WELCOME TO BUILDING BRIDGES PSYCHOTHERAPY

Founded by Justin the Therapist, we believe that healing happens through connection.

Our highly skilled and experienced therapists offer individual therapy, couple therapy, and family therapy.

You may also book a free 15 minute phone call with any of our therapists.

We are currently seeing clients at our Mississauga, Guelph, Vaughan, and Toronto locations, as well as remotely via Phone/Video.

Feel free to check out our website, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and our LinkedIn.

Individual Therapy

Individual therapy is available to any individual of any age (i.e. children, adolescents, adults, and seniors), and of any race, culture, religion, ability, sexual orientation, gender expression, and immigration status. Individual therapy grants you the opportunity to sit one and one with your therapist to share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with a trained professional, while working... Read More

Individual therapy is available to any individual of any age (i.e. children, adolescents, adults, and seniors), and of any race, culture, religion, ability, sexual orientation, gender expression, and immigration status. Individual therapy grants you the opportunity to sit one and one with your therapist to share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with a trained professional, while working towards your own therapeutic goals. Your individual therapist will do their best to provide you with a safe space to be vulnerable. Your individual therapist has your best interests in mind when doing individual therapy.

As registered psychotherapists, we are regulated by the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO), which requires Psychotherapists to undergo extensive training, supervision, experience, and up to date knowledge of the research and best practices when working with clients.


Couple Therapy

Couple therapy is for any two individuals that would like to work on their romantic relationship. Couples can be young or old, married or unmarried, for new couples or couples that have been together for a long time. Couple therapy grants you and your partner the opportunity to share each of your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with a trained professional, while working towards your couple ... Read More

Couple therapy is for any two individuals that would like to work on their romantic relationship. Couples can be young or old, married or unmarried, for new couples or couples that have been together for a long time. Couple therapy grants you and your partner the opportunity to share each of your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with a trained professional, while working towards your couple goals. Your couple therapist will do their best to provide both of you a safe space to be vulnerable with each other. Your couple therapist has the interests in couple in mind when doing couple therapy. In other words, even if the couple therapist sees one of the partners for a session, the couple therapist is still thinking about how best to help the relationship between both partners, and not the only the individual seeing the therapist in that session.

As registered psychotherapists, we are regulated by the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO), which requires Psychotherapists to undergo extensive training, supervision, experience, and up to date knowledge of the research and best practices when working with clients.


Family Therapy

Family therapy is for a wide range of individuals that identify as being close together. These include but are not limited to: parents, children, siblings, grandparents, cousins, close friends, etc. Family therapy can also be beneficial for co-parenting, where the focus is not on a romantic relationship (e.g. two separated/divorced parents). Family therapy grants you and your family member(s) t... Read More

Family therapy is for a wide range of individuals that identify as being close together. These include but are not limited to: parents, children, siblings, grandparents, cousins, close friends, etc. Family therapy can also be beneficial for co-parenting, where the focus is not on a romantic relationship (e.g. two separated/divorced parents). Family therapy grants you and your family member(s) the opportunity to share each of your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with a trained professional, while working towards your family goals. Your family therapist will do their best to provide both of you a safe space to be vulnerable with each other. Your family therapist has the interests of the family in mind when doing family therapy. In other words, even if the family therapist sees one of the family member(s) for a session (i.e. there are less people than usual), the family therapist is still thinking about how best to help the family, and not the only just the family member(s) present in that session.

As registered psychotherapists, we are regulated by the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO), which requires Psychotherapists to undergo extensive training, supervision, experience, and up to date knowledge of the research and best practices when working with clients.


Consultation

Consultation allows you to talk to a psychotherapist and ask questions. This is great before booking a session, also known as the intake process. Consultation is not psychotherapy.


Intake Calls

Book an intake call to be matched with the right therapist for you. For clients coming through Building Bridges Psychotherapy (BB), the intake call is not mandatory but an option to help you in your search, as our intake team will help connect you with a therapist that matches your specific needs in a therapist. For clients coming through Affordable Therapy Ontario (ATO), the intake call is a *... Read More

Book an intake call to be matched with the right therapist for you. For clients coming through Building Bridges Psychotherapy (BB), the intake call is not mandatory but an option to help you in your search, as our intake team will help connect you with a therapist that matches your specific needs in a therapist. For clients coming through Affordable Therapy Ontario (ATO), the intake call is a *mandatory* first step for those looking for low cost therapy. Intake calls take approximately 5-15 minutes.


Clinical Supervision

For all therapists and clinicians, you can book a clinical supervision meeting with one of our clinical supervisors. Book a meeting to talk about a client or talk about self as therapist. These supervision meetings can also count towards your required supervision hours (e.g., with the CRPO). If you'd like to do co-supervision with a colleague to split the cost, feel free to book an appointment ... Read More

For all therapists and clinicians, you can book a clinical supervision meeting with one of our clinical supervisors. Book a meeting to talk about a client or talk about self as therapist. These supervision meetings can also count towards your required supervision hours (e.g., with the CRPO). If you'd like to do co-supervision with a colleague to split the cost, feel free to book an appointment under one profile and both of you can attend (in-person or virtually).

Justin Michel * Founder/CEO of Building Bridges Psychotherapy * Registered Psychotherapist with the CRPO * Registered Marriage and Family Therapist with the CAMFT * MSc in Couple and Family Therapy (U of G) * MA in Social and Personality Psychology (York U) * Hons BSc. in Psychology, Neuroscience, & Behaviour, Minor in Biology (McMaster U). * www.justinthetherapist.com

Justin Michel * Founder/CEO of Building Bridges Psychotherapy * Registered Psychotherapist with t... Read More

My approach is based on a bio-psycho-social model. I analyze clients’ data to define risk factors that contribute to psychological difficulties. As a psychotherapist trained in the Gestalt approach, I engage in issues related to individuals’ psychological boundaries, emotional responses, awareness and satisfaction of needs, the nature of their interpersonal relationships, and the influence of childhood trauma and life experiences on the formation of response patterns and belief systems. I focus on actual client problems and needs to achieve positive outcomes, such as coping successfully with psychological concerns, relationship difficulties, crises and difficult life circumstances, and effectively dealing with the symptoms of psychological disorders. I am a psychotherapist by education and training and worked as a psychiatrist before coming to Canada. It helps me properly navigate the best relevant therapy approaches, set short-term and long-term goals for therapy, and understand the need to integrate various interdisciplinary practices in client care.

My approach is based on a bio-psycho-social model. I analyze clients’ data to define risk factor... Read More

MSc. in Couple and Family therapy from University of Guelph; BSc. in Cognitive Science from University of Toronto; BA in Clinical Psychology from University of Tehran

MSc. in Couple and Family therapy from University of Guelph; BSc. in Cognitive Science from Unive... Read More

Debra Barran, MDiv., RP Registered Psychotherapist

“I am not what has happened to me; I am what I choose to become…” -Carl Jung.

If you are stuck in the “I wish things had been different” mode,” and feel like there is little hope for change in your life; therapy provides an avenue to be heard, to grieve, to discover acceptance, and create a new future right now, as you and I work together to formulate small but consistent steps in the present. I believe that each person is unique and brings individualized strengths and skills to forge new paths in their lives and in their relationships. Together, we can reach your goals.

My particular strengths are working with the mind-body connection in areas such as mindfulness to address the overtaxed central nervous system, experiential therapy to process the authenticity of the inner body awareness and experience, and cognitive behavioural therapy to restructure thoughts that contribute to dysfunctional relationship with self and others. I have also trained in Solution Focused Therapy and Family Systems, as well as integrating Spirituality in mental health care, and am happy to incorporate this in your treatment plan, if so desired.

I provide psychotherapy services to adult individuals.

My own journey in mental health has embodied the mind, body and spirit, to heal and thrive.

I provide a safe, and compassionate space so that you can feel heard and supported to move toward the change you seek. If you want to discover whether I can be the right therapist for you, I offer a free 15 minute telephone consultation. I look forward to meeting you.

Debra Barran, MDiv., RP Registered Psychotherapist “I am not what has happened to me; I am what... Read More

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