Online Psychotherapy Across Ontario
Shirley Porter and Associates Psychotherapy is a 100% virtual clinic providing online individual psychotherapy to adults (17 years+) across Ontario, Canada. From the privacy and comfort of your own home, our Registered Psychotherapists offer compassionate, trauma-informed therapeutic support and interventions for anxiety, panic, depression, grief, trauma, relationship issues, stress, and life transitions.
Welcome To Our Clinic
Discover the convenience and effectiveness of online therapy with Shirley Porter and Associates Psychotherapy.
We offer professional holistic individual psychotherapy services tailored to meet your needs. Our highly trained therapists would be honoured to walk beside you, as we explore your concerns and collaboratively come up with a plan to address them - through a mind, body, and spirit approach.
Often times therapy only focuses on thoughts and behaviours. We have, however, learned that therapy is more powerful and effective when we work with the wisdom of the body and your own inner wisdom - which some people might think of as Wisest Most Compassionate Self, Core Self, Inner Wisdom, or Spirit. We will work with you in a way that respects your beliefs and values.
Online therapy throughout Ontario | Adults 17+ | Secure virtual sessions
Sometimes Life Becomes Too Much to Carry Alone
Sometimes life can be hard. You may appear to be functioning on the outside - while struggling in silence on the inside. Or your struggles might be impacting your ability to function in one or more areas of your life.
Perhaps you are living with persistent anxiety or panic, feeling emotionally or physically overwhelmed, struggling with grief or depression, trying to heal from trauma, or moving through a significant change in your life.
Sometimes there is a clear reason for how we are feeling. At other times, we simply know that something feels "wrong" even if we can't pinpoint exactly what or why.
Therapy can provide a safe and compassionate space to better understand what you are experiencing, reconnect with yourself, develop new ways of responding, and move toward greater emotional, physical, and personal well-being.
We provide online psychotherapy for people experiencing:
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Anxiety, panic, and OCD
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Depression
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Trauma and PTSD
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Grief and loss
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Stress and overwhelm
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Major life transitions
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Relationship difficulties
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Emotional dysregulation
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Effects of childhood or interpersonal trauma
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Immigration and cultural adjustment
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Self-esteem and identity concerns
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ADHD-related emotional challenges
A Trauma-Informed Mind–Body–Spirit Approach to Psychotherapy
Difficult experiences affect more than our thoughts.
Stress, anxiety, grief, depression, and trauma can also affect our nervous system, body, emotions, behaviours, our sense of meaning or connection, and the lens through which we perceive ourselves, our relationships, and the world.
For this reason, our therapists do not focus only on changing thoughts and behaviours.
Depending upon your needs, therapy may also include attention to emotions, nervous-system regulation, body awareness, past experiences, relationships, the different "parts" of ourselves that may be trying to protect us, and the values or sources of meaning that are important in our lives.
For us, spirit does not necessarily mean religion.
It may include a person's sense of meaning, purpose, values, hope, identity, creativity, connection, or relationship to something larger than themselves. For clients who wish, spiritual beliefs or practices can also be explored as part of therapy. They are never assumed or imposed.
Our clinicians draw from approaches that may include:
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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
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Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
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EMDR
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Parts Work / Ego-State approaches
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Somatic and body-based approaches
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Polyvagal-informed therapy
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Mindfulness
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Trauma-focused psychotherapy
The approaches used will depend upon the therapist, their training, and what is appropriate for your particular needs.
Areas We Can Help With
Anxiety and Panic
Anxiety may show up as constant worrying, racing thoughts, physical tension, difficulty sleeping, or feeling unable to switch off. It can also arrive as panic — sudden, overwhelming waves of fear that seem to come out of nowhere.
Therapy can help you understand the patterns beneath these symptoms, calm your body and mind so you're no longer living on high alert, and reconnect with the people and things that matter to you.
Trauma & PTSD
Trauma can affect how we experience ourselves, relationships, emotions, bodies, and the world around us.
Our therapists take a trauma-informed approach that emphasizes safety, choice, collaboration, compassion, and respect for your individual pace.
Depression
Depression can involve sadness, numbness, exhaustion, hopelessness, loss of motivation, isolation, or feeling disconnected from yourself, other people, and the life you once knew.
Psychotherapy can provide a space to understand what may be contributing to these experiences and explore ways of reconnecting with meaning, relationships, values, and yourself.
Grief and Loss
Grief does not follow a predictable timeline.
Loss can affect us emotionally, physically, socially, and spiritually — whether we are grieving the death of someone important, a relationship, our health, a role, our identity, or a future we had imagined.
Stress and Burnout
When stress becomes prolonged, it can affect sleep, concentration, relationships, physical well-being, and our capacity to cope with everyday demands. It can also lead to burn out.
Therapy can help you understand what is contributing to your distress and develop healthier ways of responding to stress.
Relationship Issues
Sometimes relationships can be a source of comfort, and other times they might be a source of distress - and sometimes certain relationships can be a bit of both.
While we can't change another person's behaviour, we can focus on understanding the sources of your distress, and addressing those within your control - to support you in creating healthy relationship boundaries, clear and respectful communication skills, and in healing from past relationship wounds that are being triggered by your current relationships.
Life Transitions
Even positive changes can bring uncertainty, grief, anxiety, and questions about identity, direction, or meaning.
Career changes, retirement, becoming a parent, relationship changes, health concerns, relocation, caregiving, separation, and other major transitions can all challenge our sense of stability.
Meet Our Therapists
Finding a therapist with whom you feel comfortable is a very important part of therapy. Our clinicians bring different areas of training, experience, therapeutic approaches, and lived perspectives to their work. All of our therapists are comfortable taking a mind-body-spirit approach to therapy, and will be respectful of your preferences, needs and beliefs.
We encourage you to learn more about each therapist so you can consider who may be the best fit for your needs.
Clinical Leadership
Shirley Porter, M.Ed., RP
Founder & Clinical Director
Shirley Porter is a Registered Psychotherapist, author, educator, and clinical supervisor with more than 35 years of psychotherapy experience. She provides regular clinical supervision to therapists in the clinic - so that clients benefit can from a collaborative approach to provide the highest standards of care.
Her work has focused extensively on trauma, grief, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, and the integration of cognitive, emotional, somatic, nervous-system, and spiritually sensitive approaches to psychotherapy.
Her clinical philosophy recognizes the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit, while respecting each client's individual beliefs, values, cultural identities, and worldview.
Shirley has authored books and professional publications related to trauma and mental health and has provided clinical supervision and consultation for more than two decades. She has also taught at the graduate level in counselling psychology at Western University in London, Ontario Canada.
Why Online Therapy?
Online psychotherapy allows you to meet with your therapist from a private and comfortable location without the time and travel involved in attending an office.
Because our clinic is fully virtual, our therapists can work with eligible clients located throughout Ontario.
For many people, receiving therapy from their own environment can also make it easier to integrate therapeutic insights, grounding practices, and new ways of responding into everyday life.
All sessions are provided through a secure virtual platform.
