I understand deeply that the decision to seek support can be scary. But, it’s also an act of self-compassion and self-advocacy. It takes incredible courage to turn towards our difficulties and explore our internal experiences in an effort to seek change. Your decision to be here and reading this is a clear indicator of your bravery, and something I encourage you to take pride in. In my approach to psychological treatment, I believe strongly that you enter the therapy space as the expert on yourself, and I bring with me knowledge of psychological processes and interventions. Together, we can explore your emotions, address thoughts and behaviours that you find challenging, and create new ways of being in a safe and welcoming environment.

Over the past 8 years, I have worked with adult clients experiencing a variety of negative emotional experiences, including social and general anxiety, worries and depression, and to process grief and loss. Furthermore, I have worked with many clients in individual psychotherapy to address self-esteem/self-confidence, relationship difficulties, the effects of complex and interpersonal trauma and PTSD (emotional, physical and sexual abuse trauma), anger management and emotion regulation challenges, OCD, and substance use and addiction concerns. While not my exclusive focus, I have worked extensively with 2SLGBTQIA+ adult clients in both individual and group therapy environments, and have a strong interest in contributing to queer and trans communities through my clinical and research work.

I thoroughly value the importance of developing a warm, empathic and understanding relationship with my clients. My approach to psychotherapy is rooted in empathy itself, meaning I aim to communicate my understanding of your pain and difficulties, explore where they come from developmentally, how they have and continue to impact you, all ultimately so that we can have a shared understanding of your story and develop a collaborative treatment plan. Before meeting, I gather information about you through a variety of questionnaires to help understand your current circumstances. Through a combination of the evidence-based questionnaires and a detailed exploration of your personal background in the first session, this assessment process helps uncover patterns and dynamics that shape who you are today and the relational challenges you may be experiencing. Over the course of therapy, I communicate to you my working theory of what underlays your difficulties in early sessions, establish your goals for change, and check in with you to assess your felt progress.

In individual psychotherapy, I draw primarily from Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), and interweave Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) principles and interventions. I have some training in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) as well, and tend to incorporate DBT particularly to encourage the development of emotion regulation and distress tolerance coping skills. Overall, my psychotherapy is integrative and individualized to you. I mesh these modalities together to best meet your therapeutic goals; to explore and make meaning of your emotional experiences, address thought processes and behaviours, and create coping skills in an empathic therapy relationship.

In couples therapy, I conduct a similar assessment process with our evidence-based questionnaires prior to our first meeting. Next, we meet for an initial session with each participant individually to discuss and integrate the findings of the scientific, evidence-based questionnaires and your individual experience in the relationship. We then return to joint sessions to explore further around what you feel are the most relevant concerns in the partnership. In a couples context, I am drawn to using developmentally-oriented models of psychotherapy, and also integrating psychodynamic and emotion(ally)-focused couples therapy principles to explore and foster healthy relational dynamics and address your concerns. These models help us explore how your past development, as an individual and as a person in relationships, influenced your thoughts, feelings, behaviours and approaches to yourself and intimate relationships with others. This helps us explore and make sense of your internal world, understand how you approach and bring yourself to relational bonds, analyze your emotional distress and reactions, all to intervene on your areas of distress.

My educational and clinical training includes that I completed my Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Clinical and Counselling Psychology from the University of Toronto in 2025, and also my Master of Arts (MA) in Clinical and Counselling Psychology from the University of Toronto in 2019. I am registered as a Clinical Psychologist (Supervised Practice) with the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO) (Certificate #4066172). While I have already accumulated thousands of clinical hours working with clients in psychotherapy and psychological assessment, I am currently in my final year of extensive clinical training required in the province of Ontario prior to working autonomously. I work under supervision of two clinical psychologists: Dr. Jean Kim, C. Psych. seeing adult individual psychotherapy and assessment clients, and Dr. Dino Zuccarini, C. Psych., seeing adult individual and couples therapy clients.

I have provided psychotherapy and comprehensive psychological assessment services in a variety of settings, including private practises, university student clinics and psychology training clinics. Specific locations of my training include the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) Psychology Clinic at the University of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), York University’s Psychology Clinic (YUPC), Church Wellesley Counselling and Psychotherapy (CWCP), and Psychological and Counselling Services Group (PCSG). At these sites, I have provided individual psychotherapy with adult clients. I have also conducted comprehensive psychoeducational (i.e., Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD], Autism Spectrum Disorder [ASD] and Specific Learning Disorder [LD]) assessments, psychodiagnostic assessments (mood, anxiety, OCD, trauma and adjustment disorders), and transition-related surgery assessments for Gender Dysphoria for queer and trans clients seeking gender-affirming care in Ontario. I have extensive experience with research and have published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and presented at scholarly conferences. Much of my research focuses on 2SLGBTQIA+ sexual and mental health, and particularly on encouraging the development of positive psychological outcomes. I also have received prestigious external research scholarships throughout my graduate-level training. These awards have been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), including the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship at the doctoral level, and the Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s (CGS-M) at the Master’s level, and also Ontario Graduate Scholarships (OGS) awards at both the Masters and Doctoral levels. A few of my publications include the following:

Barry, A., Brennan, D., Davies, A. & Collict, D. (2024). Dating apps and shifting sexual subjectivities of men seeking men online. Sexuality and Culture. https://doi.org/10.1007/S12119-024-10231-1

Gillis, J.R. & Collict, D. (2022). Sexual orientations and the group of seven. In Kassan, A. & Moodley, R (Eds). Diversity and social justice in counselling, psychology and psychotherapy: A case study approach. Cognella.

Brennan, D., Kesler, M., Lachowsky, N., Davies, A., Georgievski, G., Adam, B., Collict, D., Hart, T., Salway, T. & Griffiths, D. (2021). Sociodemographic and psychological predictors of seeking health information online among GB2M in Ontario: Findings from the #iCruise Project. International Journal of Sexual Health, 34(2), 337-350. https://doi.org/10.1080/19317611.2021.2000087

Collict, D., Pfund, G., Rodriguez de los Reyes, G. & Hill, P. (2020). Identity formation among gay men, lesbian women, bisexual and heterosexual samples: Associations with purpose in life, life satisfaction, pathways to purpose and implications for positive sexual minority identity. Journal of Happiness Studies: An Interdisciplinary Forum on Subjective Well-Being, 22(5), 2125-2142. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1007/s10902-020-00313-w

Rodriguez de los Reyez, G. & Collict, D. (2020). “It’s not only about clinical tools but also our roles as agents of social change”: Implementing an LGBT competency training in Mexico. Journal of Homosexuality, 69(2), 230-253. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2020.1815433

I am also a member of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) and Ontario
Psychological Association (OPA).