Arlene Vandersloot provides individual therapy and parenting support to young families and expectant parents. Her approach includes a strong emphasis on the therapeutic relationship, an engagement in exploration of patterns from your past, as well as research-based skill-building techniques. She draws from the extensive research that has been done on attachment. She also uses techniques from psychoanalytic psychology. She weaves in neurological and evolutionary explanations for behaviour to help clients understand some of the reasons they experience difficulties in their relationships and with parenting, and works with them to build on their natural strengths. Arlene helps parents and co-parenting couples to understand some of the ways that successful parents succeed in their relationships, aiding them to master proven techniques that deepen respect for each other and facilitate loving connection and a sense of belonging together as they raise their children or await the birth of a new child.

Arlene has an M.A. in Counselling Psychology from the University of Toronto as well as Post-graduate certificates in Psychotherapy and in Couples and Family Therapy from the Universities of Sheffield, U.K., and Guelf, Ontario. She has received specialized training in Emotion-Focused Therapy, Marriage Therapy and in Gottman technique from the Gottman Institute, and Infant-Parent Psychotherapy and Infant Mental Health at the SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health (formerly the Hincks-Dellcrest Center). She is also trained as a Perinatal Mood Specialist through Postpartum Support International. She has completed two years of intensive study in psychoanalysis with the Toronto Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. She has been providing psychotherapy services for 10 years with skills complimented by her 25+ years of care-giving experience as a Registered Midwife and midwifery educator.