Sarah Walsh 

BA, HBSW, MSW, RSW,

Social Worker

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I want to first share with you the perspective I bring to my clinical work.  You may be looking into therapy because you’re feeling stuck and struggling in some way.  We all develop habits to cope and habits to manage our relationships with others, and sometimes despite great effort to fix things, we struggle.  You may be experiencing a lot of difficult thoughts about yourself or someone close to you.  Therapy can be a way to figure out how to be kinder to yourself: often leading to more kindness and understanding towards others.  Therapy is also a way to notice things you may want to change.  While therapy focuses on the struggle and suffering parts of life, it is also a space to connect with your values and notice what motivates you; it can be fun and lighthearted as much as it can be challenging (like life).  

 

I am a Registered Social Worker (since 2011) and my practice of psychotherapy has developed through clinical work, supervision and ongoing professional development since 2013.  I have clinical experience in adult mental health and in child development.  I have practiced in a hospital setting providing assessment and brief treatment to children, youth and families experiencing various forms of mental health crises.  I have also practiced brief and longer-term psychotherapy in a non-profit child, youth and family community mental health agency.  

 

My clinical work is integrated, drawing from evidence-based approaches, however it leans heavily on my training and ongoing learning in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).  At its core, ACT helps us to do things that really matter despite the reality that difficult thoughts, feelings and physical stress often show up.  My work is also informed by Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, mindfulness, attachment theory and trauma-informed practices, among other approaches.

 

I am a member of the Association for Contextual Behavioural Science (ACBS) and currently serve on the Ontario ACBS Board, both bodies support the learning and research community for anyone interested in ACT and related therapeutic approaches.  I am committed to ongoing learning and competence; this is a requirement of the College of Social Workers but also something I care deeply about.

 

I strive toward anti-oppressive and anti-racist values and actions in my personal and professional life.  As a white clinician, I seek open dialogue around my own unseen biases and am committed to compassionately understanding the lived experience of all people.