Many concerns or issues can be treated in very few sessions, sometimes as few as 2.
Dr. Daria Shewchuk is well versed and experienced with solution focused therapies and may be able to help you resolve your concerns within a few sessions. Long-term counseling is often not necessary.
While Dr. Shewchuk spent decades working with children, often in the area of sexual assault or abuse, she is now semi-retired.
As a result Dr. Daria Shewchuk no longer sees children.
Although Dr. Daria loves working with kids, the record keeping requirements (i.e. the legal and regulatory obligations of a child psychology practice) are too long-term for a semi-retired professional to uphold.
Dr. Shewchuk has written a book titled, Understanding & Healing Children Who Act out Sexually. This book aims to help those who are interested in or impacted by young children who sexually act out..
Dr. Daria Shewchuk can assist young people through grief, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, anger or anger management issues and more. It is not necessary for a teenager to be willing to do talk therapy with Dr. Daria as she has many other tools in her kit, many non-talk methods.
A classic experience is a teenage daughter seeming sullen and unwilling to open up to their mother, father, or guardian. Dr. Daria Shewchuk can assist in this type of situation with non-talk therapies.
Suggest: Bring the teenager to Dr. Daria for an initial session to see how it goes. Most often the teenager is willing and often even wanting to return.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Mindfulness is the act of paying attention to one’s mental, emotional, and physical experiences in a non-judgmental way, in the present moment. Also critical to the experience of mindfulness is a spirit of compassion toward oneself and life in general. This approach can be used in conjunction with other approaches.
How mindfulness works to reduce stress and improve overall wellbeing has received a great deal of scholarly attention recently. There are thought to be five mechanisms by which mindfulness may help you to achieve improved well-being:
1. Exposure – by attending to unpleasant states, we learn that they are most often fleeting and not in actual serious danger,
2. Nonattachment – the act of attending to the present moment without desiring to change it has been shown to be related to improved well-being,
3. Insight – recognizing that our thoughts and feelings are not necessarily accurate representations of ourselves or reality, and through such insight we may be in a better position to detach from harmful thoughts and emotions,
4. Relaxation – attending to the present moment mindfully allows us to access higher level needs, and
5. Integrated functioning – attending to our present state of being allows our bodies to better self-regulate and function in a healthy manner.
You do not need a doctor's referral to access private individual counselling with an addictions specialist.
What connects and fulfills us can be lost. Those who have experienced the loss of a loved one, of a relationship, of one’s faculties or a preferred situation, know the desperate feeling that cold emptiness can bring.
Grief takes the time that it takes to heal and it is not simply resolved from encouragement or advice from well-intended family and friends.
Grief and loss counselling offers a safe and understanding space for sorrow to be felt and understood before it is possible for one’s attention to shift towards a new way of seeing what is lost and what remains.
Grief is often misunderstood and rushed. After their pain is felt and understood in a compassionate way, grieving individuals are better able to move beyond stillness towards acceptance.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Dr. Daria Shewchuk has created courses and taught graduate level courses on trauma treatment. Working in this area is one of her specialties.
Trauma therapy needs to include a number of components and works best when the therapist is familiar with different types of trauma, the stages of trauma treatment and the various components which need to be addressed (which usually requires different approaches for different parts at different times).
Prompt treatment of children is crucial because the psycho-neuro-biological effects can be profound – if left untreated.
The components include:
Psychoeducation – providing information about trauma, symptoms, treatment and answering questions, including providing information about the neuro-biological effects of trauma and what can help that.
Distress reduction and Affect regulation training – i.e. how to calm yourself, when anxious, having a flashback, strong feelings. The key is learning to handle emotional distress and develop more effective (and healthy) coping skills. This may include relaxation training; Anger management; Addressing flashbacks; Anger management; and Stress management.
Emotional processing – after a person has developed adequate methods of handling emotional distress and good coping skills.
Cognitive processing – addressing self-blame, shame, guilt, low self esteem etc.
Relational aspects – learning how to judge who is trustworthy and in what ways. Helping with interpersonal functioning.
Identity impacts – addresses “who am I”.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Dr. Shewchuk employs various approaches based on each individual.
Sorry, Dr. Shewchuk does not do couples counseling (marriage or relationship, with both partners present).
But, she does counsel individuals regarding relationships.
Sorry, Dr. Shewchuk does not do family counseling.
But, she does counsel individuals regarding their family relationships.
Professional Supervision is available for all of the areas listed in the Workshops section below. Please inquire with Dr. Daria Shewchuk.
Additionally, Dr. Shewchuk provides in-service seminars training, and workshops, for counsellors, teachers, and medical professionals within the areas listed below.
Dr. Daria Shewchuk's teaching experience includes developing and instructing courses in psychology, social work, early childhood education, and counselling children.
Dr. Shewchuk has taught graduate programs in Counselling Psychology at SFU, and City University.
She provided field instruction for the University of Calgary, Pacifica Graduate Institute, the University College of the Cariboo, City University and the University of Victoria.
Additionally, Dr. Daria taught social work to students at the Alberta Vocational College, Grant MacEwan University and the University College of the Cariboo.
In addition to her formalized teaching, she has conducted numerous workshops and seminars for professionals.
Dr. Shewchuk has worked with First Nations persons living in Edmonton’s inner city and in the far North (i.e. the Yukon and Northwest Territory). Dr. Daria provided mental health services, under contract, at a Northern Alberta reserve for 12 years, including consulting, prior to moving to British Columbia. Dr. Daria provided specialized treatment for individuals who were experiencing complicated grief, addictions, and multiple, long term abuse “on site” at the reserve. She also provided services “on site” to a number of other Alberta, and British Columbia First Nations communities.
Dr. Daria continues to provide clinical services, consultation, and training to a variety of First Nations communities and is available to provide a wide range of services from individual counselling to workshops and training services.
Treatment of First Nations persons is complicated by the fact that no single First Nation's world view can be generalized across all First Nations persons.
The world view will vary depending on each client’s tribal or band affiliation, personal characteristics, and level of acculturation to mainstream society.
First Nations persons have been, and continue to be, subjected to extensive and varied traumas. The psychological treatment of First Nations persons is often more complicated as a result of these traumas.
