Kayla Chambers - Therapy

I honour the vulnerability it takes to first acknowledge that we want changes in our lives, and to then reach out for support.

Folks often seek out therapy because they have noticed sensations, feelings, moods, thoughts, and behaviours that are impacting their relationships and ability to find ease and pleasure in day-to-day life. Psychotherapy is a unique relationship, where we both work together to support you in creating positive shifts and reshape patterns of being in the world.

As a white settler psychotherapist, I hold and grapple with awareness of the colonial origins of psychotherapy, as well as gratitude for Indigenous and Black wisdoms which lead us in decolonizing healing practices.

I do my best to navigate power in a good way, aiming to cultivate a relational and collaborative approach where we "walk together" in the therapeutic process. As a new person in your life with some particular therapeutic knowledge and experience, I will likely offer a different perspective on all you are navigating. I will also provide body- and arts-based options to support easing trauma responses and accessing your creative embodied wisdom. However, I believe you are the expert of your own life and I will empower you to take the lead in how we navigate therapy together.

Take a look at the Q&A below, and feel free to reach out with any additional questions, and/or schedule your free 20 minute consultation here.

Q&A

What does a session look like/What can I expect?

Our process together begins with a free 20 minute consultation, by phone or zoom, where we have an opportunity to meet, ask questions, and explore if somatic expressive arts therapy together might help support your goals.

Before our first session, I will send you a digital intake form and practice policies/consent document, ensuring you have the information you need to make an informed choice about starting therapy with me.

Therapy sessions together are flexible and collaborative, and can take on many forms depending on your needs and goals of the day. Typically, there is a mix of verbal checking in, grounding and somatic experiencing work, and an arts based process where we might create and transition between different arts modalities.

Often we follow the flow of the "architecture of a session", developed by Paolo Knill, which uses the following stages:

"filling in" verbally, about the concerns/curiosities you are bringing in the moment
"bridging" to transition from verbal sharing into a creative practice
"decentering" through connecting to the body and senses with exploratory art making
"aesthetic analysis" to take time to be with, and respond to the art that has emerged
"harvesting" to reflect on the session, and "crystallize" any helpful insights that the creative embodied process and art is bringing to your day-to-day life and challenges
"closing" a last moment together to reflect and support transitioning out of the therapy space

Which clients do you work with in therapy?

At this time I work primarily with adult individuals who are navigating the impacts of trauma on their relationships and patterns of being in the world. Some of these impacts of trauma might include challenges with body sensations, forming and keeping secure-enough relationships, life transitions, anxiety, depression, grief, stress/burnout, as well as feeling generally disconnected.

I have walked with individuals with a wide range of intersecting life experiences including newcomers, refugees, folx who use substances as a coping strategy, homeless and under-housed individuals, sex workers/professionals, survivors of incarceration, disabled folx, neurodivergent folx, and consumers/survivors of the mental health system.

I have also facilitated groups for survivors of gender-based violence, frontline workers recovering from burnout, and children, youth, and adults with diverse abilities and neurodiversities.

My practice seeks to be anti-racist, 2SLGBTQA+ positive, accessible, body and sex positive, fluent in the dynamics of diverse relationship and family structures (such as polyamory and relationship anarchy) and to embody decolonizing, anti-oppression, and harm reduction principles as much as possible.

My other offerings (embodied arts facilitation, training and consultation) are open to small and large groups.

I'm not an artist. Can I still try somatic expressive arts therapy?

Absolutely. A core principle of my practice and training is "low skill, high sensitivity" which means you do not need artistic skill or prior experience with body-based practices in order to benefit from somatic expressive arts therapy. In fact, this space of curiosity and openness is a great place to start (while acknowledging there might also be some vulnerability - this is an understandable and welcome part of the process).

I believe we all use creativity (even in the smallest ways!) in how we shape and respond to our life experiences.

What kind of art will we create together?

There are so many possibilities. The art we create together depends on the concerns, questions, and embodied experience you are bringing at the time of our session.

There are many paths we could follow while experimenting with visual arts, sound, movement, storytelling, writing, dramatic enactment, play, and other art forms. The creative process often has an element of the unknown, and sometimes the most impactful art is something we didn't expect to create (and might not even look or feel like "art") but emerged out of finding moments of presence within our co-creative process.

Art moves us, and stirs up emotion, story, and embodied experience through the senses. Imagining a colour while breathing, forming a small gesture, creating some sounds, or writing down a couple of words are all beautiful "low skill, high sensitivity" examples. My role is to be a creative companion to support you by holding a frame for embodied art making, which includes giving options and adjustments to support your thereapeutic process. You also co-create this frame, and there are many variations of what we can do depending on your boundaries and what feels supportive (and maybe challenging-enough) in the moment.

Do you provide art materials needed for our sessions? Do I need to purchase anything?

Yes, I provide all art materials for in-person and ecotherapy sessions.

For online sessions, if you have the means and curiosity to pick out some art supplies, I am happy to give some suggestions. Generally, some inexpensive watercolour paints, oil pastels, paper, and writing materials provide us with lots of visual arts options to start. Many of the other modalities we work with only require your body :).

Within your space I also recommend comfortable clothing, objects/items which feel supportive, water/tea/snacks for nourishment as needed, and space for movement.

What are your COVID policies?

For in-person sessions, I send out a COVID screening form the day of our session. If you happen to have any symptoms and still feel well enough/want to have a session, we can switch to an online format.

Masks are required in the common areas of the office. Once we are in our session room, we can mutually decide whether or not to carry out our session with or without masks and physical distancing.

I appreciate early communication if there's a possibility of cancellation or switching to online based on COVID symptoms, or any other illness.

I regularly use masks in public spaces, monitor for symptoms, complete rapid tests, and receive up to date COVID immunizations and booster shots.

What are your fees and cancellation policy?

Individual Psychotherapy Fees (2023)

$130.00 for 60 min
$156.00 for 75 min
$182.00 for 90 min

These rates apply to sessions in person, online, and outdoors. I offer small discounts for sessions longer than 60 min.

For clients facing financial barriers to accessing services, a modified fee structure may be available depending on your needs and my availability. At this time my low cost and sliding scale spots are full, however please check out my resources page for information on low-cost therapy options in Tkaronto.

Insurance: I issue a receipt after sessions that can be used for insurance reimbursement (for plans covering psychotherapy with a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)).

Cancellation Policy: While I certainly appreciate the unpredictability and busyness of life, late cancellations create a gap in my schedule which could have been used to support another client. For cancellations with less than 24 hours notice, I charge the full fee for the session. I appreciate efforts to reschedule/cancel with at least 24 hours notice, and in a true emergency will make an exception to the cancellation fees. If you have specific accessibility needs, I am open to considering a more flexible cancellation policy.

More information on my practice policies/fees can be found here.