Addiction Therapists in Wellington, AB.

Our Therapists at Rivers Edge Counselling can help you to • Find the cause of your addiction and manage it effectively • Learn how addiction works and take necessary steps to reduce it • Control emotions and quit unhealthy habits • Coping with the stages of change • Understanding your own self and develop self esteem • Develop skills to understand your addiction

Embracing recovery from addiction is a courageous and transformative journey, and I'm here to walk it with you. As a dedicated counsellor, I provide a safe and empathetic environment where you can heal and regain control over your life. Together, we will explore the root causes of your addiction, develop tailored strategies for recovery, and foster resilience for a brighter future. I understand the complexities of addiction, and I'm committed to guiding you toward lasting recovery and a fulfilling life. Your journey to healing starts here, where hope, transformation, and lasting change are within reach."

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.

Addictions are not problems, they are bad solutions. We always need to find the underlying problems and find effective solutions for them before we can let go of the stop-gap solution - whether the addiction is to a substance, a person, or an activity such as sex or gambling. There is always fear and pain underlying the addiction. We must learn to accept these feelings in order to free ourselves.

Overcoming addiction is a challenging journey that requires support, understanding, and effective strategies. As a Canadian Certified Addiction Counsellor, I offer specialized therapy to help individuals address substance abuse and addictive behaviours. In my therapy practice, I emphasize a compassionate approach through various cognitive therapies, including CBT. CBT focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns and behaviours that contribute to substance use or problem gambling. If you're ready, I invite you to book a free 15-minute phone consultation to explore how I can support you.

I work with clients navigating compulsive patterns—whether it’s substance use, porn, social media, or other behaviours that create guilt, distance, or loss of control. My focus is not on medical detox or abstinence-based programs, but on the emotional and relational roots behind the pattern. Together, we build awareness, reduce shame, and create structure for lasting change. Whether you're feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or on the edge of losing something important, therapy can help you regain clarity and start choosing differently—before things spiral further. You don’t have to be at rock bottom to begin.

Are you feeling like your life is spiralling out of control? Do you feel that something is preoccupying your thoughts or making it difficult to focus on your daily life? Addiction comes in many forms, including substance abuse and computer/video game addiction. The root of addiction is often deeper than it appears, and I can work with you to uncover and understand your addiction, and then develop healthy coping strategies tailored to your unique context.

When working with clients who have addictions, it is important to understand family history, underlying triggers, and enabling factors to better manage the disease. Addiction treatment with me generally includes psychoeducation, challenging negative thought patterns, coping skill development, and relapse prevention, planning. My goal is to help clients intellectualize their substance use and improve their methods of coping so they can finally regain control over their addictions and their lives. Once clients are able, we may also work on repairing their self-image and relationships with others as these can often be damaged by addictions.

Addiction comes in many forms - from drugs and alcohol to exercise and eating to porn and gambling and a variety of others. For some of these addictions, there can be more of a physiological or even genetic component. For all addictions, we see two key aspects: 1) avoidance of pain, discomfort, suffering, conflict, memories and 2) seeking of enjoyment, fun, pleasure, and comfort. And yet, it's never satisfied and you may feel like you just can't stop, like you're on a hamster wheel that you can't get off. That's where therapy can come in to support you in working towards change. You deserve support in these challenges. Reach out and let's work towards a more hopeful future for you.

In our early environments, we absorb a lot of information about ourselves and the world. Sometimes this stuff is positive – like language or self-soothing, but sometimes it comes from a disruptor and is not. Things like criticism, alcohol used by a parent, detachment from parents, perfectionism, or whatever can cause limiting beliefs about one’s self.

Dealing with addiction issues starts with an understanding of the purpose the addiction serves in one's life. Simply trying to stop the addictive behaviour will not address or alleviate the root cause of the issue. New, more problematic behaviours will likely result just develop. In order to deal with addictions, healthier options must be recognized and embraced. And to be able to do that, we must first become comfortable with our own selves. We need to be able to be honest about what works and what does not work in our own 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!

I have advanced training in the assessment of addictions. In order to have any success with addictions counselling there has to be some level of commitment to deal with the discomfort of giving up or at least reducing the addiction. Family and relationships are core to the success of the counselling. Addictions are powerful coping techniques that don't really work. Dealing with addictions means dealing with the pain and past hurts that have not healed or been properly dealt with. Any successful additions therapy means diving deeply into ones life and the beliefs one has developed over a whole lifetime. Connecting to a deeper spiritual set of values can be a tremendous help and support