Hope Leads Mental Health Care in Toronto
Individual Therapy in Toronto
One-on-one therapy for adults who are tired of explaining themselves first. Individual therapy in Toronto, with virtual sessions across Ontario.
Hope Leads Mental Health Care in Toronto
You just want things to make sense again.
Some days you’re fine. Other days you’re lying awake at night asking yourself “Why is this happening to me?”, then dragging through the next day on fumes. Your shoulders hurt. Your appetite’s off. You’ve read every article, tried every app, and you’re still stuck in the same loop. You’ve also stopped telling people, because the last thing you want is to be a burden.
Individual therapy in Toronto involves real talk, warmth, and humour. Nothing you bring here is too messy, too much, or too strange. We'll help you find the understanding, calm, and confidence you desire.
- Exhausted all the time, no matter how much you sleep?
- Wired at night, then foggy and forgetful all day?
- Achy, with migraines or digestive trouble that flares when stress does?
- Numb, flat, or frozen in place?
- Lonely, even in a room full of people you’re familiar with?
- Unheard, dismissed, or targeted at work, at home, or out in the world?
Individual therapy can untangle a lot of that.
Let hope lead.
Adult Therapy in Toronto
What is Individual Therapy?
Individual therapy is a standing hour that belongs entirely to you. No masking, no translating your culture or your identity before you can get to the point, and no starting from scratch every session.
At Hope Leads Mental Health Care, individual therapy in Toronto is where you unpack the anxiety, the burnout, the grief, the trauma, and the questions about who you are that you’ve been carrying around for a while now.
We start with a comprehensive assessment and some goals, then draw on CBT, ACT, Narrative Therapy, and Gestalt to help you spot the patterns you’re stuck in and start shifting them. These are real tools, shaped around your life.
Our therapists bring lived experience alongside clinical training, and most of our team is queer-identified and racialized. You don’t need to explain the context here. We get it. We’re your therapy community. We’re here to understand you, celebrate you, and help you move forward.
Meet Our Team
Match With a Therapist in Toronto
We know that feeling better is easier with your people around you, so we bring 5+ years of clinical depth, real lived experience, and a space where care is shared. We’re your community, and so excited to meet you.
Joelle Forbes
(she/her)
President, Clinical Director, Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist
Individual Therapy in Toronto
What We Work On Together
Anxiety & Panic Attacks
Depression & Feeling Numb
Racism, Racial Trauma, & Discrimination
Gender Identity & Gender Dysphoria
ADHD, Autism, & AuDHD
Self-Esteem & Body Image
Burnout, Stress, & Adjustment Disorder
Trauma & PTSD
Chronic Pain
Grief & Loss
Anxiety & Panic Attacks
Slow the spiral, quiet the what-ifs, and give your nervous system somewhere to land.
Depression & Feeling Numb
Lift some of the heaviness and reconnect with the things that used to mean something.
Trauma & PTSD
Process what you’ve never said out loud, with approaches like EMDR and CPT.
Racism, Racial Stress, & Discrimination
Racial trauma is real and cumulative. You won’t have to convince us it’s happening.
Gender Identity & Gender Dysphoria
Explore your gender identity and expression with zero judgment and full affirmation.
ADHD, Autism, & AuDHD
Neuroaffirming support for brains tired of being told to just try harder.
Grief & Loss
Death, estrangement, pregnancy loss, and abortion, met with care rather than platitudes.
Burnout, Stress, & Adjustment Disorder
Stop running on empty, build boundaries that hold, and say no without the guilt spiral.
Self-Esteem & Body Image
Turn down the inner critic and start to build back trust in yourself slowly.
Chronic Pain
Work with your pain, grieve what’s changed, and advocate for the care you deserve.
Individual Therapy in Toronto
How We Do the Work in Individual Therapy
We use proven approaches, then shape them around you and your life. Individual therapy in Toronto with us is collaborative, flexible, and grounded in your goals, not a script.
Here's what we draw on:
Comprehensive Assessment and Goal Setting
We start by getting the full picture: your history, your context, your identities, and what you want to be different. Then we build a plan together.
1:1 Therapy Sessions, In Person and Online
Private, focused hours that work with your schedule. Meet us Downtown or in Midtown Toronto, or log on from anywhere in Ontario.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
A practical approach for anxiety, depression, and self-doubt. CBT helps you catch the thought patterns running the show and choose a different response.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
For the things you can’t change. ACT helps you stop wrestling with them, get clear on what matters to you, and take steps in that direction.
Narrative Therapy
You’re the expert on your own life. Narrative Therapy helps you separate yourself from the problem and rewrite the story you’ve been handed about who you are.
Gestalt Therapy
Less analyzing the past, more noticing what’s happening right now. Gestalt works with what shows up in the room, in your body, and in the moment.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
Practical skills for when emotions run hot: distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and getting through the hard moments without making them harder.
Mindfulness
Getting back in your body when everything feels loud. Simple tools to slow the spiral, settle your nervous system, and come back to the present.
Trauma-Focused Therapy Using EMDR and CPT
Structured trauma work for PTSD, racial trauma, and childhood trauma. We won’t rush you into processing before you’re ready.
Affirmative CBT for 2SLGBTQ+ Clients
Queer-affirming, sex-positive support for minority stress, coming out, gender identity concerns, and the toll of navigating spaces that weren’t built for you.
Neuroaffirming Therapy
Support for ADHD, Autism, and AuDHD that starts from the assumption that your brain isn’t broken and works with how you’re wired.
Our Story & Commitment
Therapy in Toronto,
led by hope,
built on friendship.
We’re Joelle and Michael, two Masters-level registered social workers and psychotherapists who built this practice because we couldn’t find enough spaces that felt genuinely safe for queer, racialized, and immigrant communities.
We named it after the inspiration of the pink daylily, a flower that survives both flood and drought and still makes room for beauty. That’s the courage we see in our clients every day. We do the work that matters, we lead with care over clout, and we’d love to walk alongside you.
Our Approach
How Our Individual Therapy Works
Step 1
Start With Understanding.
Your first session is a relaxed assessment where we get your history, your context, and some preliminary goals, with no pressure to have it figured out.
Step 2
Find Your Rhythm.
Most people start with weekly to biweekly sessions and adjust from there, because frequency should flex around your goals and what you’re carrying right now.
Step 3
Take It With You.
We build in chances to practise your skills between sessions, then troubleshoot together, so the change holds up in your real life.
We treat hope as a tool you can build, one intentional action at a time.
Can your therapists diagnose?
No. In Ontario, registered social workers and registered psychotherapists aren’t authorized to diagnose mental health conditions. Only certain medical professionals can diagnose and prescribe medication: psychiatrists, family doctors, and nurse practitioners. Psychologists can diagnose, but they can’t prescribe medication.
Our team provides assessments, goal setting, treatment plans, and psychotherapy, and we collaborate with diagnosing professionals when needed so you receive comprehensive care.
Do I need a mental health diagnosis to access therapy?
Nope. Many people come to therapy for support, clarity, stress, chronic pain, depression, anxiety, trauma, relationship concerns, life transitions, and other mental health concerns. You’re welcome to begin therapy at any time, with or without a formal diagnosis. Book your free meet-and-greet to begin.
How do I get matched with a therapist?
Getting matched at Hope Leads Mental Health Care is simple, and you’ve got two options.
Option 1: Let our team match you. Start by completing our contact form. It asks for your name, phone number, email, how you heard about us, and a short message about why you’re seeking therapy. Our team reviews your goals and reasons for reaching out, then recommends the therapists who may be a good fit for where you’re at right now.
Option 2: Choose your own therapist. If you’d rather pick for yourself, browse our therapist profiles. Each therapist has a detailed bio and an introductory video so you can get a clear sense of their approach, style, and areas of focus. You can self-book a free meet-and-greet through our Jane App link here.
What happens during the free meet-and-greet?
It’s a short, low-pressure consultation where you share a high-level overview of why you’re seeking therapy and see whether the therapist feels like a good match. They’ll walk you through their approach, style, and practice experience so you can get a feel for how they work. You can book a first session right after, or take some time to think about it. Zero pressure either way. Book your free meet-and-greet right here.
How can a therapist understand and respect my culture and identity?
Therapy should be a space where you feel heard, respected, and understood. When a therapist provides culturally responsive and identity-affirming care, they’re intentional about how they ask questions about your background, family history, community, race, and lived experiences. Our therapists in Toronto take the time to understand how your past shapes your present, and they adapt their approach so your culture, values, and identity are honoured throughout the process.
Have you worked with people like me before?
We probably have, yes. Our clients are adults across the gender spectrum, and most of them are queer-identified, racialized, immigrant, or some combination of all three. We support 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, trans, nonbinary, and gender diverse folks, Black men, post-secondary students, healthcare and frontline workers, and newcomers to Canada.
That said, you don’t have to fit a category to belong here. If you’re an adult in Ontario looking for individual therapy in Toronto, you’re welcome. Take a look at our therapist profiles to see who might be your person.
I've tried therapy before, and it didn't work. Why would this be different?
That’s a fair question, and we hear it a lot. Sometimes the fit was off. Sometimes you spent the whole hour explaining your family, your culture, or your identity instead of getting to what you came for. Sometimes the approach was fine, but the timing wasn’t.
We can’t promise a different outcome, and any therapist who does is overselling it. What we can tell you is that most of our team is queer-identified and racialized, that we offer a free meet-and-greet before you commit to anything, and that if the fit isn’t right, we’d rather help you find someone better than keep you in the wrong room.
Can I ask for a therapist who shares my identity or background?
Yes, and plenty of people do. When you fill out our contact form, you can tell us what matters to you in a match, including race, culture, gender, sexuality, faith, or language. We’ll recommend therapists based on that alongside your goals.
Some people want a therapist who shares their lived experience. Others want someone outside it. Both are valid reasons, and neither one needs justifying.
Is what I say in session confidential?
Yes, with a few legal exceptions that every regulated therapist in Ontario has to follow.
Your therapist in Toronto will walk you through those in your first session and in your consent paperwork, but the short version is that confidentiality can be broken when there’s a serious risk of harm to you or someone else, when there’s a concern about a child’s safety, or when records are ordered by a court. Outside of those situations, what you share stays between you and your therapist.
If you have questions about how your information is stored or who can access it, ask at your free meet-and-greet. It’s a completely reasonable thing to want clarity on before you start.
How long will it take to feel better?
There’s no set timeline, because everyone’s process looks different. Many people begin to notice small shifts within the first 5 to 10 sessions as they get comfortable with their therapist and start recognizing their own patterns.
Culturally adapted, culturally responsive, and identity-affirming therapy can take time. Your affirming Toronto therapist will intentionally explore cultural context, identity, migration experiences, and histories of oppression, including racism, homophobia, transphobia, and minority stress, to build a meaningful and safe therapeutic relationship. That deeper, more intentional work often calls for a slower pace (Naeem, Sajid, Naz, & Phiri, 2023).
For others, it takes longer, particularly if you’re navigating long-term stress or trauma. Research shows that people with prolonged or complex trauma often need more time in therapy before they sense a shift, because the effects are deeper, more layered, and require a supportive, paced process (Katalan, Unterrainer, & Gelo, 2026; Shiel et al., 2025).
Your therapist will collaborate with you to build coping skills, emotional regulation strategies, and a sense of safety before moving into trauma processing. Therapy works best when it moves at a pace that feels safe, supportive, and sustainable for you.
Individual Therapy for Adults in Toronto
Where Individual Therapy Leads You Next
With time and consistency in therapy, you may notice that you:
- Feel genuinely seen and heard, with every part of your identity affirmed
- Lean on yourself more, second-guess yourself less, and take healthy risks again
- Have a stress and fear response that isn't calling the shots at work, at home, or in your relationships
- Solve problems more easily, so the hard stuff feels workable
- Have room to grow into the person you've been trying to become
Hope Leads Mental Health Care
How To Get Started
Hope got you this far, here’s how to take the next step:
Book Online
Set up a free meet-and-greet with a therapist directly online.
Call or Email
Reach out with your questions or to book your free consultation.
Send Us a Message
Fill out the contact form, and we'll get back to you to talk through next steps.