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Addiction & Substance Use
Exploring your relationship with alcohol or other substances, understanding patterns, and developing goals that reflect your own values and readiness for change.
MEET YOUR THERAPIST
Hi, I'm Jennifer.
Jennifer Gibbons, MA, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)
Change doesn't have to begin with shame.
I'm a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) offering virtual individual and couples therapy across Ontario, with a particular focus on addiction, substance use, recovery, trauma, and relationships.
Whether you're questioning your relationship with substances, working toward change, maintaining recovery, or navigating a relationship affected by addiction, you deserve a space where you can explore your experiences without judgment or pressure.
Book a Free 15-Minute Consultation →
A compassionate space for change and connection.
Addiction & Substance Use ✦ Recovery Support ✦ Trauma-Informed Care ✦ Couples & Relationships ✦ Virtual Across Ontario
YOU MIGHT BE HERE BECAUSE...
Something needs to change. You're not sure where to begin.
You don't have to be certain about your goals or even ready to make a change. Therapy can begin with understanding what's happening.
✓ You're wondering whether alcohol or another substance is taking up more space in your life than you'd like.
✓ You've tried cutting back or stopping, but maintaining those changes has been difficult.
✓ You're in recovery and want support navigating triggers, emotions, relationships, and everyday life.
✓ Substance use has affected trust, communication, or connection in your relationship.
✓ Stress, trauma, anxiety, depression, or difficult emotions feel connected to your coping patterns.
✓ Part of you wants things to change, while another part isn't ready. You want to explore both without judgment.
AREAS OF CLINICAL SUPPORT
What we can work on together.
Support that considers the whole person, not just a symptom, diagnosis, or behaviour.
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Recovery & Relapse Prevention
Recognizing triggers, building coping strategies, navigating setbacks, strengthening support systems, and developing sustainable recovery plans.
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Couples & Relationships
Supporting partners navigating communication difficulties, recurring conflict, trust, boundaries, emotional disconnection, and the impact of addiction or recovery.
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Trauma & Emotional Patterns
Understanding how difficult experiences may shape coping behaviours, emotional responses, relationships, and your sense of safety.
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Anxiety & Depression
Exploring worry, emotional overwhelm, low mood, self-criticism, loss of motivation, and the relationship between emotional distress and substance use.
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Identity & Life Transitions
Finding direction through changes in identity, work, relationships, recovery, and life circumstances while reconnecting with what matters to you.
ADDICTION THERAPY WITHOUT SHAME
You don't have to hit rock bottom to ask for support.
Substance use can serve many purposes. It might offer relief from stress, help quiet difficult emotions, create a sense of connection, or provide temporary distance from painful experiences.
Understanding what a behaviour has been doing for you can be an important part of changing your relationship with it.
Using Motivational Interviewing, harm-reduction principles, trauma-informed approaches, and relapse-prevention strategies, Jennifer helps clients explore change without imposing a predetermined path.
Talk With Jennifer →COUPLES & RELATIONSHIP THERAPY
When relationships feel stuck, there's room to understand the pattern.
Relationships can come under strain during periods of stress, recovery, major transitions, or unresolved conflict.
Jennifer offers a compassionate, person-centred space where partners can explore what's happening beneath recurring disagreements, strengthen communication, and develop meaningful steps toward reconnection.
Her work draws from Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, existential perspectives, and trauma-informed care. Both partners' needs, experiences, and readiness for change are respected.
Book Couples Counselling →Together, we might explore:
- ✓ Communication and recurring conflict
- ✓ Trust and emotional safety
- ✓ Boundaries and expectations
- ✓ Substance use and its impact on the relationship
- ✓ Navigating recovery as partners
- ✓ Life transitions and changing roles
- ✓ Rebuilding connection and understanding
HOW JENNIFER WORKS
Evidence-informed. Collaborative. Human.
Jennifer integrates approaches that support both practical change and deeper understanding.
Motivational Interviewing
Exploring ambivalence, personal values, and your own reasons for making changes.
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
Identifying strengths, meaningful goals, and practical steps toward change.
Trauma-Informed Practice
Understanding coping patterns in the context of experience, with attention to choice, safety, and pacing.
Person-Centred Therapy
Creating a respectful therapeutic relationship grounded in empathy, authenticity, and collaboration.
Relapse Prevention
Identifying triggers, warning signs, coping strategies, and support systems for maintaining change.
Existential Therapy
Exploring meaning, identity, values, responsibility, and the life you want to build.
A DIFFERENT WAY TO APPROACH CHANGE
You can want things to change and still feel uncertain about letting go of what's familiar.
Therapy can make space for both experiences. You don't need to arrive with certainty, a perfect recovery plan, or all the answers.
WHY WORK WITH JENNIFER
Understanding addiction beyond the textbook.
Jennifer brings experience working with adults in a specialized intensive treatment setting for substance use disorders. This background informs her understanding of addiction, recovery, relapse prevention, and the challenges involved in maintaining meaningful change.
Her approach looks beyond substance use alone, considering the emotions, relationships, trauma, life circumstances, and unmet needs that may contribute to difficult patterns.
During her placement with Renascent's Virtual Intensive Treatment Program, Jennifer provided individual counselling and co-facilitated psychoeducational groups. Her work included collaborative goal setting, treatment planning, and relapse-prevention support.
Jennifer holds a Master of Arts from Yorkville University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Regina. Her continuing education includes training in trauma treatment with Janina Fisher and psychopharmacology for mental health professionals.
Jennifer's therapeutic style is compassionate, authentic, collaborative, and direct. She aims to create a space where clients feel respected while also being supported in exploring patterns that may no longer serve them.
WORK WITH JENNIFER
Ways to work with Jennifer.
Virtual individual and couples psychotherapy across Ontario. Choose the appointment that best fits your needs.
A GOOD PLACE TO START
Free Consultation
Free
15 minutes · Virtual
Meet Jennifer, ask questions, discuss what brings you to therapy, and explore whether working together feels like a good fit.
Book Free Consultation →
INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT
Individual Psychotherapy
$165
50 minutes · Virtual · Adults
Support for substance use, addiction recovery, relapse prevention, trauma, anxiety, depression, and life transitions.
Book Individual Therapy →
RELATIONSHIP SUPPORT
Couples Counselling
$290
90 minutes · Virtual · Couples
Collaborative relationship therapy addressing communication, trust, recurring conflict, addiction-related challenges, and reconnection.
Book Couples Counselling →COMMON QUESTIONS
A few things you might be wondering.
Do I need to identify as having an addiction?
No. You may simply be questioning your relationship with alcohol or another substance, considering a change, or wanting support understanding your patterns. You don't need to choose a label before beginning therapy.
Do I have to be sober before starting therapy?
Not necessarily. Jennifer works with clients at different stages of change. Your goals, readiness, safety, and whether outpatient virtual therapy is appropriate can be discussed during consultation.
Can Jennifer help with relapse prevention?
Yes. Therapy may focus on recognizing triggers, planning for high-risk situations, developing coping strategies, strengthening support systems, and navigating setbacks.
Can couples attend therapy if substance use is affecting their relationship?
Yes. Jennifer works with couples experiencing relationship challenges connected to substance use or recovery. An initial consultation can help determine whether couples therapy is suitable for both partners.
Does Jennifer offer online therapy across Ontario?
Yes. Jennifer provides virtual individual psychotherapy for adults and virtual couples counselling across Ontario.
How long are Jennifer's appointments?
Jennifer offers a free 15-minute consultation. Individual psychotherapy sessions are 50 minutes, and couples counselling sessions are 90 minutes. All appointments are virtual.
How much does therapy with Jennifer cost?
Jennifer offers a complimentary 15-minute virtual consultation. Individual psychotherapy is $165 per 50-minute session. Virtual couples counselling is $290 per 90-minute session.
TAKE THE NEXT STEP
You don't need to have everything figured out before reaching out.
Whether you're considering a change in your relationship with substances, maintaining recovery, or navigating challenges in your relationship, Jennifer offers a compassionate place to begin.
Book a Free 15-Minute Consultation With Jennifer →Virtual individual and couples psychotherapy across Ontario
