Paula Laitila is a registered social worker in Ontario with over 18 years of experience supporting children, youth, young adults, and families. She has worked in community settings, including child welfare and the public education system with experience supporting individuals and families encountering acute mental health crises, anxiety, depression, ADHD, stressors related to the demands of life and various life stages, relationship challenges, difficulties with parental separation/divorce, and emotional dysregulation.
Paula is a compassionate therapist whose non-judgmental approach provides a welcoming space for clients to safely express their thoughts and feelings. She uses a trauma-informed lens and evidence-based interventions including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT), emotionally focused therapy (EFT), mindfulness, and narrative therapy with an integrative framework. Paula's training has centered on child development and attachment, along with environmental and structural impacts on personal adjustment and general well-being.
Paula provides in-person sessions to children, teens, young adults, and families. She takes a holistic approach to therapy, seeing the whole as greater than the sum of its parts, with each of us being the expert of our lives. She believes that we all have the ability to change, and can use our individual and innate strengths, talents, and abilities to reignite hope and light in our every day.
Licensing Body: Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers
Education: Master of Social Work (York University)
Professional Association: Ontario Association of Social Workers
