Healing Connections Psychotherapy

03/08/2026

New Blog Post: Authenticity, Resilience, and Healing: A Conversation with Miranda Arellano

Authenticity, Resilience, and Healing: A Conversation with Miranda Arellano

03/04/2026

🌈✨ Starting Soon at Healing Connections! ✨🌈

We are so excited to announce the launch of NeuroQueer Connections — a welcoming therapeutic social space for q***r and neurodivergent adults in our community.

This bi-weekly gathering is designed to foster connection, creativity, and meaningful conversation in a safe, affirming environment. Together, we’ll share experiences, explore identity, and celebrate q***rness and neurodivergence as sources of strength, resilience, and joy.

💬 What to expect:
• Supportive coffee chats
• Themed activities like vision boards, crafting, grounding practices & reflective exercises
• Access to affirming resources and community supports
• A small, intimate group (capped at 10–12 participants)
• Light snacks provided

Bi-weekly | 6:00–7:00 PM
Alternating between Healing Connections Psychotherapy (North Bay) and North Bay Counselling Services
Adults 18+
Pilot project running for five sessions (with a summer pause)

This group is facilitated in collaboration with local therapists and social workers to ensure both professional support and genuine community care.

If you’re seeking validation, practical tools, or simply a place where you can fully be yourself — this space was created with you in mind.

📩 Register or to learn more. Spaces are limited. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfUrSDvOJTLQUMQ2vtlMR-_3gyllSIqm9gJQPLddbRX74aTQg/viewform?pli=1

03/01/2026

Thank you Alida for building a wall and door for the BrainTap room this weekend!! 😍

02/26/2026

Check out this video about the braintap!

BrainTap Technology is being implemented in clinics around the world 🧠✨ Hear from providers who have seen remarkable transformations!From improved relaxatio...

02/26/2026

Have you tried the BrainTap yet? We are currently renovating our meditation room to make it amazing!!!!! We can't wait to show you! First time is always FREE!

02/25/2026

🇨🇦 Military Members & Families!

The Healing Connections team will be at the Mental Health Expo today at 22 Wing North Bay!

If you’re a current or former military member, come by to learn about trauma-informed care, EMDR therapy, and other mental health supports tailored to your needs. Our team is here to answer questions, provide resources, and support your well-being.

We’re also excited to connect with other organizations and professionals in the community at the Expo today! It’s always inspiring to see Arthur Henry and Steph McMahon (EMDR colleagues), meet new helpers, and celebrate the work everyone is doing to support mental health. Events like this remind us how strong our local network is and how much we can accomplish when we come together. We love these opportunities to learn, share, and grow alongside so many passionate people!

Where: 22 Wing North Bay
When: Today — 1-4pm
Who? Military families

Stop by our table for a chance to win a $100 gift card and self care basket! Every entry gets a small gift too!

We’re honored to serve those who serve us. 💛

02/23/2026

Thank you for the reminder, OutLoud 🤍

SUPPORT LOCAL

Small Businesses • Charities • Artisans

When you shop local, you’re investing in community, creativity, and care. You’re supporting families, dreams, and the heart of our city.

Let’s lift each other up and celebrate what makes North Bay so special.

Tag your favourites or drop your own below 👇
Let’s highlight our local gems ✨

02/20/2026

GROUND-BREAKING STUDY: A simple digital treatment involving gameplay has been shown to dramatically reduce intrusive trauma memories within one month.

Six months on, some participants were symptom-free.

The research, involving Oxford experts, also found significant reductions in overall PTSD symptoms.

The study, funded by Wellcome Trust, carried out a randomised controlled trial of 99 healthcare workers exposed to trauma at work during the Covid-19 pandemic. The results demonstrate huge potential to implement a highly scalable, low intensity, easily accessible digital treatment that could transform how we prevent and treat PTSD for people who have been exposed to trauma worldwide.

According to the World Health Organization, psychological trauma – exposure to severe injury, death, or sexual violence – affects seven out of 10 of people at least once in their lifetime. Severe trauma can lead to PTSD, experienced by millions of people globally, and often presents as sudden, unwanted intrusive memories accompanied by very distressing emotions.

Existing therapies for PTSD are effective yet remain widely inaccessible. They tend to be resource-intensive – requiring multiple sessions with specialists – are widely unavailable, and are not recommended for those facing ongoing trauma.

The new study tested an intervention developed at Uppsala University in collaboration with P1vital, and trialled with collaborators including the University of Cambridge, and Oxford University. The focus was on treating intrusive, vivid, and unwanted memories of trauma, a hallmark symptom of PTSD.

After recalling a memory, participants learned how to use a cognitive skill called mental rotation, which involves rotating 2D and 3D shapes using your ‘mind’s eye’. They then used this skill to play a slower form of the video game Tetris, which similarly involves rotating geometric blocks. This is thought to occupy the brain’s visuospatial areas, competing with the visual flashback, weakening its vividness and emotional impact – and critically, the frequency with which it intrudes.

To actively compare against this treatment, one control group of the trial listened to music by Mozart, reputed for therapeutic benefits to alleviate stress, and informational podcasts about him. In a second control group, participants received only standard care.

After just one month, researchers found a stark reduction in intrusive memories, commonly known as flashbacks, for those using the Tetris-based treatment – ten times fewer than either control group. It remained highly effective after six months, with 70% of participants who received it reporting no intrusive memories at all, even alleviating other PTSD symptoms.

02/17/2026

If you’ve never met Amy Freeman, you truly should.

She is kind, caring, and hilarious in the most grounding way. Amy brings such heart to her work and genuinely cares about every single client she supports. Her passion for helping people heal is something you can feel the moment you sit with her.

I am so incredibly grateful to have her on the Healing Connections team. She is currently training in EMDR, and I’m consulting closely with her to ensure she feels confident and supported as she grows her skills.

You are in very good hands with her.

Book with Amy today — your nervous system will thank you 🤍

https://healingconnectionstherapy.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/19

02/16/2026

Operational Resiliency Protocol (ORP) Training — In-Person
Build strength, release the weight of the job, and learn practical tools to stay grounded in the face of trauma. Designed by a therapist who works with first responders, for first responders.
When: Thursday, February 19, 2026 · 6:00–7:30 p.m. EST
Where: Healing Connections Psychotherapy, 183 1st Ave W Main Floor, North Bay, ON
Reserve your spot: https://wix.to/dK9x8Y0

02/15/2026

Some days I can’t believe I created this.

Welcome to Healing Connections Psychotherapy 🤍

In August, this was just an idea.
By October, it was secured.

Despite navigating complex medical challenges this year, I made a decision: when you have a dream placed on your heart, you don’t let anything stop you. You move with wisdom. You ask for help. You keep going.

And I absolutely did not build this alone.

So many beautiful friends showed up — painting, lifting, designing, brainstorming, encouraging, supporting, believing. You know who you are. I appreciate every single one of you more than you know. This space carries your fingerprints too.

We are also incredibly grateful to BuzzMasters for creating this video. They have supported us from day one as we stepped into this space. The Temple means something to both of us, and it felt so aligned to have you capture it. Thomas and Ryen — your kindness and support have meant so much. Thank you.

Inside the historic Masonic Temple in North Bay, we now have:

✨ 7 thoughtfully designed therapy offices
✨ Sensory-friendly spaces
✨ Dedicated child therapy rooms (yes, sand trays!)
✨ Group therapy rooms
✨ Red light therapy
✨ BrainTap technology
✨ Administrative support so clinicians can focus on care
✨ A beautiful team of trauma-informed therapists and clinicians

Every detail was intentional.
Soft lighting. Calming textures. Nervous-system-first design.

The videographer is still adding a flyover of the exterior 😍 and I can’t wait to see the final cut — but I’m too excited not to share this sneak peek.

This isn’t just office space.

It’s proof that healing, community, resilience, and vision can coexist.

So proud. So grateful. So ready for what’s next. 🤍