Beginning therapy can feel daunting, and it takes courage to pause and reflect on our most difficult thoughts, emotions, and patterns in relationships. If you are considering this step, I want to acknowledge the effort it takes to reach out and to seek support. My goal is to offer a compassionate, collaborative, and respectful space where you can feel understood and supported as we work together toward meaningful change. I look forward to meeting with you!

I work with English and French speaking adult individuals and couples who are experiencing a wide range of emotional and interpersonal difficulties. My clinical work includes supporting clients with relationship challenges, life transitions, grief and loss, anxiety, depression, emotional regulation difficulties, and sleep difficulties. I aim to approach each client’s concerns holistically, recognizing the many personal, relational, and contextual factors that can influence well-being. I am comfortable working with individuals from different socio-cultural identity groups (e.g., gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity).

My particular clinical interests include intimate and interpersonal relationships, trauma and attachment-related difficulties, sleep disorders, mood disorders, and cultural considerations in mental health. In addition to psychotherapy, I conduct psychological assessments to help clarify presenting concerns, better understand underlying processes, and inform individualized treatment planning.

I approach therapy as a collaborative process in which we work together to identify your goals and develop a shared understanding of your experiences. I provide a confidential therapeutic relationship marked by compassion, empathy, genuineness and authentic engagement. For adult individuals and couples, I also conduct a comprehensive, scientifically grounded assessment of your difficulties to help identify factors contributing to anxiety, depression, sleep problems, or relationship challenges. Based on this understanding, I draw on an integrative approach to treatment, incorporating principles from cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), emotion-focused therapy (EFT), psychodynamic, and attachment-informed perspectives. Techniques from many different psychotherapy models are used to address your specific needs and concerns. Throughout therapy, I strive to provide a supportive, thoughtful, and structured environment that helps reduce uncertainty about the process and fosters meaningful change.

Early sessions focus on understanding your personal story and the challenges you are currently facing. Together, we will clarify the core concerns you would like to address and identify meaningful goals for therapy. I also conduct a comprehensive, scientifically grounded assessment of your difficulties to help us better understand the factors contributing to your concerns. This assessment involves the use of evidence-based measures alongside an in-depth exploration of your personal history, with the aim of offering you greater insight into the nature of your experiences. In the subsequent phase of therapy, we draw on what we have learned from our initial conversations and the assessment process to develop targeted strategies that support change. Our work often begins with reducing distress and alleviating symptoms, and then deepens to explore and address the underlying personal and relational patterns that may be sustaining your difficulties. Throughout our work together, I strive to provide a confidential therapeutic relationship characterized by compassion, empathy, authenticity, and genuine engagement.

I hold a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Ottawa and am currently a third-year PhD student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa. At the Centre for Interpersonal Relationships (CFIR), I am completing a practicum under the supervision of Dr. Lila Z. Hakim, C.Psych., and doctoral residents Vered Latman and Lisa Pelletier.

As part of my doctoral training, I am currently completing practicum placements at Centre for Psychological Services and Research and the Sleep Research Laboratory at the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Mental Health Research at The Royal. Previously, I completed practicum training in the Clinical Health Psychology Department at Montfort Hospital. As a doctoral student involved in the sleep research field, I offer public presentation on the importance of sleep for mental health. In addition to my clinical training, I work as a research assistant at the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Mental Health Research at The Royal and at the Montfort Knowledge Institute, contributing to research in sleep, mental health and related fields. Below are some recent publications:

Lanthier, M., Foti, M., Fonseca, K., Higginson, C., Oksit, D., Smith, D., Lina, J., Tavakoli, P., Fogel, S., Ray, L. & Robillard, R., on behalf of the Canadian Sleep Research Consortium. (2026) Assessing the performance of a portable electroencephalographic sleep monitor against level 1 polysomnography. SLEEP Advances, 7(1).

Jarkas, D., Robillard, R., Richard Malenfant, C., Richards, C., Lanthier, M., Beaurepaire, C., Nicholson, A. A., Jaworska, N., Cassidy, C. M., Shlik, J., Kaminsky, Z. & McQuaid, R. J. (2025) Exploring the dissociative subtype of PTSD: The role of early-life trauma, cortisol, and inflammatory profiles. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 175, 107406

Tavakoli, P., Lanthier, M., Porteous, M., Boafo, A., de Koninck, J., & Robillard, R. (2022). Sleep architecture and emotional inhibition processing in adolescents hospitalized during a suicidal crisis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13.

Bradley-Garcia, M., Doucet, V., Corbeil, S., Pétrin, R., Roy, NL., DeNicolais, E., Boisvert, V., Lanthier, M., Limam, F., Thorul, S. K., El Machkour, K., Boshart, K., Giovanniello, O., Montpetit, M., Yilmaz, E., Massicotte, J., Paquette, V., Lepage, M., Levert, J., Cantin, É., Massey, K., Garcia, Y.A., Buzohera, N., Bensmaia, S., Irakoze, A. C., Bres, E., Hans, M., Dujardin, E., Goguen, N. & Sekeres, M. J. (2021). The Influence of Exposure Duration and Context Length on Word Recall: A Replication of Tulving et al. (1964), The Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 17(2), r1-r9.

Professional Affiliations

2023- Canadian Psychological Association

2023- Ontario Psychological Association

2023- Canadian Sleep Society