- Anger
- Anxiety
- Career
- Couple and Marriage
- Depression
- Grief and Loss
- Relationships
- Self-Esteem
- Shame and Guilt
- Trauma
- Stress
- Men’s Issues
Alistair Gordon is a Registered Clinical Counsellor in private practice and an Adjunct Professor of Counselling Psychology at UBC.
Alistair is a Registered Clinical Counsellor and Psychotherapist, Founder and Director of Wellspring Counselling, and an Adjunct Professor of Counselling Psychology at the University of British Columbia. His therapeutic experience and focus is broad, encompassing psychotherapy for anxiety and stress, anger, trauma, mild to moderate depression, phobias, significant life decisions, and more.
Additionally, Alistair provides counselling and psychotherapy for self-discovery, enhancing self-esteem, fostering effective parenting strategies, and improving communication for healthier relationships. Personal growth and self-development are integral elements of his practice as he sees the process of therapy being one of actualization and thriving (as opposed to solely fixing a problem).
In our digitally connected world, Alistair provides comprehensive online psychotherapy sessions via a secure video counselling platform, ensuring accessibility and privacy for all his clients.
His therapeutic approach is an integrative one, informed by the latest advancements in psychotherapy and neuroscience. Alistair’s synthesizes elements from various therapy approaches including Psychodynamic, Gestalt, EMDR, CBT, and Emotion-Focused therapies. In certain cases, he also incorporates Clinical Hypnosis. This eclectic approach allows him to tailor therapy to your unique needs, optimizing the potential for growth and well-being
Clients frequently find the following concepts and tools that are worked on in session valuable:
-Understanding the functionality of the brain and mind.
-Effective management of stress and anger.
-Deep self-exploration for enhanced self-awareness.
-Building psychological resilience.
-Identification, understanding, and management of emotions.
-Developing effective thinking and problem-solving skills.
-Techniques to shift core beliefs towards healthier perspectives.
In his personal life, Alistair is passionately committed to being a loving father and husband. His dedication to assisting others in achieving a fulfilling, healthy, and happy life extends beyond his professional pursuits. He devotes considerable time outside his family and personal life to researching and refining his ability to provide quality psychotherapy.
With each client he works with, he aspires to instill a sense of hope, resilience, and personal empowerment on your journey to well-being and personal growth.
Alistair’s integrative approach is informed by neuroscience and combines his clinical training in three prominent therapies: Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR Therapy), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Alistair also utilizes experiential exercises in counselling sessions instead of solely ‘talking’ because actively engaging in a dynamic lived experience creates visceral change in the mind and brain.
Interested in EMDR Therapy? You may have heard about it in the news when Prince Harry discussed the helpfulness of this approach and engaged in an EMDR session live on-camera (check it out: https://youtu.be/XCImFkFOlSQ). EMDR therapy processes experiences that were imprinted into unconscious body, emotional, and procedural memory – this is called “implicit memory” – as well as conscious, explicit memory.
EMDR therapy involves attending to the emotionally disturbing experience while orienting your attention to what is called “bi-lateral stimulation,” which is eye movements (or tapping, audio sounds, etc.) that stimulate both sides of your body to activate both hemispheres of your brain.
What this does is it helps to access the memories, create new connections between what happened in the past and what the current reality is, and what is more helpful to believe about yourself. Much of this work ultimately culminates in making a profound shift in the underlying beliefs about yourself that are continuing the patterns of your challenge. There are numerous steps and a host of other factors involved, but this is a brief description of it.
Alistair is a professional member of EMDR International Association.
