Biography

My name is Jacob, and I am a Ph.D. student in counselling psychology at McGill University. In psychotherapy, I aim to facilitate a trusting space for clients to cultivate wholeness and wellbeing; to cope with life’s challenges and transitions, such as illness and loss. My work is informed by depth-oriented and existential psychotherapies as well as other approaches supported by evidence in response to individual needs.

With a specialized focus on adjustment, stress, anxiety, and meaning, I have held counselling roles in private practice, community wellness and retreat settings. I have professional training in psychotherapy and guidance counselling with an academic background in psychology and philosophy. With experience working in Ontario and Quebec hospital systems—namely the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, and the Jewish General Hospital—my published studies have concerned emotion, treatment implementation (dialectical behaviour therapy [DBT]), creativity, spirituality and culture. I am currently engaged in an interdisciplinary research program in palliative care. My research supports a global network advocating for trauma-informed, whole-person care for people with cancer and their loved ones.

I practice psychotherapy with a spirit of accompaniment, striving to build on what is meaningful to the client, and acknowledging that life is anything but linear. My approach emphasizes trust and open dialogue, ‘side-by-side’ with the client as they walk through their experience in the service of insight, compassion and potential.