We are a practice of existential psychotherapists and counsellors trained in Existential Analysis, one of the contemporary schools of existential psychotherapy. We offer a range of psychotherapeutic, counselling, and consulting services to clients (individuals, couples, families and groups). We support mental health and allied health practitioners through clinical supervision, consultation, and professional development opportunities. We offer internship placements, supervision and mentorship to students enrolled in counselling psychology programs and in the Existential Analysis training.
Who We Are
EXIST Psychotherapy was founded in 2020 by Rochelle Chapman, Xavier Williams, Cecilia Ward, and Mihaela Launeanu.
Values
EMPOWER CLIENTS
HONOUR SUBJECTIVE EXPEREINCE
EMBRACE DIVERSITY
EXPLORE FEELINGS
CREATE EMOTIONAL SAFETY
Existential Psychotherapists
We see our practice as a collaborative, encouraging, and exploratory dialogue between two struggling human beings – one who is seeking assistance from the other who is professionally trained. We emphasize cultivating a caring, honest, supportive, empathic and authentic relationship with our clients, recognizing the vital role of this relationship in the therapeutic process. Of course, we also provide tools, but the relationship comes first.
Existential Analysis
Existential Analysis combines a great respect for a person’s experience and uniqueness with specific treatment approaches to lessen their psychological and personal suffering.
One of the central aims is to support clients in living a life of inner consent (a felt sense of ‘yes’ to the life they choose). This means being able to holistically understand, feel, and sense which possibilities in life are most valuable for oneself and to find the strength and courage to own one’s decisions and actions. This is the way to live out one’s freedom and take responsibility for one’s life.
For further information on Existential Analysis, visit Existential Analysis Canada here: www.existentialanalysis.ca/
Existential psychotherapy consists of a supportive and collaborative exploration of clients’ lives and experiences. It places primary importance on the nature and quality of the here‐and‐now therapeutic relationship, as well as on the exploration of the relationships between clients and their contextual lived worlds.
In keeping with its strong philosophical foundation, existential therapy takes the human condition itself – in all its myriad facets, from tragic to wondrous, horrific to beautiful, material to spiritual – as its central focus. Furthermore, it considers all human experience as intrinsically inseparable from the ground of existence, or “being‐in‐the-world” in which we each constantly and inescapably participate.
Existential therapy aims to illuminate the way in which each unique person – within certain inevitable limits and constraining factors – comes to choose, create, and perpetuate their own way of being in the world. In both its theoretical orientation and practical approach, existential therapy emphasizes and honors the perpetually emerging, unfolding, and paradoxical nature of human experience, and brings an unquenchable curiosity to what it truly means to be human.
Ultimately, existential therapy confronts some of the most fundamental and perennial questions regarding human existence: Who am I? What is my purpose in life? Am I free or determined? How do I deal with my own mortality? Does my existence have any meaning or significance? How shall I live my life?
- Adapted from The Wiley World Handbook of Existential Psychotherapy