a big believer in the power of mindfulness to help us productively process the thoughts and feelings that keep us stuck. The more time we spend nonjudgmentally in the present, the better results we can expect.

Dialectical Behavior (DBT)

I like that DBT offers more "bottom-up" ways of approaching a challenge than, say, CBT. I'll offer to go over various emotion regulation and distress tolerance activities to help clients better manage stress, as opposed to attempting to ignore or push away unpleasant experiences.

Solution Focused Brief Treatment

Sometimes, a client's experience calls for more concrete, action-based solutions. I use this approach when it comes to short-term goals, like how to get yourself to go to the gym, or finish a particular project, by eliciting the strengths that a client already possesses. In other words, you have the power to change your habits. I'm just here to help you see the path forward.

, 10 ratings

2 ratings with written reviews

March 24, 2026

Simon has been great even simply as destress for me in our sessions. Laid back with helpful resources and input to share. Simon's very friendly and easy to speak with. Trust me, pick him if you're unsure :^)

Verified client, age 18-24
Review shared after session 5 with Simon

February 20, 2026

Simon has a warm, grounded presence that made it easy to open up right away. What stood out most was his practicality. When we discussed building a meditation habit, he immediately asked what specific time would work and suggested putting it in my calendar. He also spoke genuinely about the limits of talk therapy alone and the importance of connecting mind and body. Already looking forward to continuing the work.

Verified client, age 35-44
Review shared after session 1 with Simon