St. Catharines Therapists

Julianne Maslabey, RP, RMFT

Currently only accepting new online clients.

Welcome to Safe Harbour Psychotherapy, where I hope you find a refuge from the storms of your life and a safe place to heal. My name is Julianne Maslabey and I am the founder of Safe Harbour Psychotherapy. I too have experienced many of the traumatic losses and issues I now help my clients with. I know first-hand how hopeless one can feel after a major loss but also how we as human beings have the wonderful capacity to heal from trauma, especially when we are able to connect with a caring other.

I am a Registered Psychotherapist and Registered Marriage and Family Therapist. I am certified in Transformative Couples Therapy (learn more at transformativecouplestherapy.com).  I hold a Master of Divinity with a major in Counselling and have taken numerous post-graduate training programs in individual psychotherapy. I have a total of 30 years of experience helping people cope with crises. This includes many years of pastoral care and counselling, working in agency settings, for EAP companies and in private practice.

I have been trained in many therapeutic models such as Transformative Couples Therapy, Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Solution Focused Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy and Family Systems Therapy. Each one of these models has added valuable insight into my work and informs choices of interventions I use for each client. My mission is to help clients increase self-awareness and change how they think, feel and act. I am constantly learning and growing as a therapist by taking part in regular training programs so that I can incorporate the latest developments in affective neuroscience and attachment theory into my work.

As we work together in a session, I help you experience more positive emotions, rather than just talking about it! I look forward to meeting you. I am enriched by each one of my clients in a very special way as I witness the courage and vulnerability that we share together in the journey towards healing.

Carmen Esau, RP(Qualifying)

Carmen can be reached directly at carmen.safeharbour@gmail.com. She is currently available for in-person sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the St. Catharines location.
Flexible online appointments are also available.

Myra Rados, RP, DTATI

Myra Rados, RP, DTATI

Myra can be reached at info@livingartsignatures.ca.

“Welcome to my practice…

I offer an empathic and a dynamic art psychotherapy approach, providing evidence-based interventions for clients of all ages. The meaning of life is explored and is cherished in my practice for every individual who begins therapy with me. Some directives are verbal, non-verbal, or open/fluid and they can vary at various stages of treatment. I offer a supportive, person-centred, inclusive approach with various psychodynamic modalities. I combine interventions in an eclectic manner using various art materials/mediums tailored for clients who are ready to engage in their process. Each client is invited to build up their inner resources in engaging ways often accessing innate healing abilities, and then tackling concerns or conditions in a safe space together.

Art therapy is a progressive and science-based psychotherapy complimenting neurological-based findings: (1) emotional regulation for stress/anxiety; (2) the stabilization of mood/impulsive behaviours and conditions; (3) to improve low mood; and (4) art therapy can provide an adaptive response to alleviate trauma symptoms in body and mind. It has helped children and adolescents in many agencies of care who employ the medical model in treatment.  It is often the most engaging, accessible, and empowering form of treatment for a myriad of comorbidities or concurrent diagnoses when talk therapy and psychosocial education interventions run their course.

The objective is to achieve positive mental health which has validity for all ages, concerns, and for the management of symptoms of mental health conditions. I practice informed consent, and this will involve empowering clients to participate in setting treatment goals, strengthening decision-making and problem-solving abilities, modifying risk behaviours, optimizing a healthy belief system(s),  and increasing greater self-autonomy and confidence, to lead a life they have envisioned for themselves. Jungian psychology, positive psychology, existential, somatic, trauma-informed, and mindfulness art therapy interventions are at the root of every approach I take with my clients.”

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Myra is a Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO), a Professional Art Therapist (DTATI), an EMDR Therapist (ENVISION), a Sandplay Therapy Intern (CAST), a MARI Practitioner, and provides individual, family, and group workshops. Myra has a post-graduate masters level certificate in Adult Education (OISE) and a post-graduate diploma in Communications (CC).

Myra specializes in treatment programs for PTSD, anxiety, chronic pain, and workplace stress. Myra offers individuals and organizations therapy and workshops for frontline employees and veteran services. Myra pioneered an art therapy protocol called Brief Mindfulness Art Therapy (Brief-MAT), an intervention for critical incident stress in in the workplace for Canada (2019). This intervention combines recent research about workplace mental health, brief group therapy, positive psychology interventions (PPIs) (mindfulness and self-compassion) and art therapy for police members and frontline employees in Canada. Myra received the Gilda Grossman Award (2021) for her work in this field for her thesis-project, Healthy Minds at Work, Engaging Employees in a Healthy Dialogue about Workplace Mental Health Through Brief Art Therapy, from the Toronto Art Therapy Institute (TATI).

Myra also offers various arts-based assessments for children and adults to improve treatment plans and identify symptoms of various DSM-5 conditions, which support current diagnosis only. Symptoms are identified by pictorial developmental assessment features which can determine acute or chronic stages of mental health and illness. MARI® (Mandala Assessment Research Instrument), PPAT-FEATS, Kwiatkowska 6-Picture Family Art Evaluation, and the Horovitz BATA Assessment (i.e., identifies existential crisis). MARI is applied in both art and sandplay therapy to improve various stages of treatment.  It provides the client with a mandala picture or a map of one of the 12 stages of life (with symbols and colours) clients are experiencing, and it helps to identify what clients are working through augmenting a treatment plan.

This practice is supervised by Sharona Bookbinder Doctor of Art Therapy, RP, DTATI. Myra is a member of CATA, OAMHP, and ACTRA, and practices Entura Art © (Certified, 2016) and offers Transpersonal Art workshops, a soft pastel technique she teaches to professional art therapists, and client groups can benefit when processing an existential crisis, like grief or loss, or are searching for meaning making in life.

Safe Harbour Psychotherapy (St. Catharines) appointments are in-person sessions: Individual sessions are 1-hour in length. Family Assessments are divided into two stages. The first part is a 2- hour session with all of the family members in attendance, and this is followed by a 1-hour interview for each member of the family over several weeks. Family therapy is 1.5 hours in length. The hours available are the following:

• Fridays 4 to 8 p.m. (ongoing)
• Mondays 5-9 p.m. and Fridays 4-8 p.m. (starting June 1)
• Thursdays 1-9 p.m. and Fridays 4-8 p.m. (starting July 1).
• Virtual therapy sessions occur daily on ZOOM.

To choose a LAS Signature Therapy that may be of interest to you,  please visit LAS at www.livingartsignatures.ca. Please book a 15 min. free consultation with Myra directly at info@livingartsignatures.ca. Organizations are welcome to book a consultation anytime. Myra is also a member of Psychology Today.