Find a Therapist in Southgate, Ontario.

Are you feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or unsure of how to move forward? I’m Simona Ilieva, a Registered Psychotherapist, and I’m here to help. Whether you're facing anxiety, depression, relationship struggles, or life transitions, I offer individualized therapy to help you navigate these challenges. Together, we’ll explore your concerns, identify strengths, and develop strategies to create meaningful change. You deserve a life that feels fulfilling and balanced. Therapy is a powerful tool for self-discovery and healing. Let’s take the first step toward a more empowered, peaceful future together. Book a free consultation today.

Psychotherapy is the use of psychological methods to help a person change behavior and overcome problems in a positive manner. Its aim is to help people understand the thoughts behind feeling anxious or depressed and addressing these thinking patterns. Psychotherapy will help you change behaviors and habits that are limiting you, to experiencing your fullest potential.

Anybody can do counselling, but it takes skill to be a therapist. Clients who come to me find they do most of the talking. My role is to listen, try to understand what you are thinking and feeling, and reflect that understanding back to you. I want you to feel deeply heard. I want you to feel someone cares. I do not give you solutions. Rather, I help you find them within yourself.

As a gestalt psychotherapist, who pairs gestalt training with somatic experiencing I can help support you in healing from your trauma. No one in the Niagara Region utilizes the combination of these therapies and applies them to working with couples in crisis. I am sorry to say but popular approaches to healing trauma like CBT will provide only temporary relief at best. If you want to get to the root of your trauma and heal somatic experiencing (SE) is what you need and when supported with the power of relational gestalt therapy you will shift your shit! SE focuses on regulating your nervous system. Gestalt focuses on awareness, contact and authenticity, it will help being relational.

My approach to psychotherapy is collaborative, compassionate, and tailored to each person’s unique experiences and goals. Grounded in a trauma-informed and person-centered framework, I integrate EMDR, Internal Family Systems (IFS), mindfulness, DBT skills, somatic awareness, and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) to support healing and personal growth. Together, we explore patterns, strengthen coping skills, and process emotional pain in a safe and supportive environment. Individuals often find greater clarity, balance, and confidence as they reconnect with their inner strengths and sense of self.

I have been providing psychotherapy since 1996. Through psychotherapy, I have been able to help individual, couples and families to address their challenges/problems and achieve their therapy goals. My approach is client-centred, solution-focused, and using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques. Through psychotherapy, I can help you to improve your thinking, feelings and/or behavior.

I've heard a lot of people tell me that they thought "therapy was only for crazy people". It's not. Psychotherapy can keep you from going crazy! Having a trained professional to assist you in making sense of your life can be a very "un-crazy" thing to do. Besides, the process can actually be fun and enjoyable. In additon, I offer body-oriented psychotherapy which integrates the awareness of the body in helping you to manage intense emotions or physical symptoms.

Psychotherapy is a supportive space to explore your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in a way that fosters growth and healing. Whether you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, grief, or navigating life changes, therapy helps you uncover patterns, gain insight, and develop healthier ways to cope. It’s a collaborative process tailored to your unique needs, where you can work toward goals like improved relationships, self-awareness, or emotional balance. Psychotherapy empowers you to face challenges with resilience and live more authentically. With the right support, positive change becomes not just possible but sustainable.

Mental health is just as important as physical health. If you’re feeling a bit down, or maybe you thought you heard something, you’d probably shrug it off. But, if it persists or gets worse, like you’re constantly sad, don’t want to leave the house, and constantly feeling tired or you’ve been seeing someone following and you feel that your brain is disorganized, then you need to see a mental health clinician like a psychotherapist. Even when you’re experiencing the subtle symptoms, it never hurts to have a check up. Reach out to schedule a free 15-minute consultation to start your healing journey.

My role as your therapist is to assist you to explore, reflect and accept yourself. From the safe haven of therapy you probe what you feel, know and maybe fear. It is an in-depth conversation with me but even more with yourself. Through this you reach new perspectives: awareness, feelings, thoughts, intentions plus better understandings of what has happened in your life. From there you can make changes towards healthier actions - calmer and in a more balanced, assertive position in relation to others and yourself. Such personal learning can certainly be done without a therapist - they just assist. Like hiring any consultant, it should certainly be you who is in charge of this journey.

Through a compassionate lens, I help individuals and couples foster a sense of perspective and understanding so they can meet their needs. I strive to make each person feel at ease to openly discuss what is on their mind while integrating various approaches based on the individual needs to get immediate and long-term positive changes. My ultimate hope is to support my clients in developing the confidence and belief in themselves to move through life’s challenges by leaning towards truly self-compassionate actions.

Psychotherapy, ie, “psychodynamic”, differs from counselling or ‘coaching’: focus and goal is deeper "structural" personality/'self' changes; more about ‘how to be’ for life vs ‘what to do’ in specific situations (although this DOES happen). It engages us on 'core' emotional-sensory levels, exploring and healing hurts, confusion, strong negative reactions, troubled relationships, that result from traumas and neglect (eg, abandonment, violence, family disruptions) occurring at vulnerable childhood stages that have become ‘internalized’. This approach empowers one by fostering awareness about inner states and processes interfering with affirmative personal ‘agency’/choices, health- vitality.