Hello! My name is Dr. Claire Han, a licensed psychologist, with a PhD in Clinical Psychology from McGill University. Over the last 6 years, I have developed clinical skills and shaped my therapy style through work at different sites. This includes the Allan Memorial Institute, the Montreal Neurological Institute, and the CBT clinic. In addition, my rigorous training in neuroscience research for the last 10 years has deepened my understanding of, and compassion for the way we, as humans, think, feel and make decisions. I myself have spent half of my life in Korea, and the other half in Canada. Having crossed paths with many other individuals with diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, I am confident that my humility, openness and my ability to understand people of diverse values and belief systems will allow me to help open doors for more people who are working through life’s complexities.

My specific clinical experiences and skills

In both private and public settings, I have worked with individuals with eating- or weight-related issues, depression, anxiety, psychotic symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder, self-esteem issues, perfectionism, social anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, health anxiety, stress, codependency issues and personality disorders. My preferred therapy techniques are acceptance commitment therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, and motivational interviewing. Not only am I eager to share these advantages with you, but I am also constantly developing my resources, reading and learning about different mental health conditions and therapy tools so that I can best accommodate the uniqueness of each client!

My values as a therapist

Clients walk into the office with different problems, life experiences and personalities. Tailoring treatment to each individual is an highly important skill that I have been well trained on. However, I believe you will find it helpful to learn about my values as a therapist; these, I have identified and nurtured over the years as they resonate with my personality and the way that I personally lead my life.

Trust is important in building our therapeutic relationship, and the relationship that you have with yourself. By building trust, and being open and present, I will make effort to create a safe space where you can freely and thoroughly navigate your thoughts and emotions and be vulnerable. This also means that when there are roadblocks on our way (which are inevitable anytime one is making changes), my job is to help you trust in our work, and persevere, and/or be comfortable enough to communicate with me through the daily tensions of your rebuild. Ultimately, I want to help you trust yourself to the extent that you welcome a full range of emotions and thoughts, and apply independently the skills you obtain in therapy with confidence.

I believe that therapy is not about getting rid of what is negative or unpleasant, but helping clients reach and maintain balance in life. Our work will find solutions that allow you to live your life in a way that is congruent with your values, while accepting and/or managing negative circumstances and unpleasant or unhelpful emotional and cognitive experiences. Balance is equally present in the way that one must implement the therapy techniques that we will explore: I believe that structure and foundation need to be solid and stable, but flexibility allows me to personalize these rules according to your path. This also helps us recognize tools that could maximize your benefits and stay motivated.

Collaboration is another value that I see as important in therapy. Although I have expertise in assessment and treatment of mental health problems, you are the person that has direct access to how you perceive the world and process your thoughts and emotions. Therefore, we will be working together to identify therapy goals and appropriate tools, and deal with setbacks as a team. I look forward to working with you through this project we call life!