Why a Psychologist?

Dr. Hart is a registered psychologist and has been conducting psychotherapy for over 25 years.

Psychologists are trained to assess and treat a wide range of emotional and psychological problems. After receiving their undergraduate university degree, psychologists complete an average of 7 years of further education and training. Working with a skilled psychologist can significantly reduce troubling symptoms (such as anxiety, fear, or depression) and enable you to cope with your problems more effectively and to function better in your day-to-day life.

Psychologists apply their knowledge of human behaviour, mental processes, emotions, and personality characteristics to help people make healthy and positive changes in their lives. Working collaboratively with you, a psychologist can help you recognize and change negative thinking styles, distressing emotions, and self-defeating behaviour patterns.

Psychologists are trained to teach you more constructive ways to deal with situations that now seem beyond your control.

There is a large amount of research evidence showing the effectiveness of psychological interventions for a wide range of problems. With respect to depression, cognitive-behavioural therapy has been found to successfully treat approximately two thirds of individuals with clinical depression. There is also evidence that cognitive-behavioural therapy reduces the risk of having a future period of depression. Similar results are found for the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioural therapy for anxiety problems. Motivational interviewing is another form of therapy that Dr. Hart offers.  Motivational interviewing has strong evidence for helping people to make life decisions, and to manage health behaviours (e.g., eating behaviours, exercise) and substance use.