Sarah Chouffot, RSSW
Registered Social Service Worker, Mental Health Counselor, Psychotherapist (Supervised), & End of Life Doula
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I know how it feels like to be anxious, stressed, depressed, traumatized and alone. Life can throw us a lot of curve balls that make us feel not so great about ourselves. But, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. When you work along side me, I help you to learn about yourself, important mental health information, and how to move forward to start feeling better!​
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Everything that I teach about and suggest is all information that I have learned for myself and practiced. I can gladly say that it has made a significant impact!
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Where I am coming from - I grew up being a highly anxious and sensitive child and unfortunately, no one knew what children like me really needed to excel and work past the limiting symptoms of anxiety. I drove my parents nuts with my anxiety and was often told to suck it up. I learned to suppress a lot of my emotions and prided myself in hardly ever crying. Unfortunately my life became a lot worse when I was 14 years old. I had met a wonderful young man who I called my boyfriend for a few months. Sadly, like in many relationship, we got into a fight and I told him I hated him. A few days later he went on a camping trip with his cousin and met his untimely death due to the undertow in Lake Huron. He was not found for a week. As you can imagine, this was too much for my 14 year old self to deal with. Most people struggle with feeling like their last words to someone who has died as not good enough. My last words were horrendous. You can probably imagine the struggles that I experienced after. The shame, guilt, debilitating grief, anger, etc, on top of someone who is already anxious. Three years later, I would be kicked out of my family home for having a bad attitude and being too difficult for my mother to live with. Not exactly what an anxious, grieving, and traumatized teen needs to prosper. The next 20 years were a struggle to survive. I experienced unexplained pain, even worse anxiety, panic attacks, you name it! And life kept dealing me more bad cards! It wasn't until a few years ago that I finally started to seek answers to my misery. I advocated for myself and learned everything I could. I devoured hundreds of books on self help and psychology, I obtained my Social Service Worker diploma, and enrolled myself in numerous certification courses and webinars. I finally understood that although I was predisposed to be an anxious person (due to generational trauma) I had been suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder and Panic Disorder. My previous doctor said I just needed to exercise more......
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After working my butt of in the pursuit of better understanding myself, it has provided me with an amazing ability to understand the human condition and the world at large.
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There is a lot of fundamentally important information that we lack as we grow up. I believe that if we understood the biology of mental health as teens, when we reach adulthood, we would be well adjusted and ready for whatever life throws our way. Thankfully, it is never too late to learn! And if you are a parent, you can help your children have a great head start at managing the stressors of life!
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If you have been feeling even a slight amount struggle and are wondering what to do about it, please reach out! Lets get to the bottom of your negative mental health experiences and the unexplained pain and physical symptoms you have been dealing with! Change and better health is possible!
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It is my duty to myself and to you to always be upgrading my skill set! I look forward to expanding my scope of practice and finding new and better ways to provide effective mental health support. It is not one size fits all!
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I offer trauma & polyvagal informed counselling services but am also trained in CBT, DBT, and ACT and offering supervised psychotherapy. (Please see FAQ page for more information)
Visit MyFM to hear my radio interview on mental health
Qualifications & Training
Member of the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers - RSSW - License # 837797
Bachelor of Social Work - In progress
Social Service Worker - Durham College
End of Life Doula - Douglas College
Thanatology - Durham College
Palliative Care - Durham College (Pending completion of field placement)
Fundementals of Palliative Care Training
Hospice Palliative Care Ontario Training
Palliative Care: In the Know
Pallium Canada
Grief Literacy Series
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional - PESI
Anxiety Certification - PESI
Children's Mental Health Certification - PESI
How to Work with Shame - NICABM
Practical Strategies for Working with Deep-Seated Resentment - NICABM
Advanced Master Program for the Treatment of Trauma - NICABM
Felt Sense Polyvagal Model - Certificate for Treating Trauma and Addiction
Wisdom of Trauma - All Access Pass
Rewire Therapy Institute
Trauma Super Conference
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - Wilfrid Laurier University
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy - The Association for Psychological Therapies
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy - The Association for Psychological Therapies
+ roughly 200 books read!
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