John Neumin DCTP, Member CAPT

Welcome

Your reasons for considering psychotherapy are as unique as you are.  You may be in crisis, overwhelmed by depression, anxiety, or a flood of disturbing feelings.  You may be desperately trying to change an ongoing problem in your life, experiencing an undermining sense of isolation, struggling with feelings of low self-esteem, or trying to develop healthy and satisfying relationships.  You may be eager to explore who you are, understand what you want and need, trying to figure out which direction to go in life, or vaguely dissatisfied with how your life has turned out.

Regardless of what brings you into therapy, your changes will involve the totality of who you are.

By focusing on you as a whole person, good psychotherapy can offer you a medium from which you can create broad, deep and lasting changes in your life.  As your therapist I will work to provide you with safe, supportive, empathic and non-judgemental understanding, as well as the committed, skilled and experienced help, necessary to create that medium. 

The Way I Work

I believe that the two most powerful catalysts for your growth are your focused and deepening awareness, and a safe and authentic therapeutic relationship.   While techniques such as dream analysis, hypnosis, relaxation, body-work, focusing, active imagination etc. can be helpful (usually by enhancing your awareness), the most important therapeutic process, and the ground from which I work, is engaged conversation.  I am not trying to suggest that this is another technique, rather, the opposite.  Speaking, or not speaking, from as natural, authentic, honest and open a place as possible will help to form the centre from which you grow and heal. 

People often ask, “How can ‘just talking’ help me?” 

Words can be very powerful and their affects on us are very real.  Imagine how you would feel and act after hearing “You have two months to live.”  Or  “I never loved you. I’m leaving you.”  Or “You’ve just won the lottery.”  Now imagine telling someone about a powerful dream you’ve had, or the details of a defining moment in your childhood.  Or imagine telling someone something you had always been afraid to tell anyone.  Each of these ‘tellings’, these ‘words’, move us into a different place in ourselves and a different relationship to the one with whom we’re speaking.  Each telling has a different affect on the person we are with, on how they respond to us, how we feel with them, and on how we feel and act after we leave them.

In therapy, your speaking and listening have a great deal of potential power.  If you are open and courageous, if you push against the envelope of comfort into the deeper layers of honesty, what you say, and how you listen (most importantly to yourself), will start to change you in surprisingly fundamental ways.  Your being listened to and spoken to by someone who cares, who is authentically present, who works hard to understand exactly what you are trying to say and is trained to listen to and speak from the implicit, deeper levels of what is being revealed, will create experiences in which you can dare to let your own words, and your therapist’s understandings of what you are saying, affect you.

Of course, speaking can be used defensively and listening can be faked.  We can (and do) hide behind words.  We can use words in ways that will ensure that we will not change, and we will not grow.  Working with these self-defeating ways of protecting ourselves is also an important part of the therapeutic process.

Like the finger pointing at the moon, words should never be mistaken for the truth of what they are trying to express.  Speaking and listening are not the goals of psychotherapy, only the most powerful tools for helping you along.  Sometimes five minutes of silence can say much more than an hour’s worth of words.  To speak and listen in ways that are helpful to you in therapy, you simply need to be open to who you are, notice what comes to mind (especially if it is unexpected, scary, or taboo), be honest with your therapist (say what you are thinking and feeling, and if it feels too difficult to say it, talk about how it is difficult), and finally be aware of how you feel after you have spoken, or after you therapist has.  This seemingly simple circular process can lead you to discover and transform who you are.

Who I am

I have been working as a therapist in private practice since 1995.  Married and a father of three school-aged children, I divide the bulk of my time between my family, writing (both professionally and creatively) and my full-time practice in central Toronto.  I am currently working with adult men and women in individual, couples, and group therapy contexts.

A graduate of the Centre for Training in Psychotherapy and a full member of the Canadian Association of Psychodynamic Therapy, I am available to speak on the personal and cultural value, importance and complexities of psychodynamic therapy, and have given a number of talks on the subject.

As both a therapist and fellow traveler, I am honoured to work with people who are consciously, intentionally and courageously trying to live fuller, more meaningful and happier lives. It is a privilege to be able to be a part of your deeply inspiring journeys.

To make an appointment, enquire about an initial interview, or to ask me any questions, feel free to e-mail me.  For a map to my office, click here.  To read more about me click HERE.