Recognizing when you’re struggling with negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviors can be a challenging experience. Asking for help may feel even more daunting, but it takes immense strength to take those first steps toward improving your mental well-being. I am here to provide a warm, safe, and empathetic environment to help you achieve your goals.

In my practice, I offer individual therapy for adults dealing with anxiety, stress, depression, and challenges in their emotions and relationships. I also support clients in working through difficult past experiences and trauma. Together, we will prioritize developing greater self-compassion, reaching your goals, and fostering meaningful, lasting change.

Building trust is vital to our therapeutic journey. During our first session, we will take the time to get to know each other, discussing your background, what brought you to seek therapy, and your specific goals. To gain a deeper understanding of your struggles, I will have you complete evidence-based questionnaires. From there, we will create a tailored treatment plan that meets your unique needs and expectations, revisiting and adjusting our goals as necessary throughout our work together.

I have been trained in various therapeutic modalities to help you address both the distress of your symptoms and the deeper roots of your challenges. I believe that each approach has its unique strengths, so I often use an integrative method that combines elements from different modalities based on your specific goals and needs. My evidence-based practices include Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), Psychodynamic Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Compassion-Focused Therapy, and Attachment-Based Therapy.

I am currently a doctoral student in the clinical psychology program at the University of Ottawa, completing my residency at CFIR under the supervision of Dr. Dino Zuccarini, C.Psych., Dr. Lila Hakim, C.Psych., and Dr. Marc Bedard, C.Psych. Throughout my training I have completed practicum placements in various clinical settings, including the Royal Hospital Community Mental Health Program (CMHP), the Ottawa Institute of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (OICBT), the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Psychological Services and Research (CPSR), the Centre for Interpersonal Relationships (CFIR), Gilmour Psychological Services (GPS), and the Ottawa Hospital’s Ontario Workers Network (OWN).

Along with my clinical training, I am also conducting group therapy research at the University of Ottawa that is focused on the formation of bonds between group members, members and therapists, and with the group itself, and how this impacts success in therapy. I have also presented at research conferences and co-authored research articles on various topics, including shyness, shame, and group therapy:

Baldwin, D., & Coplan, R. J. (2019, March). Shame’s a pain: Exploring complex links between shame-proneness, aggression, and perfectionism [poster presentation]. Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD, United States.

Carlucci, S., Chyurlia, L., Presniak, M., Mcquaid, N., Wiebe, S., Hill, R., Wiley, J., Garceau, C., Baldwin, D., Slowikowski, C., Ivanova, I., Grenon, R., Balfour, L., Maxwell, H., & Tasca, G. A. (2023). Assessing defense mechanisms in binge-eating disorder: Validity and reliability of the Defense Mechanism Rating Scale (DMRS) coded from Adult Attachment Interviews. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 40(4), 279–287. http://doi.org/10.1037/pap0000457

Coplan, R. J., Baldwin, D., & Wood K. R., (2020). Shy but getting by: Protective factors in the links between shyness and socio-emotional functioning in childhood. In L. A. Schmidt & K. L. Poole (Eds.), Adaptive shyness: Developmental, comparative, and cultural perspectives. Springer.

Coplan, R. J., Hipson, W., Archbell, K., Ooi, L., Baldwin, D., & Bowker, J. (2019). Seeking more solitude: Conceptualization, assessment, and implications of Aloneliness. Personality and Individual Differences, 148, 17-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.05.020

Garceau, C., Chyurlia, L.,Baldwin, D., Boritz, T., Hewitt, P.L., Kealy, D., Sochting, I., Mikail, S., & Tasca, G. A. (2021). Applying the Rupture Resolution Rating System (3RS) to group therapy: An evidence-based case study. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, & Practice. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/gdn0000137

Sette, S., Baldwin, D., Zava, F., Baumgartner, E., & Coplan, R. J. (2019). Shame on me? Shyness, social experiences at preschool, and young children’s self-conscious emotions. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 47, 229-238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.12.012