Addiction Therapists in De Winton, AB.

I have deep experience helping individuals navigate addictions using twelve-step supportive therapy in a safe virtual space. Together, we explore behaviors and underlying factors while cultivating self-awareness, accountability, and healthy coping skills. My approach focuses on building resilience, fostering growth, and sustaining recovery in a supportive and nonjudgmental environment. Online sessions provide flexibility and security while allowing clients to engage fully with the twelve-step framework and create meaningful, long-term change.

Addiction is a beast; one I have fought for most of my life, and beating it (and continuing to beat it every day) is one of the hardest things I've ever done. I'm also living proof that it can be done. I'm different in that I'm not here to enforce any programs on you and will never judge you. I will work with who you are as a person to determine how best you can recover, on your terms.

An addiction, whether to a substance or a behaviour, is an attempt to alleviate distress, self-soothe or fill an emptiness. The substance or behavior cannot bring relief because it is not what you truly need. No matter how you have been self-medicating your stress and pain thus far, I can help you treat the underlying issues in ways that are life-sustaining rather than destructive. The earlier you get help, the better. I will compassionately help you no matter how many times you have tried to quit and will help you establish ways that will help you stay quit. I provide therapy for various addictions with a sex addiction specialty. I help those addicted as well as their families.

This isn't who you are. Is it time for a change? Ready to consider doing something different in your life? My approach to addictions looks at behavioral, emotional and cognitive changes that can support your recovery, building a new you and a new life. Drawing on CBT and other approaches, the supportive, non-judging space I provide teaches you practical strategies to cope with life, alternative (aka more rewarding and fulfilling) behaviors (and to learn to like them!), and helps you heal. You'll come to know greater freedom and satisfaction with who you are, your relationships, and with your life.

If you or someone you know are addicted to prescription drugs, Dr. Mervin (Paraklesis Counselling) can come alongside you and help you to break the cycle of lapse and relapse. Often people with depression become dependent on taking benzodiazepines (a suppressant that depresses the mood), and they therefore struggle not only to get out of the depression but also to stop taking the tranquilizers. With an understanding of the working mechanisms of the drugs, and with the guidance of a psychopharmacologist, you can begin a new chapter in your life.

Addiction can be a lonely burden to carry. Those around you may have trouble understanding what you are going through which can create separation in relationships and leave you feeling worse. My approach is to find the right strategies to get you back in control and leading a healthy life. We will explore the roots and meaning behind ones addiction and develop healthy coping.

Addiction can rob individuals and families of the hope to continue fighting. However, addictions can be overcome and people do become free of the intrusive urge behaviours and feelings that addiction encompasses. Give the high correlation between trauma and addictions my team, and I use a method of trauma therapy called the EMDR to alleviate the suffering.

If addiction concerns are an issue for you or someone you love, please contact me for information on my approach and how I can assist you on this journey. I utilize a client-centered approach, honouring and respecting where you are at in the change process. Your therapeutic goals and desired outcomes are of upmost importance and counselling will be tailored to provide you with individualized support and change strategies.

People don’t just “choose” addiction or harm—they’re often trying to cope with pain, trauma, stress, or the chaos of life. Harm reduction means we stop treating substance use like a moral failing and start treating it like what it is: a complex human behaviour that deserves understanding, safety, and support. We don’t expect perfection or total abstinence overnight. Instead, we offer a space where you can be honest about your use without fear of judgment or shame. We focus on: Understanding your relationship with substances and what role they play. Exploring safer ways to reduce risk—for your health, your relationships, and your life. Supporting you in setting realistic, achievable goals.

Support for relationship, career, and mental health issues associated with addictions. Gerard has diverse experience as a psychologist and leader in social services, schools, universities, corporati, and his private practice. He supports addicts in recovery from all walks of life, including continuity of care for physicians, dentists, pharmacists, and others struggling with addiction. Using a theoretical foundation of social learning and cognitive-behavioural training, he is well-versed in formal and informal assessment and solution-focussed approaches. He listens carefully to understand your needs and relies on his extensive experience to help you find solutions to your dilemmas.

One of the most common issues I help clients work with is addictions. Almost all of us struggle with one form of addiction or another, whether it's alcohol, drugs, marijuana, gambling, social media, sex, or something else. In almost all instances, addictions are a maladaptive coping mechanism that helps us to avoid difficult feelings. By helping clients explore, in a safe and non-judgmental space, I help them to open up their wounds, so that they can process their emotions, gain an understanding of the processes at work, and move into a more healthy relationship with themselves and their addiction, and in some instances, completely replace it something much healthier.

For every woman, the first step towards freedom from addiction is always the step of coming to believe in freedom and to believe that freedom is possible. We can show you a way out of the guilt and away from the shame that keeps you from the love your heart longs for. Reject the lie that you will always be an addict, reclaim your ability to know truth and choose life!

Addiction is often the surface problem, it's a way of staying away from a greater pain that is below the surface. Doing addiction counselling with me is a gentle and compassionate process of tending to the real issues below the addiction, so that there is no longer a need to engage in this harmful behaviour. When you pull out the roots of a weed, the weed will not grow back, and real change has been achieved!