Jennifer Gibbons, MA, RP (Qualifying)

Jennifer Gibbons is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) working from a humanistic, strengths-based framework. She believes in your capacity to change — and her work is built around helping you find and trust that capacity, even when it feels out of reach. She works with adults navigating substance use and addiction recovery, trauma, and the emotional complexity that so often underlies both.

Jennifer's path to therapy was shaped by years of living and working across four continents — teaching, building community, and learning how resilient people can be under the most unpredictable circumstances. Before entering the therapy room, she worked extensively in the service and hospitality world, where she became skilled at reading people, building trust quickly, and staying grounded under pressure. Those same qualities define the way she shows up for her clients.

She has a personal as well as professional connection to the recovery community, which brings genuine depth and authenticity to her work with clients in all stages of that journey.

Jennifer holds a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University and completed her master's practicum at Renascent's Virtual Intensive Treatment Program (VITP), a specialized setting for adults in recovery from substance use disorder.

 

Areas of Clinical Support

Substance Use & Addiction Recovery

Jennifer has focused clinical training in supporting clients through every stage of the recovery process — from ambivalence and early exploration, through active change, to relapse prevention and building a sustainable life in recovery. She knows this work is rarely linear and meets each client with patience, honesty, and genuine respect for where they are.

Trauma

Through advanced training in Janina Fisher's trauma treatment model, Jennifer works with clients carrying experiences that continue to shape the present in ways they may not fully understand yet. She approaches trauma carefully and at your pace, prioritizing safety and stability as the foundation for any deeper work.

Life Transitions

Major life changes — a new city, the end of a relationship, a shift in identity, a loss — can leave people feeling unmoored in ways that are hard to explain. Jennifer works well with clients who are in the middle of something uncertain, helping them find direction, meaning, and a stronger sense of self on the other side.

Depression & Low Mood

Jennifer supports clients experiencing persistent low mood, loss of motivation, and the flatness that can follow hard seasons of life. She works to understand what's underneath — and helps clients reconnect with what matters to them.

Anxiety & Emotional Overwhelm

For clients who feel caught in cycles of worry, avoidance, or emotional reactivity, Jennifer offers steady, grounded support. She helps clients build insight into their patterns and develop tools for navigating the moments that feel most difficult.

Jennifer offers virtual therapy to adults across Ontario, with evening availability. Sessions are offered in English.

Therapeutic Approaches and Modalities

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Motivational Interviewing (MI)

MI is a collaborative, conversation-based approach designed to help you explore your own reasons for change — without pressure or judgment. Rather than telling you what to do, Jennifer uses MI to help you get clear on what you want and build confidence in your ability to get there. It's particularly effective for clients who feel ambivalent or stuck.
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Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)

SFBT shifts the focus away from problems and toward possibilities. Instead of spending sessions dissecting what went wrong, Jennifer works with you to identify what's already working, what your life could look like, and what small steps might get you closer to it. It's a practical, forward-moving approach that respects your existing strengths.
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Trauma-Informed Practice (Janina Fisher Model)

Janina Fisher's approach to trauma recognizes that the body and nervous system hold experiences long after the mind has moved on. Jennifer works with clients to understand how past experiences may be showing up in present-day patterns — in relationships, emotions, or behaviours — and helps you build the safety and internal resources needed before doing any deeper processing.
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Humanistic / Person-Centred Therapy

At the core of all of Jennifer's work is a belief in your inherent worth and capacity for growth. Person-centred therapy offers a space of genuine acceptance and non-judgment where you can explore what's most important to you, at your own pace. It's less about techniques and more about the quality of the relationship — and Jennifer's natural warmth makes this a particularly good fit.
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Relapse Prevention Planning

For clients in recovery, having a concrete, personalized plan for navigating high-risk moments is one of the most practical tools therapy can offer. Jennifer works collaboratively with clients to identify triggers, build coping strategies, and develop an honest roadmap for staying connected to their recovery — even when things get hard.
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Psychopharmacology-Informed Practice

Jennifer has completed specialized training in psychopharmacology for mental health, which means she understands the medications commonly prescribed alongside therapy — how they work, what they're designed to do, and how they interact with the therapeutic process. She won't prescribe, but she can speak to this with enough fluency to support clients who are navigating medication as part of their care.
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Existential Therapy

Existential therapy works with the deeper questions that sit beneath many of the struggles clients bring to therapy — questions of meaning, purpose, identity, freedom, and how to live authentically in the face of uncertainty and loss. Rather than treating these as abstract philosophy, Jennifer helps clients engage with them as real and practical parts of their lives. This approach is particularly resonant for clients navigating major transitions, grief, or a felt sense that something is missing even when life looks fine on the outside.

Why Work With Jennifer

She brings lived and clinical experience to the room.

Jennifer's personal connection to the recovery community isn't something she keeps separate from her clinical work — it's part of what makes her so effective. Clients in recovery often sense immediately that they're not being judged, because they aren't.

She meets you where you are — without pressure.

Motivational interviewing is more than a technique for Jennifer; it's a genuine orientation toward your autonomy. She won't push you toward change you're not ready for. She'll help you get clear on what you want, and support you in moving toward it.

She has learned from a wide world.

Jennifer has lived and worked across four continents. That breadth of experience gives her a deep appreciation for how much context shapes a person — their history, their culture, their community — and she brings that perspective into every session.

She keeps it real.

Jennifer's style is warm, direct, and free of clinical distance. She'll be honest with you, hold you accountable when that's what's needed, and always do it from a place of genuine care.

Let's see if this feels like the right fit.

Starting therapy can feel like a big step. A free consultation gives you space to ask questions and see if working together feels right from here.

Book Your Free 15-Minute Consultation