About
Valeriya Demydenko, RP, MACP
Registered Psychotherapist in Newmarket / York Region, Ontario.
Understanding yourself is not always the same as changing
I work with adults who often understand themselves remarkably well but still feel caught in patterns they cannot seem to change.
You may already know that you overthink, overwork, people-please, avoid conflict, struggle with boundaries, or reach for something that helps you escape when the pressure becomes too much. You may understand where some of these patterns came from. You may even have been to therapy before.
And still, knowing is not always the same as changing.
My approach to therapy is grounded in curiosity. I am interested not only in what you do, but in what happens underneath it: what your emotional responses are trying to communicate, what certain patterns may be protecting, and why a strategy that no longer serves you may still feel difficult to let go of.
How I work
Integrative and trauma-informed
I work from an integrative, trauma-informed perspective and draw from attachment-based and emotion-focused therapy, EFIT, mindfulness-based approaches, and EMDR. Rather than fitting every client into one modality, I adapt the work to the person in front of me.
I have particular interest in anxiety, trauma, burnout, perfectionism, self-worth, relationship patterns, substance use, and the coping strategies people develop when life becomes difficult to hold.
Therapy with me can include deeper emotional work, practical coping strategies, trauma processing, reflection on real-life situations, and experimentation with new ways of responding between sessions.
“I do not see therapy as a process of fixing a defective person. I see it as an opportunity to understand yourself with enough depth and compassion that you begin to have more choice.”
Philosophy
There is more within you
A person is never only the problem that brings them to therapy. There is an entire inner world beneath the symptom: relationships, memories, emotions, adaptations, contradictions, strengths, fears, needs, and possibilities.
Some of that world may feel familiar. Some of it may surprise you. Some parts may have spent years trying to keep you safe. Therapy can become a place to meet those parts with curiosity instead of judgment.
The goal is not endless introspection. The goal is understanding that creates movement. When you can recognize what is happening inside you, understand why it makes sense, and tolerate the feelings that once made old patterns necessary, something important becomes available: choice.
Who I work with
You may feel at home in this practice if:
I work with adults, with a particular focus on women.
- you are thoughtful and self-aware but continue to feel stuck
- you have done therapy before and want to go deeper
- you know you need boundaries but struggle with the guilt that follows
- you are successful or highly capable but rarely feel like you are doing enough
- your anxiety makes sense intellectually but still takes over emotionally
- you are exhausted from being the person everyone depends on
- you notice old patterns affecting your relationships
- you sometimes cope through alcohol, food, work, avoidance, scrolling, or shutting down
- you want to understand yourself without turning therapy into another project to perfect
- you are open to exploring deeper emotional or traumatic experiences when ready
Where
In person and online
I offer in-person psychotherapy in Newmarket / York Region and virtual psychotherapy across Ontario.
Come curious.
You do not need to arrive with everything figured out.