Memento Psychotherapy & Counselling

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Canada
Milton, ON
Memento Psychotherapy & Counselling

Cayla Townes, MA, RP, CCC
Help for difficult childhoods, trauma, and relationships

07/28/2025

Do you feel guilt for acknowledging that something was missing from your childhood? You're not alone. Many high-functioning adults wrestle with these feelings. My latest post explains why it's perfectly okay to feel hurt, even when you know your parents were doing their best.

Many high-functioning adults struggle with a particular kind of inner conflict: they know something was missing from their childhood, yet they feel guilty for acknowledging it. After all, their parents weren't abusive monsters. They were just... absent. Emotionally unavailable. Overwhelmed. Doing th...

07/21/2025

What is trauma, really? The term gets thrown around a lot these days, especially on social media, so here's a short breakdown of what it is and isn't from a clinical perspective.

In recent years, the word "trauma" has become increasingly common in everyday conversation, social media, and popular psychology. While this increased awareness has helped reduce stigma around mental health, it has also led to some confusion about what trauma actually means from a clinical perspecti...

07/14/2025

Is guilt holding you back? It's a powerful emotion, but it shouldn't control your life. In my latest post, learn more about the function of guilt and how to free yourself if you feel stuck in it's grip.

Guilt might be one of the most misunderstood emotions in the human experience. We treat it like a houseguest that overstays its welcome, when in reality, guilt is more like a smoke detector—incredibly useful when there's actually a fire, but absolutely maddening when it keeps going off because you...

06/23/2025

Have you ever felt disconnected from your emotions or struggled in relationships without knowing why? You’re not alone. Explore the profound impact of childhood emotional neglect on adult life. Learn more about this invisible wound and why it’s hard to discuss.

Picture this: You're sitting in a therapy session, trying to explain why you feel so disconnected from yourself and others, why you struggle with relationships, or why you can't seem to trust your own emotions. Your therapist asks about your childhood, and you shrug. "It was fine," you say. "Nothing...

06/18/2025

When faced with perceived danger, our nervous system triggers four primary responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn. Learn how these trauma responses shape the way we relate and behave in my latest post.

When faced with perceived danger, our nervous system has four primary responses that have kept humans alive for millennia: Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn.

06/11/2025

Our minds evolved to thrive in tight-knit communities, yet modern living often feels isolating. To better understand the mental health impacts of our digital age on our hunter-gatherer brain, check out my latest blog post.

Our brains evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to thrive in small, tight-knit communities where physical movement was constant, social bonds were essential for survival, and threats were immediate and concrete. Yet in just a few decades, we've created an environment that contradicts nearly e...

06/02/2025

Have you ever felt like your struggles define you? It's time to change that narrative. A non-pathologizing approach to therapy sees your challenges as evidence of your strength.

A non-pathologizing approach to therapy offers a different lens—one rooted in the idea that your struggles are not signs of defect or disorder, but adaptations. They are evidence of how you’ve survived.

05/26/2025

Explore the contrasting perspectives of constructivist and objectivist therapies. Discover how these approaches shape the therapeutic relationship, define how therapists see client challenges, and frame the role of the client.

In this post, we’ll explore the differences between constructivist and objectivist therapy approaches, and how each shapes the therapeutic relationship, the role of the client, and what we consider to be “problems” in the first place.

05/20/2025

Understanding doesn't always equal change. Experiential therapy techniques that go beyond traditional talk therapy can help us make changes that allow for greater wellbeing. Explore the power of emotions and their role in healing.

Talk therapy can be incredibly powerful—but for many people, insight alone isn’t enough to create real, lasting change.

05/12/2025

Codependency has become a buzzword in pop psychology—a shorthand for being “too much,” “too needy,” or “bad at boundaries.” But what if we’ve misunderstood it? What if it’s not what’s wrong with you—but what happened to you?

Codependency has become a buzzword in pop psychology—a shorthand for being “too much,” “too needy,” or “bad at boundaries.” But what if we’ve misunderstood codependency? What if, instead of seeing it as a flaw, we saw it as an adaptation? What if it’s not what’s wrong with you—...

05/06/2025

Perfectionism can seem like just an annoying trait, but for many, it’s a strategy for survival born from attachment trauma. So why does that matter? Just knowing where it comes from may not be enough to change it.

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Perfectionism often gets framed as a personality flaw or an overachiever’s quirk—something to tone down with better work-life balance or stricter time management. But for many, especially those with histories of attachment trauma, perfectionism isn’t just a habit. It’s a survival strategy.

04/28/2025

High-stress professionals know too well the impact of unrelenting pressure on mental health. Discover effective and deeper strategies for stress relief in my latest blog post.

If you work in a high-pressure field—whether you're a healthcare worker, educator, first responder, therapist, corporate leader, or caregiver—you're no stranger to stress. You probably already have some solid strategies to get through tough days. But even with all that strength and know-how, the...

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Milton, ON

Telephone

+13656750375

Website

http://www.MementoTherapy.com/

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