Erin Montgomery - Halifax Trauma Therapist

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My Story

I provide counselling, psychotherapy, and music & imagery sessions to individuals and groups. My sessions include psychoeducation, EMDR, mindfulness approaches (including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Mindfulness Based Stress Reducation), cognitive behavioural interventions (CBT), imagery, and creative arts experiences. My page is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, medical treatment, or therapy. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding any mental health symptom or medical condition. Never disregard professional psychological or medical advice nor delay in seeking professional advice or treatment because of something you have read on my page. My understanding of mental health is trauma-informed. 90% of public mental health clients have a history of trauma, however, often only the symptomology of trauma such as depression, anxiety, addictions, etc., is treated and the individual's true suffering is not addressed. Stress and traumatic stress are responsible for many of our physical and mental health concerns. My goal as a therapist is to provide people with skills to minimize the stress in their lives, to provide tools to cope with stress, to understand the effects of stress and trauma, and to help them stabilize and recover from traumatic and difficult life events. Type I traumas, are unexpected, and often single incidents such as a motor vehicle accidents. Most of the time, our resilience allows us to recover from these types of experiences without help. However, when we develop symptoms of acute stress following these traumas, and do not seek help, they may become post traumatic stress responses that last much longer and have a profound impact on our ability to function in the world. Type II traumas, are unfortunately often expected and recurring interpersonal traumas such as abuse, and combat. Healing from type II traumas can often require more time and resources than healing from a single incident trauma. All posttraumatic responses are adaptive and make good sense. We avoid things which have been shocking or hurtful to us in the past. We re-experience the trauma because our system wants to remember what happened so that it doesn't happen again. We lose trust in others, because they have let us down in the past. However, after a time, most of these adaptive responses to stress & trauma begin to hold us back from being truly present with ourselves and others, and from experiencing life to its fullest. We limit our experiences and then feel even worse. I provide trauma education and resources on this page in order to give back power to trauma survivors. Normalizing what is happening when experiencing traumatic stress is often the first step to feeling more in control. I have studied PTSD and complex trauma at the Justice Resource Institute Boston Trauma Center, at the Cape Cod Institute, and at the Traumatology Institute in Toronto. I have done trauma specific trainings including EMDR, CBT, ACT, and music & imagery (MI). I hope that you will gain something from visiting my space. My intention is to be a healing, and safe presence in the world. Please get in touch at any time if you have questions, or to begin your healing journey.