Elaine Clark
I’m a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), teacher, podcast host, and someone who finds a lot of clarity outdoors.
Why this work matters to me
For a long time, I thought being strong meant being the one who could handle things on my own.
I learned to keep going, figure things out, and need as little as possible from others.
It worked — until it didn’t.
Years before I ever sought therapy, I picked up a psychotherapist’s business card and tucked it away. I kept it for nearly a decade before I finally made the call. I think about that often now. I knew support was available, but letting someone in felt far more vulnerable than continuing to manage on my own.
Eventually, life brought experiences I couldn’t simply think my way through anymore.
These experiences changed the way I understand strength.
Sometimes strength isn’t about pushing through — it’s about allowing yourself to be supported.
What it’s like to work together
I’m warm, compassionate, and curious — but I’m also very engaged. I’ll listen closely, ask questions, help you notice patterns, and connect what’s happening now with experiences that may have shaped how you learned to cope, protect yourself, or relate to others.
My approach is integrative, so I don’t work from one approach. I draw from attachment-based, cognitive-behavioural, acceptance-based, somatic, mindfulness, and trauma-informed approaches. With couples, I also integrate the Gottman Method.
Some sessions may involve slowing down and making room for something that hasn’t had much space before. Others may be more practical — understanding a relationship pattern, noticing what happens in your body during stress, or finding a different way to respond to something happening in your life.
My goal is to give you more than an explanation for why you feel stuck. I want it to help you have more choice in what happens next.
You don’t have to explain yourself perfectly or arrive knowing where to begin. We’ll shape the work together.
The body has always been part of the story
I’ve always been fascinated by the connection between how we feel emotionally and what happens in the body.
For the past 15 years, I’ve taught yoga and mindfulness and led retreats around the world. One thing became really clear to me along the way: you can be incredibly self-aware, understand your patterns, and know exactly why you feel the way you do, and still struggle to feel different.
Our experiences don’t just shape what we think. Stress, grief, heartbreak, fear, uncertainty, and the ways we’ve learned to protect ourselves can also shape how we move through the world— how quickly we tense, how difficult it is to slow down, what happens when we feel vulnerable, and how safe it feels to let other people in.
That perspective is now woven into how I work as a therapist.
We’ll explore your thoughts, relationships, experiences, and the patterns that keep showing up. And we'll also slow down enough to notice what happens underneath all that thinking—what your body does when you feel anxious, hurt, overwhelmed, disconnected, or unsure.
For someone who is used to figuring things out, that can be an important shift. Sometimes the next step isn’t understanding yourself more. It’s learning how to experience yourself differently.
Because sometimes you can make perfect sense of something in your mind and still carry it in your body.
Certifications, Qualifications & Experience
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Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) — College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO)
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Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology — Yorkville University
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Completed Levels 1 & 2 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy —The Gottman Institute
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Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) trained — EMDRIA
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Honours Bachelor of Health Sciences, Minor in Life Sciences — University of Ottawa
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E-RYT 500 Yoga Teacher
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Trauma-Informed Yoga Training
- Certified Nutritional Practitioner
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15+ years of experience teaching yoga, mindfulness, and mind-body practices
- Host of Unravel with Elaine Clark — Podcast
Feel like we may be a good fit?