Michelle Lavergne is a registered social worker and a certified perinatal mental health care provider. Her practice has a focus on women’s health including perinatal mental health (fertility, pregnancy/infant loss, trauma, postpartum depression and anxiety), parenting transitions, body image, eating disorders and menopause. She also provides more general treatment working with adults dealing with anxiety, depression, relationship issues, life transitions like separation/divorce and blended families. Michelle is an integrated therapist, incorporating cognitive behavioural therapy (cbt), emotionally focussed therapy (eft), eye movement desensitization reprocessing (emdr), somatic interventions, mindfulness, self-compassion, dialectical behavioural strategies (dbt), interpersonal therapy and narrative interventions.

Recent Professional Training:

• Blissed Yoga, Yoga Teacher Training (YTT200), 2023

• Touchstone Institute, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing, 2023

• Wilfred Laurier Professional Development Certificate, CBT, 2021

• York University, Emotion Focussed Therapy, 2021

• Postpartum International (PSI), Perinatal Mental Health Clinician, 2020
  

Education:

• Michelle holds a Master of Social Work Degree from the University of Toronto.  Her undergraduate degree is in Women’s Studies and Sociology and helped to form the foundation of her interest in working with women.
  

Professional Associations:

• She is a member in good standing with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW).  She is also a member of the Ontario Association of Social Workers (OASW).
  

What you can expect when working with Michelle:

Michelle is very respectful of time and financial considerations, so can offer treatment options for those looking for shorter-term interventions to support improved functioning and wellness, and with those looking for longer term, more in-depth work.

• A thorough explanation of your rights and limits to privacy and confidentiality

• A genuine desire to understand your needs and an intentional intervention plan to best support your goals

• An understanding that you know yourself best, and will let me know what your needs are, what is working in therapy and when we’ll need to adjust

• Transparency with regards to the interventions that I am utilizing and when and why I think they might be helpful

• An ongoing check-in on treatment goals and needs, noting that time and expense are important factors and need to be important considerations in your treatment plan

• A collaborative approach – recommendations on the supports of other care providers as deemed appropriate including – psychiatry, family doctor, psychological assessment, lactation and sleep consultant, and referral to other providers with more specific skill sets