Dr. Sarah Thompson, C. Psych.
Sarah launched her part-time private practice in 2017 after thirteen years of full-time practice at the Centre for Student Development and Counselling at Ryerson University. She has a deep interest in utilizing evidence-informed practice to assist individuals and couples in overcoming emotional and relational challenges. Sarah works with clients to transform repetitive or stuck emotion and relationship patterns into the healthy and adaptive responses needed to support individual mental well-being and healthy and satisfying connections with loved ones. The cornerstones of her practice include respect for each client’s lived experience, a focus on the intersecting identities that each person brings to their successes and challenges, acknowledgement and respect for the impact of systemic oppression on personal development and lived experience, and knowledge that, once safe environments have been reached, neuroplasticity and supportive relationships allow us to heal from past hurts. Sarah practices Emotion-Focused Therapy from a trauma-informed perspective. She draws upon her training in experiential, relational psychodynamic, and cognitive behavioural therapies to tailor her treatment to each client.
Sarah earned her doctorate in psychology at the University of Toronto (2006) and is a member of The College of Psychologists of Ontario (Registration #4417).
Ms. Naomi Weir
Naomi Weir is our Administrative Assistant at Transforming Emotions. She strives to be approachable to all clients and wants you to feel welcomed at our practice. Her goal is to understand your needs and to work with Dr. Thompson in pairing you with the best fit on our team.
Naomi brings a diverse background with her to Transforming Emotions. This includes an education in Medical Administration and a former career as a Paramedic. She currently volunteers at a local food bank. Her clinical and personal experiences give her the ability to provide you with a professional and supportive experience.
Amanda Masterton, MSW, RSW
Amanda is a Registered Social Worker with 14 years experience providing counselling support to young adults. She has been in private practice since 2019. Her gentle, whole-person approach focuses on creating safety and building a trusting therapeutic relationship. She works collaboratively with clients to help them gain new perspectives, shift towards preferred ways of being, and create space for new possibilities. Amanda helps clients tap into their existing strengths and abilities, develop new skills and internal resources, and foster resiliency to realise their goals and make positive changes. Amanda utilises neuro-narrative, relational, trauma-informed, and Emotion-Focused Therapy approaches to support clients with a range of issues, including anxiety, depression, chronic illness, learning disabilities, self-esteem and identity difficulties, interpersonal challenges, and life transitions.
Amanda holds a Masters of Social Work from the University of Toronto. She has completed clinical training at The Toronto Western Hospital, Women’s College Hospital, and the Hinks-Dellcrest Centre.
David McNeill, MSW, RSW
David is a registered social worker providing clinical counselling to young adults and adults. David believes in creating a space of non-judgement, safety, and connection where clients can explore their emotional experiences. David is predominantly trained in Emotion-Focused Therapy, but also incorporates person-centred, cognitive-behavioural, and relational therapies into his approach.
David has worked with different types of anxiety, depression, trauma, and family relationship difficulties. Goals of therapy are to help people accept, express, regulate, make sense of, and transform emotion. David’s approach focuses on identifying and expressing adaptive, helpful, and healthy emotions while transforming maladaptive, "stuck", and deeply painful emotions.
David recognizes the importance of long-term therapy, where safe and careful exploration of painful experiences can take place. He also believes the ultimate goal of helpful and responsible therapy is for clients to feel independent, confident, and capable in their lives.
David received his Masters of Social Work from the University of Toronto, and since then has been practicing therapy at Ryerson University’s counselling centre (Centre for Student Development and Counselling) and in private practice.
Dr. Julia McArthur, C. Psych. (Supervised Practice)
Currently accepting clients aged 17-19 years old
Julia brings a genuine, compassionate, and collaborative approach to the therapeutic environment, believing in the importance of a supportive and attuned environment when navigating change. Working primarily from an Emotion-Focused approach, she is passionate about helping her clients explore, understand, and shift problematic and painful emotions, reconnect with their basic needs, and experience greater satisfaction in their lives and relationships. When tailoring her treatment to each client, Julia also draws on her training in relational psychodynamic and cognitive behavioural approaches, and at times the use of humour. She has extensive experience working with clients who have felt or experienced intense worry, low mood, interpersonal difficulties, self-criticism, challenges with adjustment, trauma, and emotion regulation difficulties.
Julia received her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Guelph and has worked within the Thames Valley and Hamilton-Wentworth District School boards, the Child and Youth Mental Health Program at Hamilton Health Sciences, and the Centre for Psychological Services at the University of Guelph. Julia completed her clinical residency at the SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health and is now working towards her registration with the College of Psychologists of Ontario. Her work at Transforming Emotions is supervised by Dr. Sarah Thompson, C. Psych.
Esztella Vezer, M.A., Clinician
Esztella recognizes the importance of the relationship between client and therapist, and strives to ensure that her clients feel understood, accepted and valued regardless of the nature of the problem. She also strives to build a genuine connection and foster a level of trust that allows her clients to share difficult emotions, thoughts and experiences, sometimes for the first time in their lives.
Esztella's primary therapeutic approach is Emotion-Focused Therapy, which she uses to help clients understand, tolerate and alter their emotions, a process that she believes is both transformative and empowering. Esztella's additional training in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness-based interventions means she is able to incorporate a number of evidence-based strategies as needed.
Esztella is a senior doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at Ryerson University and has trained in a number of settings, including a hospital-based clinic, university counselling centre, private practice and in clinical trials. In these settings she has worked with individuals and couples experiencing anxiety, depression, interpersonal difficulties, trauma, psychosocial stressors and a number of other difficulties. At Transforming Emotions, Esztella is supervised by Dr. Sarah Thompson, C.Psych.
Emily Thomas, M.A., Clinician
Currently not accepting new clients
Emily is committed to working collaboratively with clients to identify, explore and transform painful emotions. She strives to foster a safe environment where clients can move from feeling stuck or overwhelmed by difficult emotions to feeling more fulfilled in their own lives and within close relationships . Emily’s practice is grounded in empathy and warmth as she helps clients with a range of issues including trauma, anxiety, depression, interpersonal difficulties, and identity exploration. Emily primarily practices Emotion-Focused Therapy with a trauma-informed lens, and also draws on her training in other evidence-based therapies including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and mindfulness-based approaches to best suit clients' individual needs.
Emily has completed clinical training in both hospital and counselling settings including the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, St. Michael’s Hospital Department of Family and Community Medicine, and the Centre for Student Development and Counselling at Ryerson University. She is a senior doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at Ryerson University. Emily’s work at Transforming Emotions is supervised by Dr. Sarah Thompson, C.Psych.
Angela Cole, MA Clinician
Accepting clients beginning May 1, 2021.
Please contact the clinic to be added to Angela's waitlist.
Angela maintains an evidence-based therapeutic practice grounded in a trauma-informed approach. She works collaboratively with individuals to uncover, understand, and transform underlying core emotional processes that drive behavioural, thought, emotional, and relational problems. Angela values building strong therapeutic relationships with her clients and upholds an accepting, compassionate, and safe environment that is rooted in deep empathy.
While Angela works primarily from process experiential and Emotion Focused therapeutic orientations, her training and experience in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Family Systems Therapy, and Psychodynamic Therapy allow her to draw on interventions from a range of theoretical orientations to best meet clients’ needs and goals. Angela provides psychotherapy to individuals struggling with a range of mental health challenges including anxiety disorders, depression, body image concerns, trauma and related stress disorders, and relationship issues.
Angela is in the final stages of earning a Doctoral degree in Psychology at OISE, University of Toronto. Her pre-doctoral clinical training comprised hospital and counselling settings including the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto Western Hospital University Health Network, and the OISE Psychology Clinic, University of Toronto. She completed her clinical internship with rotations at the Toronto General Hospital University Health Network and Ryerson University Centre for Student Development and Counselling. Angela works part-time at the Toronto Western Hospital Bariatric Surgery Program providing assessment and psychotherapy to individuals living with obesity and related emotional and physical health conditions. Previously, she has been employed at the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario in Kingston providing supportive care to individuals diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illness and their families. At Transforming Emotions Angela’s work is supervised by Dr. Sarah Thompson, C. Psych.