Anger Management and Counselling in Ottawa, ON.

Anger comes in many forms. Irritability, frustration, being reactive, having a short-fuse, and so on. Sometimes we don't even notice that we are being this way. It may take someone close to us to let us know. When we are aware of anger being an issue, we may know what it is that's causing the feelings; and other times we feel completely out of control because it seems there is no reason for us to be so reactive. Regardless of the root or recognition, acknowledging anger is important. Finding possible solutions, implementing healthier coping, and regulating the emotions are all part of addressing anger in therapy.

I help clients unlock the negative cycle that anger and its accompanying behaviors may cause. In an empathic and supportive environment I help the client understand where the underlying feelings and thoughts originate and loosen the stranglehold that this cycle previously held. Together with cognitive and behavioral strategies we develop new and healthy coping methods to manage these emotions more productively.

I will work with you to help you understand your triggers. We will talk about the emotions and feelings that are coming up for you in situations. I will teach you coping skills and alternative ways to process these difficult feelings that will allow you to better manage your level of anger. You will find that you are better able to be calmer in situations and your anger will be more manageable once you practice the coping skills more often!

It can be challenging when you find yourself feeling reactive and snapping at those that you care most about. Sometimes anger can feel misunderstood, baffling, or frustrating. With me, we can begin to break down what that anger is about. We could uncover its purpose and begin to build strategies for managing its occurrence. Interested in discussing further? Contact me today.

Anger is often thought of as a negative emotion, but I like to think of Anger as the part of you that loves you and wants to stand up for you when you’ve experienced something “unfair.” Anger does not always make the best decisions about when to stand up for you, so I work collaboratively with clients to identify and explore how anger shows up in their lives, and to strengthen and develop strategies to minimize the impact it has on living the life you want to live. Book a free consultation to learn more about my approach and explore if we are a good fit.

There are many things that can spark anger and it can be difficult to get a hold when anger takes over. It can also be difficult to understand why certain situations may lead us to feel angry and propel us to act in ways that may not be helpful to ourselves or to the relationships we are part of. Within therapy, I will help you to develop greater insight into how and why you experience anger and together, we will learn about the patterns that anger is connected to. I will also help you to develop tools to more safely connect with anger so that you can experience more fulfilling relationships with yourself and others. Contact me or book a free consultation if you wish to learn more.

If anger has a hold on you and your life, therapy can help you feel free again. I can help you learn the necessary skills to manage overwhelming emotions that arise due to anger and help you identify the roots of your anger. Therapy can also help a person address underlying emotions and memories that may be contributing to the distress. With time and patience, anyone can learn to control their anger, and I am here to help you through this journey.

Anger management counseling can help to identify stressors and learn the steps to stay calm in the face of anger. The goal is to handle tense situations in more constructive and positive ways by reducing the emotional and physical arousal that anger can cause. It will provide the tools to take back your life and resolve the triggers that result in unplanned anger reactions.

Anger is a strong and tough emotion. When used in an unproductive way, anger can harm our inner world and sense of self-esteem (i.e. self-criticism, self-injury), and harm our relationships (i.e. blaming, criticism, aggression, inflexibility). However, when this feeling is used in a healthy way, it can help us by alerting us that boundaries may have been crossed or that we may have some thoughts to challenge. It can also help to motivate us and help us to be assertive. We can work together to get a handle on anger and harness that energy in healthy, helpful ways.

Anger, frustration, and rage can make a person feel so powerless; when we have emotional outbursts of any kind they can feel so all-encompassing and make us feel like we are not in control of feelings, thoughts, and behaviours. In working with clients on their emotions I aim to primarily promote an understanding of why our emotional outbursts occur; once this has been established we begin to work on how to manage, mitigate, or change how these outbursts occur, or why we feel the way that we feel in the first place.

For many of us, anger and aggression have been engrained as a defensive mechanism, a way of protecting ourselves from the world. Often, we feel like we need to resort to anger to ensure we aren’t being taken advantage of. In the moment, this anger can intensify and lead us to taking actions that hurt ourselves and those around us, often leading to feelings of regret. If we can understand our anger and seek to connect with it in a different way, we can start to learn how this emotion, in its healthy form, can serve a vital role in building relationships and helping drive success in other areas of our lives. Schedule a free consultation with me to see if we are a good fit.

Anger can be a helpful and adaptive emotion and there is a reason why it is in our emotional repertoire. However, if you find that anger is causing troubles in your life such as with relationships, jobs, or daily functioning in general, you may benefit from counselling. Counselling for anger can help in multiple ways: 1) It can help you understand where the anger is coming from and discover whether other, more primary emotions are underneath it 2) It can help you learn strategies to build your tolerance to internal distress 3) It can help you increase adaptive/helpful responses to anger and decrease maladaptive/unhelpful responses to anger

By loosely following an eight-ten session Anger Management protocol, clients have the opportunity to not only gain effective tools for gaining control over their anger, but also to finally gain an understanding of it. Clients learn of the triggers, emotional/physical reactions, and self-beliefs that maintain unhealthy anger expression. By developing physical, emotional, and cognitive coping strategies, clients complete this program feeling in control, empowered, and grounded.

My style of anger management may differ from the typical options. I focus on safe emotional release work called Psychodramatic Bodywork where the client and environment are safe and not at risk of injury/damage. Using floor and vertical mats, clients are supported to release feelings to then be able to access the root causes of their rage/fear/sadness/'anger management' struggles. Emotional release work is extremely transformational, and helps people release the adrenaline stored in their bodies that block mindfulness, clarity and authentic emotional expression. I look forward to explaining this process further during the free meet and greet sessions.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Breathe in.. Breath out. These are probably some of the tools you already know and are using to manage your anger, where you are. We can help to expand or refine the tools in your tool box! If your anger is now beginning to control you, it is probably a good idea that you stop using the tools you are using. Book with us today to learn more!

Anger is like many emotions we experience - it can get too hot to handle and when it is not dealt with it causes problems for ourselves and others. It can often lead to relapsing into addictive tendencies, having conflict with others and doing and saying things we regret later. At OWA Therapy you will learn to deal with anger by understanding where it is coming from and developing ways of regulating it. Instead of anger calling the shots, we will learn to get in control of anger and become empowered enough to choose how we express it.

Anger can be all consuming when it arrives. My approach will help you to recognize the symptoms and signs of anger before anger has a chance to overwhelm you. When you recognize that anger has arrived, the strategies I teach will enable you to manage anger in a way that will ensure you maintain safety and respect for self and others.

Helping clients understand their anger - what is triggering them, where this anger is stemming from and healthier ways to cope with the pain and hurt often found behind angry behaviours. Explore various strategies to communicate their emotions (whether it be anger, frustration, pain, hurt, suffering, etc) in a healthier way to those around them. Helping clients understand the impact of their anger and their behaviours on those around them (whether it be in the workplace, with family or friends).

Anger is a friend in that it provides us with valuable information about ourselves and our surroundings. It can be understood as our emotional reaction to believing that either we or another have somehow been mistreated. it is most problematic in its expression rather than it its experience. Problematic expressions of anger present in varied forms, from passive forms to expressions of rage. We can learn to promote understanding of the meaning of our anger and the secondary emotions it triggers as well as how to develop alternative coping strategies.