Counselling, Psychotherapy
& Pilgrimage Support
"As you start to walk on the way, the way appears." ~Rumi
Attuned and compassionate accompaniment through life's challenging passages.​​​​​
Meet Colleen O'Toole
MSc, OT Reg. (Ont.)
Occupational Therapist, Psychotherapist, Author
I offer a contemplative, humanistic and occupational approach to psychotherapy, counselling and integrative pilgrimage support, making use of mindfulness and compassion exercises, cognitive strategies as well as somatic practices. It is open and eclectic, offering tools which can be used as needed. I take an individual, person-centred approach, placing trust in your inner wisdom to help guide us.
At heart, I am an Occupational Therapist, a discipline focused on enhancing participation in life in a holistic way and fostering a deep sense of well-being. We are health care professionals who work with people in many settings to restore, regain and augment the capabilities needed for full participation. These may be in the realm of the psychological, physical, emotional, relational or spiritual—all important for fully engaged functioning in life.
My clinical practice has evolved naturally over many years; first in research, then aging, palliative care, and in recent years, trauma-informed, contemplative psychotherapy. My initial training is in psychology (BSc.) and occupational therapy (MSc.). Along the way, I continued to learn and train in a variety of modalities, such as ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) Level 2 APS, Compassionate Inquiry and IFS (Internal Family Systems) circle level.
I have been benefitting from Buddhist teachings and practices for nearly twenty years, and have an ongoing meditation practice which grounds me. Clarity and compassion are cornerstones of this philosophy and I bring these to my therapy practice and my day-to-day life. These ancient teachings are foundational to me professionally, and most importantly, inform how I show up in the world and in my relationships, which is ongoing work for us all.
Particular interests: pilgrimage as a therapeutic tool, ambiguous loss and parental alienation (estrangement), incorporating spiritual care to counselling, complicated grief, post-traumatic stress growth, death and dying, and the emerging field of psychedelic-assisted therapy (preparation & integration).
I am registered under provincial legislation and a member of the College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario.
As an occupational therapist, I work with people who want some help going through a challenging life experience, navigating or considering a life transition, or working with grief and loss.
Whether it is preparation and integration of pilgrimage, counsel for life transitions or working with grief and trauma, I use ACT as a practice model to provide a framework for us to move through collaboratively. It has excellent flexibility and is not mutually exclusive to working with other modalities. For instance, while ACT is my main framework, our sessions are also informed by contemplative psychotherapy, compassionate inquiry and IFS as appropriate.
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Lately, the focus of my work is preparation and integration counselling for people undertaking pilgrimage and other potentially transformational experiences. Often, these are journeys people set out on as an intentional therapeutic experience. Sometimes it was not meant to be therapeutic on departure, but something changed over the course of the journey. Regardless, returning home can come with a whole new perspective to unpack.
That is a rich threshold to be standing on! You can make the most of it with some targeted counselling.
The roots of occupational therapy speak of using meaningful “occupation” as a method of treatment, so it is not surprising to me how well this approach is positioned to support engagement and recovery through pilgrimage, one of the most meaningful occupations I can imagine.
It is not unusual to undertake a pilgrimage at points of change, transition, or loss, and research is beginning to look at the potential intersection of occupational therapy and pilgrimage in processing difficult life experience. The Camino de Santiago, in particular, and pilgrimage, in general, have been known to offer solace and guidance to many kinds of human sufferings, including complicated grief and PTSD, just to name two. I have made my own journeys.
Pilgrimage is often a transformative experience, and as one might expect from transformation, one could anticipate periods of deep discomfort and also periods of bliss. It could be likened to the mythological adventure of the hero Joseph Campbell writes about in his works in mythology. That is where the support comes in - just enough to get going and return with the jewels.​