Asher Faerstein, MEd, RP

Registered Psychotherapist

ABOUT

INDIVIDUAL THERAPY

FAQ

CONTACT

I see individual clients for 50-minute sessions on a weekly or biweekly basis. The full fee for sessions is $170. More info here.

Therapy is a protected hour for you to pause and attend to yourself. As a psychotherapist, my job inside the session is to listen closely, to learn what the world looks like through your eyes, and to provide a nonjudgmental and welcoming place for you to think and feel. 

Being able to “tune in” to each person’s unique experience is one of the most important things I can offer; it is the foundation that allows trust to develop between us so that you feel comfortable enough to explore painful or difficult issues together.

As we examine the issues that brought you to therapy, we’ll aim to uncover patterns of thought, feelings, or behaviour that cause you difficulty. We’ll look at how your present may be influenced by formative experiences in childhood, as well as by your current relationships and social situation. And we’ll seek ways forward that work best for you.

Feedback is a valuable part of the therapeutic process. I will check in regularly on how you feel about our progress, our working relationship, and your evolving goals.

Our work together may last just a few sessions or it may continue for years—you decide. Either way, psychotherapy is a powerful experience that can bring about significant positive changes in how you see and understand yourself, in how you feel, think or act, and in your relationships with others.

    • anxiety and depression

    • trauma in childhood or adulthood (historical, relational, systemic), inclusive of racial trauma, medical trauma, and vicarious trauma

    • relationship issues (family dynamics, peer relationships, romantic relationships)

    • boundaries and communication

    • sex and intimacy

    • self-acceptance, self-worth, self-image

    • polyamory and non-monogamy

    • impacts of societal oppressions, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, ageism and fatphobia

    • questions related to sexual orientation

    • gender identity and transition

    • existential questions about meaning, purpose, direction

  • My counselling practice is grounded in psychodynamic and existentialist approaches and integrates principles and techniques from…

    • Relational Therapy

    • Narrative Therapy

    • Internal Family Systems and Parts Work 

    • Attachment Theory

    • Somatic Psychotherapy

    • Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)

    • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

    • Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

  • I believe that depathologizing mental illness and practicing harm reduction are critical to good mental healthcare.

    My work is influenced by my own commitment to and participation in queer/2SLGBTQIA+ communities and is grounded in intersectionality, anti-oppression, and transformative justice politics (including anti-racist, anti-capitalist, decolonial, disability justice, sex positive, and body liberationist principles). I am comfortable with a wide variety of ways of being, values, and relationship styles, including kink and ethical non-monogamy.

    I take a curious, compassionate, and often playful approach that centers safety, connection, and choice. I believe you are the expert of your own experiences, hopes, and desires.

    I describe myself as relational, holistic and trauma informed. At times, I draw on trauma-focused techniques. Trauma can look all kinds of ways — whether you have a trauma history; you are otherwise impacted by systemic oppression; you’ve faced relational injury, rupture, or loss; or you come with other painful experiences, my hope is that we can co-create a relationship and a space in which you feel safe enough to be yourself, to be vulnerable, and to connect with what you really feel in the here-and-now.

If what I have written resonates, please feel free to reach out to book an initial consult with me.