Wendy Kirk

(she/her)
Registered Psychotherapist
RP, M.Div
Certified Imago Therapist; Relational Life Therapist
Availability:
Waitlisting New Clients
Session Format:
In-Person SessionsOnline TherapyPhone Sessions
Office Hours:
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Clientele:
Adults, Teens, Family, Couples
Email WendyLinkedIn
  • Abuse (physical and psychological; past or present)
  • Addiction
  • Anger
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Dissociation and Dissociative Identity Disorder
  • Existential Concerns
  • Health and Illness
  • Intergenerational Trauma
  • LGBTQ
  • Life Crisis and Transitions
  • Loneliness and Isolation
  • Loss and Grief
  • Multicultural Issues
  • Relationship Issues
  • Self-Esteem
  • Sex and Intimacy Issues
  • Spirituality
  • Stress
  • Trauma
  • Contact Information

    Email:
    wendy@comingintolife.com
    Phone:
    416-388-4986
    Website:
    comingintolife.com
    Address:
    7 Greengrove Crescent | North York | ON | M3A 1H8
    Wheelchair Accessible

    We spend years building up defenses that protect us from the world, the people close to us, and our lives. Therapy offers tools to safely dismantle the things that are keeping you from living your life in a full, vital, and embodied way. 

    I believe that our early experiences and struggles often continue to impact us long after those early defense mechanisms are useful.  I am honoured to walk alongside you during whatever stage of that journey that you’re on.

    Psychotherapy helps identify those experiences and defense mechanisms, and helps us to build the boundaries that are needed to dismantle them safely. This allows us to let go of the frustration, anger, and shame that are built into the responses that we have, while finding a more helpful place for the memories to reside.

    Living from a deeper place is often difficult, and yet far more rewarding than being on the surface of life.  I’m inviting you to join me in that deeper place.

    My process is very client-driven.  During the first appointment, if there isn’t something urgent, I usually do a family history, asking a lot of questions about relationships and experiences in the family, because I believe that those kinds of things shape us, and setting up that framework helps us as we move forward.

    I have trained in a number of different modalities, so I am able to draw on the ones that seem to work best with each client. How I work with one client can differ from how I work with another.  I can only know how I will work with you as I get to know you, and that may change over time.  I also have a history of working in social services, and I can offer practical suggestions for many situations that occur in life.

    Homework is an important part of the process.  It’s tailored to your particular needs, and the time that you have available to make completion possible.  Sometimes, it takes awhile to finish something because there are other obstacles that need to be cleared out of the way.  We will do that together.

    It’s helpful to have a therapist who is there when things become difficult, or there’s a new issue to address.  Life is a journey with lots of changes and transitions, and we will have different things to deal with at different times in our lives.  I have experienced having to start at the beginning again, and I understand the value of having someone who already gets what that can feel like.

    Understanding and interpreting those experiences through different lenses can be very beneficial.  While understanding is important to the process, being reconnected with our feelings, and bridging to the knowledge about our experience our body holds, is also critical to the work.

    I worked for some time in the social services sector in the deaf community, and continue to work part-time as an American Sign Language Interpreter.  During my time at the agency, I ran group and foster homes for children and deaf-plus adolescents and adults, interpreting services, summer camp, social service programs, and worked extensively with various levels of government.  These experiences have significantly affected how I see the world.

    Although I have interpreted in many different sectors, I have primarily worked in the legal system for many years, and I continue to do so on a limited basis.

    I’ve single-parented two adult children who are neuro-atypical in different ways, with the struggles and delights that that entails.  I think most people are unique, with different ways of being in the world.

    My own work in psychotherapy helped me know this is what I wanted to do.  I returned to graduate school while my children were young, and did my Masters of Divinity (counselling) at Ontario Theological Seminary, and that was the basis for my work.  I’ve trained extensively since then in a variety of areas, as described on my website (www.comingintolife.com). 

    I believe that play and creativity are critical to life and growth, and make significant impact on our brain’s development.  I love reading, sewing, quilting, wire crafts (I make trees), and experimenting with other new types of creativity.  I belong to an international writers’ group that meets virtually and in person as we are able.  I’m trying to write a book—it’s slow progress.

    Please contact me by email or text to set up a 15-minute free consultation, or an appointment.  I’ll respond within 24 hours.  I work on Zoom and in person most of the time (my office is near the Don Valley Parkway and Lawrence Ave E in Toronto).  It’s best to book time to contact me through one of these methods, because I’m often not available to answer the phone.

    If you would like to set up an appointment or a consultation, please email me at wendy@comingintolife.com or text me at 416-388-4986.  I’m looking forward to meeting you.