Mental Health Support & Education Workshops
Welcome to EmpowerMentalHealth.ca, an accessible approach to attaining the fundamentals of mental health and wellbeing.
I provide compassionate and effective support to help you build the tools you need to reduce stress and feel well.
If you are experiencing:
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Stress
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Burnout
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Overwhelm
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Difficulty identifying your needs
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Difficulty following through with sustainable change
I can help you:
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Learn coping skills
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Create realistic and attainable goals
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Understand your own needs and limits
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Build better communication skills
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Set healthy boundaries
Varainja Stock, PhD
The Value of Group Therapy
Providing mental health support in a group format reduces financial barriers and reduces wait times. Groups sessions can provide the basic building blocks for improving overall mental health at a fraction of the cost of individual counselling.
For those who are on a waitlist for individual therapy or counselling, participating in group therapy can help reduce feelings of helplessness and frustration, and increase feelings of connection and your capacity to heal.
Groups also let us see how connected and similar the human experience is, regardless of our individual differences.
Services
Individual support, Group Therapy for small groups of individuals, & Mental Health Workshops for workplaces, schools, and community organizations.
Individual Counselling
Group Therapy
Individual counselling is available for those not comfortable in a group setting, or as a follow up to a foundations group, to support you implementing healthy changes in your life.
Individual counselling can provide more direct and tailored support.
Foundations groups are designed for small groups of individuals (up to 4 people) who want to build their capacity for dealing with life's stressors, reduce the negative effects of stressors, and make changes that promote better mental health.
The small group size allows for more interaction ensuring the information and support are tailored to your needs.
Group sessions are more affordable than individual counselling and provide you with the support, knowledge and tools to implement positive change in your life.
Community and Professional Workshops
Ready-to-Deliver workshops + Handouts + Evidence-Informed Tools and Information + In-person or Virtual
Group Workshops are ideal for...
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Staff teams & workplaces (recovering from burnout, stress)
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Helping professionals (addressing compassion fatigue, developing professional boundaries, increasing skills for stress management)
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Schools & youth programs (emotional regulation, coping skills)
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Parent groups (coping with stress, adjusting to parenthood, communication at home)
Community and professional workshops are designed to bring the foundations of mental health to larger groups. These workshops can be tailored to the needs of your participants and organization.
Professional workshops focus on areas such as: improving coping skills, increasing ability to respond to stress, and building healthier professional boundaries.
Helping professionals (social workers, intervention workers, front line workers, emergency responders, etc.) are at high risk of trauma, burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma - and often struggle to get the support and resources they need to manage these stressors. Being proactive in providing mental health support and resources can help reduce stigma around mental health, and provide the tools they need to lessen the impact of the unavoidable stressors in their work.
Groups
Calm
This in-depth group focuses on understanding the fundamentals of stress. Participants learn to recognize the early signs of stress, the major stressors in their life, coping mechanisms for dealing with stress, and an individualized plan to reach their stress reduction goals.
Better Boundaries
Boundary violations are a major source of unnecessary stress and relationship tension. But many people don't feel like they can communicate their boundaries or even know what their boundaries are. This group focuses on understanding boundaries, identifying where you are struggling to respect your own boundaries, and learning how to communicate and maintain boundaries. This group is fundamental for building your self-knowledge and ability to communicate and maintain healthy relationships.
Coping Skills 101
This short skills based group introduces you to some fundamental skills for dealing with stress in the moment. The focus is on easy to remember techniques for reducing feelings of overwhelm, stress, and anxiety.
Surviving the Dumpster Fire
The current state of the world is often referred to as a "dumpster fire", referring to a world that feels chaotic, messy, and overwhelming. But humans tend to thrive on predictability and structure, and a sense of purpose and direction. This group looks at ways that people can cultivate a sense of stability while staying engaged in meaningful action.
The following is a sample of available groups for individuals, some are also available as workshops for organizations. If you are interested in joining a group or would like to find out more about workshops, please fill out the contact form below.
Get in Touch
Please fill out the form to find out more or schedule a session.
I am located on the island of Tiohtià:ke / Montreal, Quebec
