About Me
Hello! Thank you for visiting my website to learn more about me and my approach.
My name is Stephanie Kale (she/her) and I'm the founder of Embodied Mind Psychotherapy. I'm a registered member of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO #10101) and practice in Ottawa, Canada, though I'm able to see clients across Ontario virtually. I provide individual therapy to people 18 years and older.
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I have experience providing individual therapy in private practice and in community health settings and have supported people with posttraumatic stress and complex trauma; anxiety and depression; self-esteem issues; substance use and addiction issues; interpersonal issues; grief and loss; spiritual, self-growth and existential issues; chronic pain and illness; and life transitions. More details about my therapeutic approach are further below.
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Before becoming a therapist, I worked for more than a decade in the federal public service, mostly in support of postsecondary research (I love research!). While I enjoyed my career as a public servant, I decided to embark on a midlife career change to work more directly in the helping professions. This life transition allows me to understand and deeply appreciate the questions about meaning and purpose that may arise at different times in our life, and the emotions and risks involved to follow such curiosities.
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Dance, yoga, and meditation have been lifelong embodiment practices that lead me to greater health and wellbeing. I aim to bring these experiences and passion of exploring the mind-body connection into my work with clients.
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I've listed my education and training experience below to see if it aligns with what you might be struggling with or wanting to explore more deeply in therapy. I welcome you to reach out for a consultation to see if it feels like a good fit for you to work together. Your comfort with me is the most important ingredient to achieving good therapy outcomes.
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Education
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PhD Candidate, Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Spirituality, Saint Paul University, 2021-2025
Proposed thesis: Somatic Healing: The Role of the Body in MDMA-Assisted Therapy. -
MA, Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Spirituality, Saint Paul University, 2018-2021
Thesis: Interoceptive Awareness and Emotion Regulation Among Individuals with Depression and Anxiety in Emotionally-Focused Individual Therapy. -
Graduate Diploma, National Centre for Dance Therapy at Les Grands Ballets, 2014-2016
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MJ (ABD), Journalism, Carleton University, 2007-2008
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MA, Political Economy, Carleton University, 2003-2006
Thesis: Beyond Gender: Women in the Cultural Economy of Electronic Music. -
BA (Honours), International Relations, University of Windsor, 1998-2003
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Trainings
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Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Developmental Injury (ongoing)
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Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Trauma
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Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Complex Trauma and Dissociation
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Grof Legacy Training (Holotropic Breathwork; Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy training) (ongoing)
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TheraPsil, Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy training (ongoing)
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Integrated Treatment for Concurrent Disorders, Canadian Mental Health Association
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Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced Focusing (Gendlin)
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Psychedelics and Somatics, Embody Lab
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Motivational Interviewing Level 1, Canadian Mental Health Association
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SMART Recovery and Family & Friends Facilitator Training
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ASIST suicide intervention / prevention
My Approach
Client-centred.
I believe you are the expert of your own experience and I am in a supportive role to help explore your inner world and to re-find your inner compass that leads toward growth, healing, and health.
Attachment-oriented.
Early relationships inform a sense of self, others, and the world, and together we may try to find ways to help listen and respond to your deepest emotional needs and find a way to safe, secure relationships.
Somatic-oriented.
Our body holds patterned ways of relating to self, others, and the world. Through exploring and cultivating mindfulness of the connection between body and mind, we can shift these patterns towards greater self-awareness, self-compassion, and joy.
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Trauma-informed and relational.
The possibility to heal from trauma relies first and foremost on establishing a space and a relationship with me that you may come to trust. Together, we will focus and expand upon your strengths and resilience that got you through difficult times in life. Creating this stable environment first allows us to journey together towards processing traumatic experiences, and work towards creating new meaning.
“There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
What does the body have to do with therapy?
We think in bodies. We feel in bodies. Our body carries us through this world. Let's explore our embodied experience together in therapy.
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My integrated approach to therapy, combines traditional talk therapy with body-based and mindfulness approaches, such as Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Focusing-oriented therapy. These approaches draw from the latest neuroscientific research on trauma processing and emotion regulation, and aim to help you get in touch with your deeper felt sense of yourself.
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Together, we can explore your thoughts and feelings, while also making space and inviting a mindful awareness of the body by paying attention to inner sensations, patterns of tensions and release, and impulses to move, as we explore the various stories of your life.
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In my research and clinical experience, cultivating a mindful awareness of our body may open up more paths to finding wellbeing and a sense of groundedness amid difficult emotions and memories, especially when we feel stuck in habitual thoughts, feelings, and physical reactions.
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Together we can move towards embodied change.