A few things to know about me:

I am trained as a family therapist in Attachment Based Family Therapy (ABFT). Thinking about families, and how they form us as individuals, is foundational to the work that I do, even in individual therapy. I can’t help but see all presenting issues through a family lens, so you will notice when you work with me that many of my questions will be about your family and your relationship to your family.

I am also trained in parts work, informed by Internal Family Systems (IFS), and while I am not an IFS certified therapist, and I think IFS is a profoundly helpful framework for individual therapy.  Parts work conceptualized our thoughts and feelings as parts of our psyche; our job is to understand our internal parts, make contact with them, and develop loving relationships with them.  Parts work operates from the stance that we can’t understand how we feel, and why we behave the way we do, without getting curious about our parts, especially our exiled, hurt parts––the parts of us that cause us the most pain.

How I’m trained

I see therapy as an active process.  Many of us have been hurt and even more of us haven’t had a safe space to be able to talk about what has happened to us. Therapy will provide this space for you.  And, it will also push and challenge you. Sometimes therapy will ask you to let go of a particular narrative that you have about your life, or about the people in your life. Sometimes therapy will ask you to question your own actions and behaviour. This is hard work that will help you deepen your sense of self.

How I think about therapy

Therapy is rooted in an oppressive history, and it has done a great deal of harm over the years (and still does, unfortunately). I am white, and so my identity is implicated in systemic harm. I provide a space (which is as safe as I can make it) to talk about how you experience your identity, and I practice principles of anti-oppression and anti-racism. I think about power, privilege and identity, and how those forces shape people’s lives and shape the therapy space. You are the expert on your own life and experience. I am committed to ensuring that our therapy will feel safe enough for you to tell me about it.

Therapy requires trust: both in the process and in the therapist. This is not something I take for granted. It is wise for you to come into therapy guarded and I welcome the opportunity to earn your trust.

I am a queer parent and partner, and those life experiences deeply inform my sense of self and my worldview, both as a person and as a therapist.

How I’m positioned

Education and Credentials

2015. Registered Psychotherapist, College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario

2008: MEd Counselling Psychology, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

Trainings and Certifications

Foundations and Explorations in Clinical Supervision (30 Hours). Marlee Rubel, RP, Online. 2026.

Three-Day Intensive Internal Family Systems (IFS) Experiential Workshop (18 hours). Dr. Frank Anderson. Toronto, 2025.

San’Yas: Indigenous Cultural Safety Training, BC Provincial Health Service Authority, (10 hours). Online, 2023.

Certificate in Somatic Embodiment and Regulation Strategies, (10 hours). Linda Thai, MSW, Online. October–December, 2020.

Grief and Loss Training: Training to Enhance Understanding and Practice, (8 hours). Andrea Kwan, MSW. Toronto, 2017.

Shame and Self-Loathing in The Treatment of Trauma, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute (8 Hours). Dr. Janina Fisher. Toronto, 2017.

Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT): Advanced, Level 2, Drexel University (18 hours). Philadelphia, PA, Suzanne Levy, PhD, and Guy Diamond, PhD. April 5-7th 2017.

Attachment-Based Family Therapy, Level 1, Central Toronto Youth Services, (18 hours). Suzanne Levy, PhD and Suzanne Levy, PhD. Toronto, 2016.

What Counsellors Need to Know About Hormone Therapies and Trans Surgeries, Rainbow Health (8 Hours). Toronto. December 12th 2014.

Providing Counselling and Support to Clients who are Transitioning, Rainbow Health Ontario (8 Hours). Toronto, August 12th 2014.

Challenging Teens, Struggling Parents: Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Student Focused Worker Initiative (8 Hours). Sian Phillips, PhD, MCYS. Toronto, May 22, 2014.

Attachment-Focused Family Therapy, Factor Inwentash Faculty of Social Work Continuing Education (12 hours). Annette Kussin, MSW. November 15–16 2013.

Supporting Gender Independent Children and their Families, Rainbow Health Ontario, (8 Hours) Hershel Russel, M.Ed. Toronto, September 25th 2013.

Certificate in Trauma Counselling for Front-Line Workers, Central Toronto Youth Services, (20 Hours). Natalie Zlodre, MSW. Toronto, March-April, 2013

Emotion-Focused Therapy for Complex Trauma (EFT-CT), (12 hours). Dr. Sandra Paivio. York University, May 3-4, 2012.

Publications

Kirsh, L. (2026). Attachment-Based Family Therapy and Strategic Alignment with Difficult Parents. In Thawer, R. (Ed.) Practice and Pitfalls: The Politicized Practitioner Series. Blue Cactus Press.

Families in transition: Workbook for parents & caregivers. Central Toronto Youth Services, Elin, L., Thom, B.-R., Miller, L., Whiston, T., Anton, R., Berenson, S., Bloch, G., Bobrow, S., Bondy, C., Brown, N.,Thom, K.C., Dodge, T., Harbour, L., Heinrich, M., Kadish, J., Kirsh, L., Marcus Ware, S., Marven, T., Moore, M.,Rodriguez, T., Sami, T., Smart, M., Spangaro, A., Wilson-Yang, J. Q., Yeh, D., & Zaitzow, J. (2021). https://familiesintransition.ca/files/CTYS-FIT-Workbook-Parent-2022-R2-PRINT-Med-Res.pdf

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

~Mary Oliver

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