Therapy for Women in Ottawa
Are you feeling overwhelmed balancing your work, family life, and self-care? Does your mind feel crowded with competing pressures and endless “to do’s”? If you think the juggling act is eroding your mental and emotional well-being, you’re not alone. Canadian women between the ages of 18-54 chose the word “exhausting” to describe 2023 (ARI). Many women in Ottawa feel stretched thin, struggling under the weight of their responsibilities while silently carrying the burden of their own needs. Therapy for women at The Wren Centre provides a safe, supportive space for you to explore these challenges and find the clarity, empowerment, and balance you need.
Does life feel like both a sprint and a marathon?
Whether you’re working in a demanding career, caring for a family, or navigating complex relationships, it’s easy to feel like you’re falling short. Do you:
- Constantly ruminate on your performance or commitment in work, home, or health?
- Worry you’re not meeting societal expectations of success, motherhood, or caregiving?
- Experience internal bombardment of how you could be doing better?
- Find it difficult to prioritize your own needs sometimes or feel disconnected from your sense of self?
- Find yourself exhausted, anxious, or emotionally drained after long days of caregiving, working, juggling commitments, and managing relationships?
This is the common inner experience of women who feel pulled in multiple directions. Unfortunately the fact that its pervasive isn’t helpful - your friends may be able to empathize, but overwhelmed people can’t support other overwhelmed people. Therapy tailored to women’s needs is the support you need to process your emotions, uncover the underlying issues, and regain your sense of empowerment and self-worth.
You’re not alone - women in midlife are the most prone to burnout.
Between professional and personal obligations, the pressures on women are immense. Not just in Ottawa, but Canadian women in midlife are more likely to experience burnout than male peers and experience dissatisfaction or feelings of failure in multiple realms of life. Rates of anxiety and depression are higher as women juggle the demands of work, family, and personal life.
At The Wren Centre, we understand the unique pressures that women face. Whether you’re pursuing work-life balance, caring for children or aging parents, or struggling with relationships and life transitions, please remember that seeking support is an act of strength. As we tell our own kids, you’re only brave when you’re also feeling some fear - you’ve likely been experiencing fear of not doing enough or fear it’s your fault for a long time. Counselling helps women like you process these pressures, learn coping strategies, and foster greater balance and empowerment in your life.
Therapy can help you reclaim your strength and self-worth
You’ve read Brene Brown, experimented with cold showers, and maybe even tried a yoga retreat - yet you’re struggling to set boundaries and feel like life is wringing the energy out of you. At The Wren Centre, our approach to women’s therapy begins by identifying the issues weighing you down, charting a path through healing, and choosing the practical strategies you need to regain and maintain equilibrium. We help women every day struggling with poor self esteem, an absent or tortured relationship to self-care, and lack of empowerment in their lives. Our counselling approach isn’t one-size-fits all - we can include holistic methods (such as somatic work, yoga or Ayurveda), evidence-based practices (like cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and narrative therapy), as well as techniques like EMDR or Brainspotting for overcoming trauma or gaining emotional balance.
Here’s how we can help:
Improving Self-Esteem and Empowerment: Years of prioritizing the needs of others or being self-critical take a toll. A therapist’s support can help you move past low self esteem and connect with your inherent value, while rebuilding your confidence and empowering you to take charge of your life and your decisions.
Navigating Caregiving Roles: Raising children, caring for aging parents, or working in a care profession finds many women in roles that can be both rewarding and draining. (We know all about this!) We know that as a caregiver, your relationship to self-care may be fraught or absent. Our counselling approach offers support and nurture, so you can fulfill your role as caregiver sustainably and not burn out in the process.
Managing Work-Life Balance: Whether as a professional, caregiver, or community leader, the pressure to succeed in relationships and work can be crushing. Therapy helps you quiet the whispers of “not enough” so many women hear, while supporting you with practical stress management tools, learning how to set boundaries, and find a healthier balance.
Fertility, Birth and Parenting Challenges: If you’re experiencing fertility challenges, reproductive or pregnancy loss, birth trauma, or struggling with anxiety, depression or rage during your prenatal and postpartum time, we specialize in helping women with supportive therapy addressing these specific challenges. (You’ll want to see Emma, Kathryn or Lindsay.)
Relationships and Life Transitions: Career challenges, relationship changes, or major life transitions like separation, divorce, or parenthood, are all reasons that women seek therapy for emotional support, clarity and direction.
Why choose The Wren Centre for women’s therapy?
At The Wren Centre, we offer more than just therapy for women’s issues - our west Ottawa centre is a nurturing space where women feel supported, explore their challenges, reconnect with their strength, and reclaim their sense of self. Beyond evidence-based approaches, we foster a warm, non-judgmental atmosphere. (We also have amazing wallpaper, decor, tea station, somatic supports like fuzzy or weighted blankets, and “a whole vibe,” because we believe so strongly that it helps our clients feel safe and supported.)
Our holistic approach means looking at the full picture of your life - emotional, physical, relational, and, if you’re inclined, spiritual - to help you integrate these areas to feel more balanced and whole. Whether you’re seeking empowerment counselling for a desire to be more assertive in your life or looking for practical strategies to handle work-life balance or parenting, we’re here to guide you through the process.
FAQs about women’s therapy - because unfortunately your experience is too common
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Life is hectic, especially for women balancing multiple responsibilities. We offer flexible scheduling options, including evening, weekend and virtual sessions, so therapy gives you more energy than it takes.
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Counselling provides both in-session methods to address your stress, anxiety or depression, and “out in the field” practical strategies to help you set clear boundaries and include your well-being alongside responsibilities. Therapy helps women feeling stuck in reactive mode to live more intentionally.
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Women are particularly prone to something called comparative suffering - we never think our problems deserve care, empathy or attention! Women’s therapy isn’t just for those in crisis - it’s for anyone who wants to understand themselves better, improve well-being, and feel confident in their decisions.
Ready for a step toward balance?
Book a free consultation with any therapist at The Wren Centre and let them know if you’re seeking counselling for self-esteem or empowerment, some of the specific challenges women’s therapy addresses as described above, or support with a life transition you’re navigating.
Read more from our team…
You already know that feeling exhausted, irritable, or emotionally overwhelmed has both physical and psychological causes and impacts. Here are specific examples grounded in common experiences for women as caregivers, employees, partners as well as straight up being human.