Trauma and PTSD Treatment in Toronto Doctoral-Level Psychological Care

Trauma and PTSD treatment at Laksman Doell Psychology is delivered by doctoral-level registered psychologists, both in person at our office in the Annex neighbourhood of Toronto and virtually across Ontario.

What Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Look Like

“The experience of trauma is not primarily about the event. It is about the impact that the event leaves on the body and the mind, and on our sense of self and safety as we move through the world.”

Something happened. Maybe it was one awful event. Maybe it was years of accumulation of abuse or neglect. And your nervous system has not been the same since. It impacts your sleep, your memory, the way that your thoughts and senses respond to stimuli in your environment, and your sense of self and safety. Some part of you is on alert all the time, and the other part of you that wants to come back has been waiting for somewhere safe enough to land.

Trauma is not the event. It is the impact that the event leaves on the body and the mind. It is your nervous system’s response to something that overwhelmed your capacity to cope, whether you experienced it directly, witnessed it, or learned of it happening to someone you love.

Trauma can come from a single event or from the long accumulation of harm. It can come from experience of abuse, neglect, accidents, medical events, racialized stress, difficult family dynamics, or any situation that left you feeling unsafe and alone. The response is not weakness. It is what your system did to keep you alive and to allow you to adapt to challenging or dangerous environments. But frequently, these adaptations no longer serve us when we find ourselves outside of these same environments.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) shows up as intrusive memories, nightmares, flashbacks, hypervigilance, avoidance, and numbness. It also shows up as changes in our mood, our ability to connect with others, and the ways in which we think about the traumatic event or our beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. It can be loud. It can also be quiet. The kind of trauma response that makes you very good at functioning and very practiced at not feeling much of anything. Both are real. And both deserve attention.

Trauma also rarely lives alone. It often underlies or shows up alongside our experience of anxiety, depression, more severe mental illness, sleep problems, and the behavioural and interpersonal patterns that we develop in order to manage what we cannot otherwise hold. At Laksman Doell Psychology, we are equipped to work with the full picture, not just the symptom that you walked in with.

IF YOU ARE READING THIS

You may not be sure what you need, but something brought you here…

Something happened, and your nervous system has not been the same since. Sleep is fractured. Sound startles you. Memory plays its own tracks at the wrong moments. The body knows something that your words have not yet caught up to.
The trauma was not a single event. It was years. It was the long, slow accumulation of harm that no one outside of it would have called catastrophic. You are trying to make sense of the long shadow that it has left, and you are tired of being told to move on.
You started therapy before. You stopped. Being asked to retell the story before you were ready felt like more harm. You need a different pace, with a clinician who knows that pacing is the work, not a delay before the work begins.

This is what has brought you here. And you are in the right place

TRAUMA AND PTSD TREATMENT IN TORONTO

The trauma presentations that we treat:

At Laksman Doell Psychology, we treat a wide range of different trauma presentations that arise in response to the experience of a variety of different types of traumatic events. We work with individuals who have recently experienced a life-threatening event or who have been through something that has recently left them feeling completely unsettled. We work with individuals who are wanting to explore the impact that years of accumulated trauma has had on their identity and their sense of safety in the world. We also work with all of the manifestations of trauma that lie in between these different experiences.

Our doctoral-level psychologists treat a number of different types of trauma, including:

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the term that we use when an individual is experiencing prolonged and significant distress or impairment following the experience of, or exposure to, one or more major traumatic event(s). It is characterized by symptoms of intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal, and by negative alterations in both mood and thinking. PTSD can show up in different ways for different people, and can present differently for the same person at different points in time.

Complex Trauma

Complex trauma is the term that is often used to describe the psychological harm that is caused by ongoing, repeated trauma, such as the experience of chronic abuse or neglect during our childhood years. It often arises in response to interpersonal harm, and can have a huge impact on the ways in which our brain and nervous system develop, on our sense of self and identity, on our ability to understand and to regulate our emotions, and on our ability to trust others.

The Immediate Impacts of Trauma

Sometimes individuals present to therapy with symptoms of trauma that have been around for weeks, months, or even years. However, some individuals find that they are most in need of help when they are still in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic event. When they are still feeling in shock, are looking to find the words to make sense of what happened, and are desperately in need of a safe space to do that work with a professional so that they don’t have to carry the extra burden of worrying about the impact of their story on someone who isn’t equipped to hold it.

Medical Trauma

Medical trauma is the term that we use to describe the psychological and physiological distress that can follow a sudden injury, a serious diagnosis, or a frightening healthcare procedure. What makes medical trauma uniquely challenging is that the threat is internal. Unlike an external accident where the danger passes, medical trauma involves our own bodies. This sometimes makes the stress response feel inescapable and permanent, which can deeply alter our sense of physical and emotional safety.

Racialized Stress and Identity-Based Trauma

Racialized stress and identity-based trauma refers to the cumulative psychological and physical distress that results from exposure to systemic oppression, discrimination, and marginalization. Unlike a single, isolated crisis, this form of trauma is driven by ongoing encounters with racism, homophobia, transphobia, or other forms of identity-driven harm. Because this threat is rooted in core aspects of who a person is, it can have profound effects on one’s sense of safety and sense of self.

Trauma and Severe Mental Illness

There is no question that experience of repeated trauma can have a profound effect on the ways that individuals learn to make sense of themselves and their environments. As a result, trauma can serve as an important underlying causal factor in the development of conditions like major mood disorders or psychosis, and it can also be a frequent consequence of living with severe mental illness. These relationships are often overlooked or misunderstood, and yet often need to be addressed more fully in treatment.

OUR APPROACH

Treatment that starts with understanding you.

We work with adults who are living with trauma and PTSD using evidence-based, trauma-informed, approaches that are carefully tailored to your needs and to your presentation. We recognize that there is no single protocol that fits every person. There is no race. There is no template. There is only the careful, patient work of building back the parts of you that the trauma has been keeping you cut off from.

What this often looks like in practice is that the early sessions focus on a careful assessment of what is here, what your system has been doing to manage it, and what you are hoping to be able to do differently. It is about building safety, learning the language of your own nervous system, and developing the skills to come back when you are activated. Only when the foundation is solid do we move towards the more difficult material, and we do so in a way that respects what your system can integrate.

We draw on specialized, evidence-based, forms of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) including Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), which are designed to help individuals to process traumatic events and to reduce symptoms of posttraumatic stress. We draw on body-aware approaches that help the nervous system to find a place to settle. We integrate skills for the moments when the past intrudes on the present. We work in stages, building stability and resourcing before going anywhere near the harder material.

We also recognize that the pace of treatment often matters here more than with any other kind of work we do. Going too fast can do more damage than the original event. Going too slow can leave people feeling alone, and can perpetuate feelings of helplessness and lack of safety. The clinicians at our practice have been extensively trained and supervised, and are experienced to know the difference, and to hold both the urgency that you may feel and the pacing that your nervous system needs.

OUR DIFFERENCE

Specialist training.
Private practice access.

Every clinician at Laksman Doell Psychology is a doctoral-level psychologist who is registered with, or working toward registration with, the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO). Several team members also hold particular expertise in trauma that intersects with chronic illness, with severe and complex mental health, and with the trauma that lives quietly behind anxiety, depression, and difficult relationship patterns. Our team has trained at sites including, but not limited to, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto General, North York General, the Nova Scotia Health Authority, Alberta Health Services, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and the University of Toronto.

We hold particular depth in medical trauma. The kind of trauma that lives in the body after a serious diagnosis, an ICU admission, an unexpected medical event, or an interaction with the medical system that left a mark. We also have extensive experience working with individuals who are navigating the complex territory of trauma and psychosis, and trauma and severe mental illness more broadly. These intersections, of trauma and illness, and of trauma and psychosis, are part of the founding clinical pillars of our practice, and they are rarely held well in generalist trauma therapy.

We work with racialized stress and identity-based trauma, the kind that results from the cumulative experience of moving through the world with an identity that has been treated unfairly. We hold this with cultural humility. We are committed to ongoing self-reflection on the ways in which our own identities and experiences shape what we bring into the room, and we know that there will be times when the right clinician for you is one with shared lived experience. When that is the case, if we do not have the right clinician within our practice, then we will work with you to help you find someone else. Our job is to help you get to the care that fits.

Sessions are available in person at 27 Prince Arthur Avenue in the Annex neighbourhood of Toronto, or virtually across Ontario via PHIPA-compliant video. All services are available virtually to any Ontario resident. No referral required.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What types of trauma do you work with?

At Laksman Doell Psychology, we have a team of doctoral-level psychologists who have helped both individuals and couples to navigate an extensive variety of traumatic experiences. We work with adults who are processing trauma histories, either recent or longstanding, including both single episode trauma and complex trauma. We also hold particular expertise in trauma that intersects with chronic illness, with severe and complex mental health, and with the trauma that lives quietly behind anxiety, depression, and difficult relationship patterns.

What type of events can be defined as trauma?

It is not the event that defines whether something can be classified as a trauma. Rather, it is the impact that the event has on our nervous system and on how our mind is processing what happened. Anything that left us feeling terrified, that overwhelmed our capacity to cope, or that ultimately shifted our beliefs about the safety of ourselves, others, or the world in general, can be thought of as a traumatic experience.

Do you offer EMDR?

We don’t have any psychologists at our practice who offer EMDR, but we are happy to provide you with the names of other practices that we occasionally refer to. Rather, our psychologists have trained in other evidence-based treatments for trauma, including Prolonged Exposure and Cognitive Processing Therapy.

Do I need a referral for trauma and PTSD treatment in Toronto?

No. You can contact us directly. No referral from a physician or psychiatrist is required.

Is trauma and PTSD treatment at your practice covered by OHIP?

Private practice services are not covered by OHIP. Coverage may be available through extended health benefits, as many plans cover the services of a registered psychologist. We recommend confirming with your provider before commencing treatment.

Can I be seen virtually?

Yes. All services are available virtually via PHIPA-compliant video for any Ontario resident.

Life is complicated. We give you clarity.

The first step is a brief consultation to help understand what you are looking for. Email us at [email protected] or complete our contact form online.