Hannah O’Reilly
Currently accepting new virtual and in-person clients.
Language: English
Pronouns: she/her
Rate: $180
Taking that first step to reach out for support and discuss your story is a great sign of strength and it also signifies the beginning of a personal, enriching journey. I work alongside children, adolescents, adults, and couples while working towards goals that are formulated in collaboration with clients to ensure that any unique needs are being met and inner strengths/resources are being nurtured.
My journey of being a psychotherapist began several years ago when I commenced a psychotherapy internship at a children’s non-profit mental health organization to work with young children and their parents. However, my interest in mental health and providing accessible, trauma-informed, culturally-sensitive care began much earlier when I chose to become a volunteer at The Royal Ottawa while in high-school. Shortly thereafter, I began volunteering at a Distress Centre, facilitating support groups for children/youth in the community, and volunteering at a paediatric palliative care centre. These volunteer experiences stood out to me as being incredibly valuable at such a young age particularly due to my own struggles with anxiety and low mood as an adolescent and seeing many people close to me struggle in a similar manner – I wanted to help make a difference and these volunteer experiences seemed like the perfect start and took me on my trajectory towards my life’s purpose.
In my therapy work today, I work with children and adolescents who are experiencing various forms of anxiety, low mood, self-harm tendencies, disordered eating, grief, and trauma. I also work with children and adolescents who identify as being neurodivergent or twice-exceptional and those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Much of my work with these younger clients focuses on providing the necessary skills needed for these youth to thrive versus survive among today’s society and climate. My work with these clients is rooted in Dialectic Behaviour Therapy (DBT) to provide the necessary emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills to get through the highs and lows. It is also rooted in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with the intention being to interact differently with thoughts that are not serving them in a purposeful manner. At the heart of the approach for younger children is play therapy, so that children can learn to discuss their feelings and develop necessary skills in a fun, playful environment.
In my work with adults, I focus on various presenting issues, including but not limited to: anxiety, depression, relational concerns, trauma, and gender-based violence. I embrace an eclectic approach pulling from multiple different therapy modalities in order to best follow the lead of my clients and tailor interventions and techniques to their unique needs and desires. I primarily adopt a trauma-informed, strengths-based, humanistic lens and draw upon core tenets of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Internal Family Systems, and Emotion Focused interventions. I also work with couples through an Emotion Focused lens.
Hannah completed her BA with Honours in Applied Psychology at Bishops University, followed by her MSc in Family Relations and Human Development at the University of Guelph. She completed her MA in Counselling Psychology at the University of Ottawa, whereby she defended her master’s thesis on children’s mental health and parenting. Hannah is committed to continued professional development through attending trainings/workshops, presenting at conferences, completing readings, and disseminating her research findings in psychology journals.
Supervision:
Children 12 and younger – Supervised by Stephanie Leclair – Child and Adolescent Psychologist #5410
Adolescent and Adult Clients – Supervised by Heather Anderson – Clinical Psychologist #5695 and Rachel Sturgeon – Registered Psychotherapist #5184