Laura Farberman

I am a Registered Social Worker and Yoga Instructor, with over 10 years of experience working with people with addictions and mental illness. I have studied and practiced, Family Therapy, Compassionate Inquiry (with Gabor Maté), Gestalt Techniques, Trauma and Attachment, Motivational Interviewing, Acceptance Therapy, Inner Child work, Emotion-Focused Therapy, Internal Family Systems and many additional models. I have clinical experience working with folks suffering from anxiety, emotional and sexual trauma, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, addictions, workaholics, overeating disorders, chronic pain and physical illness, chronic psychotic disorders and many caregivers.

Prior to working full time in Private Practice, I worked at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto (CAMH) for 8 years in the Psychosis Program where I had the opportunity to support clients with Schizophrenia to improve their quality of life in the community after many years of living in hospital. During my time at CAMH, I developed a Family Program where we worked with family members and other caregivers of people with mental illness to understand the illness, various treatments, and to process their own caregiving journeys which were often full of pain, sacrifice, isolation and trauma. I have also provided psychotherapy to caregivers in this program.

In 2008 I began to study Psychotherapy at the Transformational Arts College in Toronto. I then travelled throughout India and studied yoga practice and philosophy, further developing my understanding of how we are shaped by our experiences and how to untangle and derive meaning of that. Upon my return from India, I competed my Masters Degree in Social Work at Carleton University. During that time, I focused my studies on how Social Work Practice and Yoga Therapy could work in tandem to bring about healing. I developed yoga for addiction and mental health programs for various non-profit organizations including the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), The Mission, Immigrant Services for Women and more.

I am a Certified Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner, currently interning with Sat Dharam, the Co-Executive Director, CEO and Facilitator for Compassionate Inquiry, a somatic psychotherapy approach developed by Dr. Gabor Matè.

It is a privilege to combine all of the tools I have collected throughout my years of self-healing, professional practice and study to provide Soulful Psychotherapy services.