Dr. Lauren Poulin is a registered Clinical and Counselling Psychologist with the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario. Her area of focus is therapy and assessment for adults, and she is particularly passionate about working with neurodivergent adults. Dr. Poulin excels in creating a non-judgemental, supportive, and validating therapeutic environment for her clients. In this space, she helps individuals to identify and work towards the changes that are most important and meaningful to them.
Dr. Poulin works with individuals presenting with a wide variety of concerns, including emotion dysregulation, interpersonal difficulties, anxiety, depression, trauma, insomnia, adapting to life transitions, and coping with the stressors of everyday life. She also has expertise in providing therapy and assessment for autistic adults and adults with ADHD, working from a neurodivergent-affirming perspective. Through this work she helps individuals to explore and process the lifelong experience of feeling different, and to build further self-understanding and self-acceptance. She also provides support in helping individuals to identify and advocate for their needs, which can be very challenging for individuals who have gone through life being unheard and invalidated. She is especially attuned to how neurodivergence can show up differently in women and gender diverse individuals, those who are high-masking, and those who are late-diagnosed.
Dr. Poulin approaches therapy from a client-centred and humanistic foundation, integrating various other approaches as indicated. During her training, Dr. Poulin familiarized herself with various treatment styles and modalities so that she may have several approaches to draw on depending on the unique needs of her clients. She has been trained in approaches including dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), emotion focused therapy (EFT), prolonged exposure (PE), cognitive processing therapy (CPT), and CBT for insomnia. Dr. Poulin does not use a one size fits all approach; instead, she takes the time to get to know each individual and their personality, preferences, and needs, in order to create a therapeutic plan that will best fit the individual.
Dr. Poulin provides assessment for ADHD, autism, mental health, and personality disorders. Her approach to assessment is to facilitate self-understanding and to help individuals piece together their own story. Assessment is not solely to provide a diagnostic label; it also allows individuals to better understand their emotions, experiences, and challenges, and can provide a direction for therapy and help individuals to access appropriate supports and resources.
Dr. Poulin completed her Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology at York University in Toronto. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), in both the Borderline Personality Disorder Clinic and Work Stress and Health program. She has also held positions at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton in the Anxiety Treatment and Research Clinic, Toronto Metropolitan University’s Centre for Student Development and Counselling, and the York University Psychology Clinic.
Dr. Poulin values continued professional development and learning, and therefore regularly engages in continuing education. In particular, she seeks continued learning in providing affirmative care to diverse populations such as those who are neurodivergent, LGBTQ2IA+, and BIPOC. She is a member of the International Society for Autism Research and the Ontario Psychological Association, and she has held memberships with the Society of Psychotherapy Research, Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration, and the Association for Psychological Science.