Kyle Gingerich
Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist · Master's
Member of Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW)
Psychotherapy Provider (Registered Social Worker)
In an important sense, counselling can be understood as a journey of accompaniment. This belief informs what I do not do as well as what I seek to do in my practice. I will not try to fix you. I will not claim to know more about you than you do. I will not assume I know what is best for you or tell you what to do. I will not pretend to have all the answers. I will not promise I can make your suffering or sorrow disappear. I will place all my professional resources — knowledge, skill, experience — at your disposal. I will seek to become a collaborator with you and a witness to the complexities of your story in the fullness of its pain and joy. I will go with you into dark places. I will believe you.
I hold a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree and am a Registered Social Worker (RSW) with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. As a psychotherapist I have had the tremendous privilege of walking alongside survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence, the 2SLGBTQ+ community, first responders, veterans and serving members of the armed forces, and many others. I specialize in working with issues of trauma and PTSD, anxiety, depression, and relationship issues. I am a firm believer in life-long education and have additional specialized training in traumatic stress and dissociative disorders from the Trauma Research Foundation, which is led by world-leading trauma experts including Margaret Blaustein, Janina Fisher, Bessel van der Kolk, and others.
I spent over a decade working in education in teaching, advising, and leadership capacities from elementary through to the doctoral level and hold a number of other degrees including an MA and a PhD. I have always been intensely interested in questions of violence and peace and these interests continue to infuse my work in ever new and interesting ways.
As my own journey has wended its way through different therapeutic contexts, I’ve learned that the most significant transformations are often cultivated less by any specific method and more by the quality of the therapeutic relationship. I endeavour to bring this into my practice and see the cultivation of trust and safety not simply as a preamble or prelude to more “difficult” work but rather as the very essence of all the work I do.
I use a variety of methods including psychodynamic, narrative, and existential approaches, internal family systems (IFS), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), emotionally focussed therapy (EFT), the Gottman method, and others to craft an approach uniquely tailored for you, the challenges you’re facing, and the goals you’re seeking to reach.
Primary Practice Location
Rhizome Counselling
41 Erb Street East
Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1L7
Phone: (226) 894-8433
Extended office hours: evenings
Website: https://www.rhizomecounselling.ca/ (opens in new tab)
Certifications
Certificate in Traumatic Stress Studies, Trauma Research Foundation