Cliann Dsouza, BA, MA, RP (Qualifying)
When your thoughts will not quiet and life no longer feels like your own, Cliann helps you slow down and find a steadier way forward
You may be feeling overwhelmed, emotionally drained, or caught in worries that are difficult to switch off. Stress may have been building for months, a relationship may feel increasingly difficult, or a major change may have left you feeling disconnected from yourself. Whatever has brought you here, you do not need to understand everything—or know exactly what to say—before reaching out.Cliann Dsouza, BA, MA, RP (Qualifying), offers a warm, compassionate, and approachable presence when you need space to breathe, reflect, and feel genuinely heard. Through counselling in Kitchener, she creates a supportive, non-judgmental environment where you can talk openly about what you are experiencing without feeling rushed or reduced to a diagnosis. Her Person-Centred Approach, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Trauma-Informed Therapy help you explore the patterns affecting your well-being while building practical strategies that reflect your goals, strengths, values, culture, and readiness for change.
Cliann combines genuine warmth with evidence-based psychotherapy so you feel understood without losing sight of practical change
As a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), Cliann provides comprehensive support for adults and young adults navigating anxiety, depression, stress, burnout, low self-esteem, emotional regulation difficulties, relationship counselling needs, trauma, and life transitions. She also brings experience supporting older adults living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, allowing her to respond thoughtfully when emotional well-being, cognitive changes, identity, and family relationships intersect.What distinguishes Cliann is her ability to balance emotional safety with purposeful direction. She does not rely on a one-size-fits-all formula or expect you to move faster than feels manageable. Instead, she works collaboratively with you to understand what is happening, recognize the strengths you already carry, and identify meaningful changes that can make daily life feel more manageable, connected, and aligned with what matters to you.
Your sessions are shaped around your story, your pace, and the goals that matter most to you
Your first conversations with Cliann focus on understanding what has been weighing on you, how it is affecting your daily life, and what you hope will feel different. She listens carefully to your experiences, relationships, cultural context, coping patterns, and existing strengths before working with you to develop a personalized direction for care.As your work progresses, counselling may include exploring difficult thoughts and emotions, identifying patterns that keep you feeling stuck, strengthening emotional regulation, practising healthier coping strategies, or taking manageable steps toward change. Cliann explains the purpose behind each approach, welcomes your feedback, and adjusts sessions when something does not feel useful or comfortable.
At CARESPACE Westmount in Kitchener, your care can also be coordinated with other members of the CARESPACE team when broader support would benefit you. This collaborative model helps keep your goals connected across services while ensuring that your voice, preferences, and emotional safety remain central.
Her psychology education and experience across mental health and dementia care give you a strong foundation of thoughtful support
Cliann holds a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. She has also completed formal training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, giving her a strong foundation for helping you understand how thoughts, emotions, and behaviours influence one another—and how small, realistic changes can begin to interrupt patterns that feel overwhelming.Her professional background includes psychotherapy, community mental health, behavioural support, individualized care planning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and work with older adults experiencing Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. This range of experience has strengthened her ability to adapt communication, pacing, and therapeutic strategies to different stages of life and different levels of emotional or cognitive need.
Rather than treating qualifications as a substitute for connection, Cliann uses her education and experience to ask more thoughtful questions, explain ideas clearly, and develop support that remains grounded in both evidence and your lived reality.
Her Person-Centred Approach, CBT, and Trauma-Informed Therapy adapt to anxiety, life transitions, and the realities of dementia
While Cliann works with a broad range of mental health concerns, you will find particular depth in the way she brings several complementary approaches together. A Person-Centred Approach creates the foundation. You are treated as the expert on your own life, and your experiences are met with empathy, respect, cultural sensitivity, and genuine curiosity. Cliann helps you explore difficult emotions without judgment while keeping your goals and values at the centre of the work. This can be especially meaningful when you have felt misunderstood, dismissed, or pressured to change before you felt ready.Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Solution-Focused Therapy add practical structure. Cliann can help you recognize unhelpful thought patterns, understand how avoidance or self-criticism may be reinforcing distress, and develop more balanced ways of responding. Mindfulness-based and strengths-based strategies may also help you slow racing thoughts, reconnect with the present moment, and build on abilities that stress or low self-esteem may have caused you to overlook.
Trauma-Informed Therapy shapes how the work unfolds. Cliann prioritizes safety, choice, collaboration, and pacing, recognizing that difficult experiences can affect trust, emotional regulation, relationships, and the way your body responds to stress. You are never expected to disclose more than you are ready to share. The focus may begin with grounding, stabilization, and restoring a sense of control before exploring more difficult experiences.
If you are seeking compassionate support for yourself or a loved one living with dementia, Cliann adapts her person-centred approach to the individual’s interests, abilities, history, and current needs. Sessions may incorporate art, music, games, reminiscence activities, problem-solving exercises, gentle movement, or time outdoors. These meaningful activities are chosen to encourage cognitive engagement, emotional well-being, social connection, dignity, and quality of life—not simply to fill time, but to help each person remain connected to what feels familiar, enjoyable, and personally significant.
