Do you sometimes behave in ways that confuse or even scare you and you don’t know why? Do you suddenly remember things from your past that are painful or distressing? Do you struggle with depression, with severe anxiety, with stress and burnout? Do you zone out at work or when spending time with your family? Are you angry or snappy all the time? Do you feel “guilty** about everything? Do you struggle with chronic pain?

These are just a few of the symptoms of TRAUMA. And if these questions “Hit Home” for you, I truly know how you feel! I’ve struggled with some of these issues myself and so I UNDERSTAND what it’s like to feel exhausted, defeated, and even hopeless at times. I know that sometimes you may wonder if you’ll ever feel happiness or joy again. I know that you may worry if you’ll ever get to do the things you used to do or if you’ll ever fell “normal” again.

BUT I AM HERE TO OFFER YOU HOPE

HI! My name is Melissa Gates and I have been a Registered Psychologist, seeing clients throughout all of Alberta, for over 15 Years.

I use a variety of different evidence-based interventions in the work I do, because I believe in doing whatever I can to best help the client meet their goals in therapy.

But in my heart I am a person-centered therapist first and foremost. This means that I value the client-therapist relationship above all else. Research indicates that the relationship and the degree of safety that a client feels with their therapist plays a key role in how fast and how well a client heals from trauma. Furthermore, I truly believe that without a strong connection with your therapist, and without a strong relationship, free from judgement, and built on trust, attunement, and empathy, the true “work” in therapy cannot get done. If you don’t trust me, you will never feel SAFE enough to open up to me about your true thoughts and feelings. So my focus when meeting a new client, and all throughout the therapy process, is on building a strong, trusting relationship first and foremost.

And as the trust begins to increase, we can then begin to work through all the different types of TRAUMA that may be continuing to affect your daily life because I believe that it is often the past that is leading to your symptoms in the present.

I mainly see clients that come to me struggling with trauma-based disorders, such as CPTSD, PTSD, BPD, Dissociative Disorders (incl. DID), and Chronic Pain (which is often a form of bodily trauma).

These clients present with MANY symptoms, and I would bet that you will have experienced a few of these yourself since you’re here reading my bio. THESE SYMPTOMS INCLUDE: depressed mood, being easily triggered and getting overly angry or sad, severe anxiety, many fears that keep you from living your life, zoning out often (what we call “*Dissociation), feeling **chronic emptiness and always thinking (or (“KNOWING”) that “I’m not good enough”, work stress abd burnout”, **difficulties in relationhips, disordered eating, family chaos, distressing memories from childhood and ONGOING stress related to parents and family of origin issues.

The types of therapy I use most often in order to help clients with the above issues are: Somatic-Based therapies, EGO-State therapy, insight-oriented approaches (also known as Psychodynamic therapy),, and… saving the best for last…My FAVOURITE approach to healing trauma is a trauma-based intervention called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).

I believe strongly in the healing power of the human body and most often use EMDR and somatic techniques together to help you, the client, put the traumatic memories (that are leading to the present symptoms), in the PAST. After reprocessing difficult memories (and memory themes) you will no longer feel held back by distressing thoughts, memories, intense behaviours, strong feelings, and the accompanying body sensations (such as severe pain) that come with PTSD and Trauma. After completing the 8 phases and 3 prongs of EMDR, you will finally be able to ** “settle” into your nervous system-** –a crucial skill that many who suffer with trauma, anxiety, and chronic pain may have lost after multiple traumas, or may not ever have developed as young children.* And after enough disturbing memories/events have been reprocessed your symptoms of trauma will be cleared and will no longer affect you the way they did, as you will have put it all in the PAST.

And, as a final note, although I DO believe it is important to give you the tools to work through the agony you may be facing in your everyday life in the present, (which I WILL provide for you), I also believe it is crucial to look more deeply at the past…at what happened in a your earlier life that got you to this point of exhaustion, pain, stress, anxiety, depression, overwhelm and even hopelessness. I believe strongly that the traumas of our past play a crucial role in how we cope with life’s difficulties, thereby creating the symptoms we have in the present. So, it is only by understanding where you came from that we can best know how to help you to heal.

I look forward to meeting you very soon! WE WILL GET THROUGH IT TOGETHER!

Do you sometimes behave in ways that confuse or even scare you and you don’t know why? Do you sud... Read More