Merryl Varughese
Registered Social Worker Psychotherapist
Opening up to someone about your deepest thoughts, feelings, and experiences can be challenging. Sharing sensitive and personal stories is difficult. The struggle to open up to your therapist can come in the way of positive, change, new ways of thinking and direction. Whether it is your first time coming to a session with a psychotherapist or this is something that you have done many many times, it takes true strength to come to a session.
Why is it like that? Why is it so hard to talk openly with a therapist?
Because of the types of topics we discuss. We talk about anxiety, depression, mood disorders, ADHD, and more. We expand on grief, trauma, divorce, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, multi-generational trauma, guilt, shame, fears, and wounded relationships.
It takes true strength and a safe space to talk about such heavy and difficult matters. As a social worker psychotherapist, I admire the strength of every client and strive to provide a safe and comfortable space where we can talk through the hardest problems. Your safety is my number one priority. Your healing is my goal. Using evidence-based therapeutic models I come alongside clients to harness the same strength that helped them come to a session.
I utilize a person-centered and strength-based approach to assist clients in identifying their strengths, focusing on resilience, and creating a treatment plan. I aim to be holistic and trauma-sensitive in my practice. Just as it takes many years to achieve proficiency in a career, when clients come back over and over they come closer and closer to healing. No topic is too difficult to work through. With strength and a safe space, I believe healing is only a matter of time. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to create a safe space.
Merryl is a Registered Social Worker practicing Psychotherapy and a University of Toronto graduate with a Master’s in Social Work. Over the past six years, she has worked at Catholic Family Services (CFS) providing ongoing counseling to individuals. In this time she offered walk-in counseling services for individuals and couples and facilitated CBT and DBT groups.
At CFS, Merryl focused her work on grief, loss, and bereavement counseling, along with life stress, life transition, anxiety and depression, relationship challenges, etc. Merryl has experience working in an in-patient mental health hospital where she developed individualized treatment plans for patients struggling with eating disorders and other co-morbid conditions.
Her focus at the hospital was treating anxiety, depression, and various other mental health challenges. She also worked with parents and family members regarding parenting issues, parent-child issues, emotion regulation, self-esteem, etc. Notably, Merryl served in child protection providing case management crisis intervention, and support to children, youth, and families ensuring child safety, and well-being.
Client Focus: Couples, Families, individuals, children (starting at 11+)
Types of therapy: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy - DBT skills, Emotion-Focused Family Therapy -EFFT informed, Internal Family Systems Therapy -IFS informed, The Gottman Method (couples) and Grief Work
Issues:
(Standard) Anxiety, Boundary setting, Relationship Issues, Parenting Issues, Parent-Child Issues, Couples Issues.
(Specialties) Grief, Parenting issues, Anxiety and Depression, Couples Issues
More than just my work:
To relax, I love hiking, painting and spending time with friends and family.