At Village Family Health Team, we have staff social workers, who work in consultation with your family physician and our team psychiatrists to provide a range of mental health services. In addition to time-limited individual psychotherapy, our social workers offer group programming designed to help you develop skills to manage a mental health concern, as well as brief supportive services and access to community resources.
For information on how to find an individual therapist, low-cost and/or free therapy, and self-help resources see below:
Choosing a Therapist Guide + Private Therapist List
CBT Self-Help Handout
For online
self-help options you can also visit:
Mood Gym: https://moodgym.anu.edu.au/welcome
ECouch: https://ecouch.anu.edu.au/welcome
Big White
Wall: https://bigwhitewall.ca
For a list of free and low cost meditation groups please visit:
https://yogameditation.ca/
For free, confidential help navigating mental health and addiction resources and support in Ontario: https://www.connexontario.ca/
Some of the specific programs currently being offered at Village Family Health Team are listed below:
Psycho-Educational Webinars for Mental Well-Being
The Village Family Health Team offers one-hour lunch time webinars on various mental-health related topics, open to all, whether you are a Village Family Health Team patient or not. Check the website regularly for new webinars, dates, and changes. To receive a link to the virtual webinars registration is required. To register, please email Liz at elizabeth.morgado@villagefht.ca
All webinars are on Tuesdays from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm.
Schedule
June 15th A Life Worth Living: Connecting to Your Values
June 22nd Tolerating Uncertainty
June 29th Mindfulness 101
July 6th Self-Compassion
July 27th Distress Tolerance
August 10th The Importance of Emotions
August 17th Mind over mood
August 24th Setting Healthy Boundaries
August 31st Interpersonal Communication Skills
September 7th Sleep Better Part 1
September 14th Sleep Better Part 2
Webinar Descriptions
A Life Worth Living: Connecting to Your Values
In this webinar we discuss the important role values play in making decisions and living a meaningful life. You will be walked through exercises to identify what your values are, assess whether your life is currently in line with those values and take steps to live a life aligned with what’s most important to you.
Tolerating Uncertainty
An intolerance of uncertainty can leave us anxious and distressed. In this webinar you will learn about the common strategies people use to help them cope with uncertainty and the challenges with these. We will go through practical tools you can use to increase your capacity to accept uncertainty – a need that is increasingly relevant in these uncertain times!
Mindfulness 101
Mindfulness allows us the capacity to self-reflect and respond with intention instead of reacting from impulse. We require skills of mindfulness to change unwanted thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and to find moments of calm, and clarity in our day. This webinar will walk you through what mindfulness is, why it is important, and give you tools to build this skill on your own. Mindfulness is a prerequisite skill for many of the skills discussed in the later webinars.
Self-Compassion
In this introduction to self-compassion you will learn about the role your internal dialogue plays in keeping you stuck in unwanted emotional states. You will learn how to identify your inner critic and how you can begin to soften towards, and maybe even learn to befriend yourself.
Distress Tolerance
Have you ever responded to a situation in a way that has made things worse? Often our attempts to tolerate distress can leave us responding to difficult situations in a way that makes things worse for ourselves or for others. This hour will focus on practical strategies you can use to cope with an emotionally overwhelming situation.
The Importance of Emotions
Why do you have emotions? What purpose do they serve? How can you use an understanding of your emotions to gain better control over them? This webinar will answer all these questions.
Mind Over Mood
This workshop will teach you about the relationship between your thoughts and emotions, common thinking traps we all fall into, and will give you ways you can use your thinking to change how you feel. This webinar covers some of the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy basics.
Setting Healthy Boundaries
This workshop will look at what boundaries are, why we need them, and what gets in the way of setting healthy boundaries. We will also look at how to identify when a boundary might need to be set in a relationship, and how to begin to take that step.
Interpersonal Communication Skills
This workshop will give you a very practical and useful tool for having difficult conversations, setting boundaries and/or communicating your needs in a way that will maximize the chances that they’ll be met.
Sleep Better: Treating Your Insomnia Part 1 and 2
Do you have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep? Do you have difficulty with daytime functioning or distress as a result of your sleep disturbances? Have you tried recommended sleep suggestions on the internet that do not work? In this two-part workshop you will learn about the three causes of chronic insomnia, the body’s sleep regulatory systems, the role of medication, and be introduced to behavioral techniques to improve your deep sleep quality, based on the evidence-based model, ‘Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia’.
Due to policies in place to limit the spread of covid19 in person groups have been put on hold until further notice.
Addiction Support Program
A social worker is available to provide support if you are struggling with substance use. The social worker will work with you to identify your goals, help you to take next steps, and refer you to needed resources and supports. The program is designed to be a supportive, non-judgmental, and harm-reduction approach that helps you to achieve your personal goals regarding your substance use. If you are interested, you can speak to your physician or another team member who can connect you to the social worker/addiction counselor.