In your journey through life, at some point you may face insurmountable personal struggles that are difficult to cope with on your own. When this happens it is often helpful to seek professional assistance from a well trained, experienced psychotherapist. I am a registered psychologist who has been in private practice for over thirty years. I have helped people from diverse backgrounds, beliefs and ages address their problems and improve their lives. I offer both individual and marital therapy. I attempt to develop a treatment plan that meets the unique needs of the individual or couple that I am seeing in order to promote personal growth and a more intimate and satisfying relationship.
The type of therapy I do tends to be emotionally-focused, helping you, the client, to express and explore the suppressed emotions that are so often associated with the problems you are facing. I am particularly skilled at helping you to uncover underlying past issues, often from childhood, that are being triggered by your present day struggles. As a result, you are able to experience improvement not only in your current problems, but also in the negative past issues that are often fueling the fire, so to speak. More specifically, I have had training in emotionally-focused psychotherapy, client-centered therapy, psycho-dynamic insight oriented therapy, Gestalt therapy, hypnotherapy, relaxation and stress management and approaches used to reduce trauma (EMDR, and Traumatic Incident Reduction).
I have worked with people experiencing a number of different problems such as depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, sexual/physical/emotional abuse from childhood, loss of a loved one, marital break down (separation and/or divorce), gay and lesbian issues, workplace stress, low self-esteem and self confidence, poor self-assertion and difficulties managing anger.
In marital therapy I follow an emotionally focused, as well as family of origin approach. I help couples to improve the attachment bond and level of overall intimacy, create a healthy power balance, learn affective communication techniques, deal with conflict in a positive manner and address unresolved past issues.
Over the years I have worked with a number of law enforcement officers and their families. As a result, I have developed an understanding of the unique difficulties that come with this kind of work and how these stresses affect the family.
My office is located near Hurontario Street and the QEW at 182 Indian Valley Trail in Mississauga. To have a free telephone consultation or to book an appointment you can call me at (905) 274-0915 or email me at dnixon@sympatico.ca.