ACT therapists in Toronto?

January 2, 2013 1:58 PM

I'm looking for an ACT therapist in Toronto. Does anyone have personal recommendations?

Bit of background in case it's useful: straight male, late 30s, married, practicing Buddhist, primarily having trouble with work stress and existential/life-direction questions.

I'm currently seeing an expensive-even-by-TO-standards CBT therapist, which was effective for anxiety-related crises I was having earlier in the summer. But CBT doesn't seem to fit me for deeper, transformative change (or, at least, I find the tools useful for acute anxiety but I don't find the visits very useful anymore), so I figure that the mindfulness and value-orientation of ACT would be good for me.

posted by mendel to Health & Fitness (1 answer total)

Best answer: Hi, mendel. I am not a regular on metafilter, but my aunt saw your question and passed it on to me. I am an ACT therapist in private practice in Toronto. In my professional experience, ACT is indeed a really good fit for practicing Buddhists. There is a kind of synergy that can empower both your therapy and your Buddhist practices. I personally really like working with clients who are engaged in both ACT and Buddhism because it is very interesting to see the interplay at work.

I would also agree with you that ACT generally has more tools to address existential and life-direction questions, so it sounds like a good fit for you.

We are planning some workshops at our clinic (www.broadviewpsychology.com) on these topics so feel free to contact me if you are interested in getting on the mailing list. I also offer a free 10 minute phone consultation to people who have questions about ACT or one on one therapy with me. drweinrib [at] broadviewpsychology [dot] com

As for finding an ACT therapist in Toronto, you can google ACBS Find a Therapist to see what therapists in Toronto are doing ACT. There are many great ACT therapists in Toronto who are working in hospitals or other institutions and have mandates to treat specific groups (e.g., teens with bulimia, chronic pain patients, offenders). As far as I know, I am one of the few in private practice.
posted by Dr. Weinrib at 6:55 AM on January 3, 2013