Hi, I’m Theresa Slater.

A Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) and Art Therapist (DTATI) offering virtual psychotherapy and art therapy for adults across Ontario.

I came to this work through formal training and personal experiences of receiving meaningful care during periods of mental health challenges and transitions. Those experiences shaped my respect for the therapeutic relationship and my commitment to offering thoughtful, steady support to others navigating complex emotional and relational lives. I aim to offer a space where the parts of you that feel most difficult can be met with care.

My practice is grounded in trauma-informed and anti-oppressive frameworks and shaped by both lived experience and clinical training. I am neuroqueer and gender-fluid and bring an affirming, present approach to working with people across diverse identities and ways of understanding themselves.

My clinical experience includes hospital and community mental health settings, where I have provided individual and group art psychotherapy for adults navigating anxiety, OCD, trauma, grief, and life transitions.

Before training as a psychotherapist, I spent many years as a visual artist and working in arts and cultural spaces, which inform my thinking about the creative process, identity, and meaning-making. My academic background in philosophy also shapes how I approach questions of ethics, selfhood, and what it means to be alive.

I value ongoing learning and continue to engage in clinical supervision, professional development, and training in areas such as relational psychotherapy, art therapy, trauma-informed care, and psychedelic harm-reduction and integration.

My Story

When therapy is working well, I notice that people begin to use our therapeutic relationship as a place to recognize patterns in their lives and inner worlds. Insight often emerges through conversation, and sometimes through the creative process itself, when artwork or imagery begins to “speak back” and reveal something previously unseen.

I believe change happens when we exercise our inherent right to choice, agency, and sovereignty. Being seen with care and positive regard can create the conditions for co-regulation, renew a sense of balance, and allow for self-understanding. For some clients, art therapy allows thoughts and emotions to take form in ways words can’t.

The values guiding my work are: compassion, curiosity, collaboration, depth, and an anti-oppressive, intersectional, and trauma-informed lens. Through reflexive practice and cultural humility, I hold a deep respect for each person’s lived experience and believe deeply that people are inherently worthy of care, dignity, and meaningful connection.

I hope clients experience therapy with me as a relationship attuned to their intentions, needs, and hopes for growth or change. It is my aim that, over time, clients come to recognize their own inner capacities for healing, insight, and transformation, and feel less alone in the process of becoming more fully themselves.

My Therapeutic Approach

Education & Credentials

Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)
College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario

Art Therapist (DTATI)
Toronto Art Therapy Institute

Master of Arts in Contemporary Art, Design & New Media Art Histories
OCAD University

Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy (Applied Ethics)
University of Victoria

Clinical Experience and Approaches Include:

  • Hospital and community mental health settings

  • Individual and group psychotherapy, including art therapy

  • Trauma-informed, relational, and person-centred practice

  • Anxiety and OCD-focused group work

  • Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT/EFCT-informed)

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT-informed)

  • Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT-informed)

  • Psychedelic harm reduction and integration

  • Grief, loss, and end-of-life care

  • 2SLGBTQIA+ affirmative practice

  • Neurodiversity-affirming practice

Ongoing clinical supervision and continuing education are central to my practice.

Registration & Affiliations

  • College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) — Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)

  • Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA-ACCP) — Spirituality in Counselling Chapter – Associate

  • Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA-ACAT) – Associate

  • Ontario Art Therapy Association (OATA) – Associate