Carolyn Ralph, Registered Social Worker/
Psychotherapist
Are you feeling hijacked by your emotions? Are you feeling stuck and hopeless? Are you feeling caught in fear and dread and desperate for change? Maybe you just need a safe place to vent and figure things out.
How does it get better? Change is possible.
To start:
- Celebrate that you are prioritizing your self – seeking support through therapy is an act of radical self-care!
- Book a free consult -client/therapist fit is EVERYTHING. Let’s talk so you can be sure.
- If we decide to meet, I send you online intake and consent forms to complete and we pick a date.
The first session:
- we discuss your therapy needs and desires
- I will explain what that might look like moving forward and we start to develop our therapeutic relationship
What will therapy provide?
- You will learn a new language and framework for understanding how your core beliefs and unmet feelings and needs have been creating tension and disconnect in your relationships.
- You will connect with the parts of yourself that have been in protective overdrive and that are keeping you in “survival mode”.
- You will create relationships with the parts of yourself that are causing you pain.
- You will learn about how to regulate your body and in doing so, you will be able to shift your energy and enter into a creative flow.
Therapeutic Models – Nature, IFS, Mindfulness, and NVC
Accented by developing a mindfulness practice and using the principles and tools of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), we will work primarily from an Internal Family Systems (IFS) model. IFS is an evidence-based, psycho-spiritual model that is non-pathologizing and based on the assumption that “the mind is made up of multiple parts, and underlying them is a person’s core or true Self. Like members of a family, a person’s inner parts can take on extreme roles or subpersonalities. Each part has its own perspective, interests, memories, and viewpoint. A core tenet of IFS is that every part has a positive intent, even if its actions are counterproductive and/or cause dysfunction. There is no need to fight with, coerce, or eliminate parts; the IFS method promotes internal connection and harmony to bring the mind back into balance. IFS therapy aims to heal wounded parts and restore mental balance. The first step is to access the core Self and then, from there, understand the different parts in order to heal them.”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Family_Systems_Model)
I am honored to be here
with you right now.
Individuals and Couples:
Together, we will develop a relationship that is boundaried, safe and that offers unconditional support for you to express yourself and learn tools for healing, self-integration, self-regulation and co-regulation.
Parent/Family Support
I love to support new (and experienced) parents who choose (or are considering
choosing) alternative and non-mainstream parenting and lifestyles.
Creative Support/ Existential/Spiritual/ Personal Exploration
I am drawn to those who choose creative, non-mainstream careers/lifepaths.
Psychedelic Integration and Support:
Post psychedelic integration work supports the process of using plant medicines to explore your path.
About Me
Carolyn Ralph, BA, BSW, MSW, RSW
Working and volunteering in community and human services for almost 20 years, I am a registered social worker/psychotherapist, licensed to practice with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers.
My professional interests are mainly around nature-based, relational psychotherapy, mindfulness, NVC, sound therapy, clinical hypnotherapy and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. My approach is influenced by a parts-based, polyvagal, somatic approach to understanding and relating to trauma in the body.
I am passionate about integrating mindfulness into my personal life and professional practice as well as the fabric of our community. I am currently an active member of Mindfulness Hamilton and a former executive board member (2017-2019). I was a founding member of a Mindful Society Global Institute (Toronto, Ontario) and hold the honour of being a Mindfulness Ambassador for Mindfulness Without Borders ( now Global MINDS Collective).
I am a proud unschooling mother of 2 children, and I am an advocate for children’s rights and self-directed learning. I am passionate about supporting opportunities for self-directed education and collaborative, compassionate parenting. I was a co-president of The Homeschool Network (THN), an inclusive community of homeschoolers in the Hamilton, Burlington area (2009-2011) and founder of We Learn Naturally, a collective of youth allies, with whom I co-created and co-hosted The Hamilton Alternative Education Conference (2018, 2019) at McMaster Innovation Park. I was honored to be invited to sit on the Family Violence Research Team at the Offord Center for Child Studies, Hamilton ( 2018-2020),
Past research projects focused on supporting the mental health of children and youth by shifting our relationships with children at an institutional level within the Canadian federal legislative and constitutional frameworks, including a photo voice installation on Adultism, funded through an award offered by McMaster University: “Fenestra – Shining a Light on Adultism through Photovoice”, co-curated by youth co-researchers and showcased at Supercrawl (2018).
I am a certified tree-hugger and I love to play my pennywhistle in the forest. I have been a member of the Royal Botanical Gardens for 18 years. With the We Learn Naturally Community, I helped to found ” Learning in the Woods”, a nature-based, self-directed and NVC-based program for children located in Dundas, Ontario (2015). I was invited to offer an experiential workshop on Nature-Based Therapy for Mental Health, by the Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University (2023) and I have been a guest lecturer for the McMaster School of Social Work MSW program, speaking about my research on a critical, posthuman approach to nature-based therapy and mental health (2024, 2025).
My SSHRC- funded masters thesis focused on practitioner perspectives of nature-based therapy for mental health. My current focus is on nature-based protocols for psychedelic-enhanced psychotherapy.
I offer consulting for community development and community building using the ” I am here because…” Chalk Wall – a mindfulness and community-based participatory arts approach to creating values-based connections. It was originally made possible through the generosity of an award from the Office for Experiential Education at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. This project has been showcased at the 50th Anniversary of the McMaster School of Social Work (2019), A Mindful Society Global Institute Conference ” Our Present Future” (2020), and The McMaster Student Wellness Center’s community art showcase, “Resilience & Connection. Artistic Explorations of Mental Health” (2023).
Nature Based Therapy
Breathing in Trees Counseling was born of a connection to trees that started when I was in grade 4. While sitting in a tree grove during a school trip, I experienced a deep state of connection that was transformational. Since that time, I worked summers as a tree planter and was co-founder of an organization called We Learn Naturally ( www.welearnnaturally.com) that created nature based programs for children, adults and families. In my practice as a psychotherapist, I use trees and nature for grounding, to release excess energy and balance my system.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I want to begin by acknowledging the land that holds us.
I live and work on the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe Nations, within the lands protected by the Dish With One Spoon Wampum—a covenant of shared responsibility, care, and reciprocity. This includes the areas now known as Hamilton and Burlington, places shaped by the waters, forests, and stories of those who have been in relationship with this land since time immemorial.
I offer my deep gratitude to the story keepers who continue to carry forward ways of knowing that understand the land not as a resource, but as kin—alive, relational, and deserving of care. I also want to honour the land protectors, past and present, who embody the truth that our outer landscapes and our inner worlds are deeply intertwined, and who continue to stand for that connection with courage and clarity.
As someone who works in relationship—with people, with place, with the more-than-human world—I recognize that acknowledgment is only a beginning. It calls me into ongoing reflection and action. Reconciliation is not a metaphor; it requires accountability, repair, and a commitment to restitution and reparations in ways that are meaningful and led by Indigenous communities.
I hold this as part of my ethical responsibility: to listen, to learn, to unsettle what has been normalized, and to participate—however imperfectly—in the work of restoring right relationship with the land and with one another.
