Gabi Vitkova

Throughout her career she has worked with a broad range of clients from many backgrounds including indigenous, LGBTQ++, various faith bases, ethnic backgrounds. As an immigrant to Canada in her late twenties, she is aware of what it is like to ‘be different’ from the larger community.

Difficulty with down periods, workplace stress, anxiety around life situations, financial concerns, grief and loss, and interpersonal relationships with friends, family, and colleagues are a common challenge. Gabi understands that emotions can change depending on the situation, the levels of support, and the demands being placed on a person. She can help her clients understand what is happening within themselves, or if they are trying to help a loved one struggling with a mood challenge, to full disorders. She knows, and can help with developing, different strategies to deal with different situations and degrees of distress.

Then there are situations where transitory periods of distress start to become more the norm, leading to clinical depression, generalized anxiety, panic attacks, and general difficulty with functioning. Gabi has successfully worked with individuals who start counselling to ‘cut the problem off before it becomes a big problem’, through the spectrum of increasing mental health challenges to people who are on disability for psychological concerns. Such concerns may include Major Depressive Disorder, Bi-Polar Disorder, Explosive Anger Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Schizophrenia, Suicidal Ideation/Attempts. Gabi focuses on where the client is at in their goal of getting better, and then helps the client to achieve that goal.

TRAUMA (ACUTE STRESS, PTSD, C-PTSD)

Gabi has worked extensively with clients suffering from historical and current trauma. She has helped clients to heal from single event trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Complex PTSD. This may be trauma from childhood due to abuse, neglect, assault, parental domestic violence/substance abuse, and/or involvement with Children Services. It may be more recent trauma due to workplace bullying, exposure to accidents, on the job trauma exposure (i.e. First Responders), sexual or physical assault, or the cumulative trauma that occurs from repeated exposure to distress such as what occurs during lockdowns and Covid fatigue.

To help people move through their trauma Gabi has trained in several recognized and recommended trauma therapies.

Gabi is an expert in Somatic Experiencing Therapy (SET) and has a strong foundation in Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR). Her extensive education and years of clinical practice in each of these modalities enables her to find the treatment approach that is the best fit for her client.

Somatic Therapy has been shown to assist in reducing trauma symptoms, particularly for clients who have either become overwhelmed by their bodies physical reactivity to stress (i.e. shaking, racing heart, blood pressure concerns, physical pain, ect…) or who have become disconnected from their physical symptoms. Sometic Therapy works by helping the client to learn to recognize when their body’s physical reactivity is affecting their ability to respond to stress in a calm and reasoned manner. Through this process the client regains control of their physical being, which makes thinking, planning, and staying calm during stressful experiences much easier.

Gabi has completed foundational and supplimental training in CBT. CBT is an effective and recommended therapeutic approach for treating depression, anxiety, negative self-worth, and the chronic worry that often comes with having PTSD.

She has completed foundational and supplemental training in EMDR. EMDR is the generally accepted gold standard in treating acute and historical trauma. When EMDR is successful, people are generally able to recall the trauma, but the recall no longer triggers the associated strong emotions or body responses. The EMDR treatment process can feel quite strange at times, but it can be a highly effective, and rapid way of resolving or reducing PTSD symptoms.

Addictive behavior can be a response to historical trauma, current stressors, interpersonal difficulties, or have arisen from a desire to “fit in” that then got out of control. Gabi’s goal is to work with the client to figure out how the addiction began, what keeps the addiction going, and then how to break the addictive behaviors. She knows that there is no “one solution fits all”. She knows that giving up an addiction can result in loosing friends (i.e. the people that you see daily at the local bar, no more hanging out with the smoking group…), changing employment, and sometimes even moving in order to get away from triggers. Halting an addiction can take many attempts. Managing addiction is not a simple process. It takes time, courage, support, and often comes with emotional distress. Gabi is prepared to help clients move through each stage of the addiction release process. She also is able to watch out for signs that a client might be switching one addiction for another, and help them recognize what is happening before things go wrong.

Relationship challenges are confusing, often complicated, and generally emotionally painful. As a trained Emotionally Focused Therapist (EFT), Gabi is skilled at helping couples learn to hear and express their emotions in a genuine manner. She can help people in relationship move from a place of confusion and hurt, to one where the feel safe to share both the negatives and positives of life. Gabi’s goals in couples therapy are to help people move out of interaction patterns that ‘go nowhere’ or ‘feel like the same argument over and over’. She works with each person to reduce anxiety that they ‘might be left’ or that they are ‘feeling suffocated’. When necessary, Gabi will also help couples clearly identify that the relationship is not recoverable, and help them to separate in a manner that minimizes risk of emotional distress for all.

Along with working with couples, Gabi has helped individuals who are trying to figure out why they are repeatedly drawn to partners who might not be a good match (i.e. abusive, neglectful, emotionally distant or emotionally overwhelming). Her ability to help the individual in the couple is an important element of self-healing for the client. Giving hope that future relationships will be healthier.

Gabi holds a Master of Arts in Psychology from the University of Comenius, Bratislava in the Slovak Republic. She has been practicing as a mental health therapist in Alberta since 2001, and as a psychologist since 2005. She has certifications in Somatic Therapy, EMDR, EFT, Motivational Interviewing, CBT, and Client-Centred Therapy. Gabi continues her ongoing learning with regular training workshops both as a learner and a leader/teacher in various therapeutic modalities.

Gabi is experienced at working with AHS, WCB, disability claim providers, physicians and other aspects of the health care system that can become involved when people struggle with mental health.

Gabi is experienced at working with WCB, disability claim providers, physicians and other aspects of the health care system that can become involved when people struggle with mental health.