Providing Evidence-Based Mental Health Services to Individuals across Ontario.

Supporting mental health challenges with trauma and context informed evidenced based practice

PTS and CPTS can take many forms—nightmares, flashbacks, emotional shutdown, or constantly scanning for danger. It’s the body doing its best to protect you after something too much or too fast happens. These symptoms are not signs of weakness—they’re adaptations.
Therapy rooted in trauma-informed care offers space to process what happened without having to relive it, supporting both the nervous system and the Self in reclaiming safety, clarity, and connection.
C-PTS is what can happen when the trauma is ongoing—especially in relationships or environments where there was no escape. This might include childhood emotional neglect, abuse, or repeated experiences of harm. Along with PTS symptoms, C-PTS often impacts how we relate to ourselves and others—struggles with worthiness, emotional regulation, and trust. Healing here is layered and tender. We move slowly, honouring the parts that protected you and reconnecting with the Self that still remembers what it feels like to be safe.
Grief is a unique experience for each person, and while we cannot avoid it by avoiding love, we can discover meaning as we move forward—honouring the love we still hold for those we've lost. Grief lives within us, while mourning is its outward expression. In counselling I model David Kessler’s compassionate approach by offering presence and bearing witness to each individual’s experience, creating space for healing through connection and meaning-making.
Anxiety is often the nervous system's way of trying to protect us. It's not just in your head—it's a full-body experience that can show up as restlessness, racing thoughts, irritability, or shallow breathing. When it lingers, anxiety can leave us feeling overwhelmed or disconnected from ourselves. At its core, anxiety is a response to something that feels uncertain or unsafe. In therapy, we work gently with the body and mind to understand what’s underneath the activation and support regulation, clarity, and steadiness.
Depression isn’t just sadness. It can feel like being underwater—like everything takes more effort, or like nothing really matters. It may show up as exhaustion, loss of interest, changes in sleep or appetite, and even numbness. Sometimes it speaks in thoughts of shame or hopelessness. Often, it’s the body’s way of slowing down when things have felt too heavy for too long. Together, we explore these patterns with compassion, honour the pain underneath, and support reconnection with the Self.
Work stress can be more than just a busy schedule. It’s often a layering of pressure, perfectionism, unmet needs, and feeling like there’s no room to breathe. Long hours, conflict, and unrealistic demands can chip away at a person’s sense of worth, clarity, and nervous system capacity. Left unchecked, it can lead to burnout, fatigue, and feeling like you're surviving—not living. In therapy, we hold space for the toll of work-related stress and gently explore what boundaries, restoration, and realignment might look like.
Phobias aren’t simply fears—they’re often rooted in protective responses that formed when something felt too overwhelming to process. Whether it's fear of flying, public spaces, animals, or being seen, these experiences can activate intense distress and lead to avoidance. The body remembers, even if the mind doesn’t fully understand why. Our work together gently builds safety and capacity, helping the nervous system feel less threatened and more supported.
This is the body’s immediate reaction to a threat—often known as fight, flight, or freeze. It happens fast: a pounding heart, tight chest, tunnel vision, racing thoughts. And it’s not wrong—it’s your system trying to keep you safe. While acute stress usually passes once the situation resolves, sometimes our systems get stuck in this state. In session, we slow things down, tune into the body’s signals, and help the nervous system return to safety.

Angela Larmer

Registered Psychotherapist, Registered Nurse, BScN, MACP, Master Accelerated Resolution Therapist (ART), Certified Somatic EMDR Therapist, EMDR practitioner, Grief Educator and Counsellor

Angela Gagne is a Registered Psychotherapist and Registered Nurse with more than 25 years of experience supporting people through health challenges, change, loss and difficult life experiences. She is the owner of The Rooted Heart Psychotherapy and Counselling in North Bay, providing in-person and virtual psychotherapy across Ontario.

Angela has a particular interest in working with nurses and healthcare professionals, first responders, and people experiencing grief, loss and significant life transitions. Her approach is trauma-informed, grief-informed, culturally sensitive and context/person-centred, drawing from evidence-informed psychotherapy while also incorporating mindfulness, somatic awareness and whole-person approaches to care.

Angela is a Master Accelerated Resolution Therapist (ART), Certified Somatic EMDR Therapist, EMDR practitioner and Certified Grief Educator. She is also a trained meditation coach and Reiki Master, experiences that further inform her understanding of mindfulness, embodiment and the connection between emotional and physical wellbeing.

Alongside individual psychotherapy, Angela facilitates a virtual psychotherapy support group for nurses and Grounding Grief, a facilitated grief and embodiment group centred on connection, reflection and shared experience.

Psychotherapy is a collaborative process that supports individuals in understanding and navigating emotional, psychological, and relational challenges. As a Master's-level trained psychotherapist and Registered Nurse (RN), I approach this work with a strong foundation in both mental health theory and clinical practice, integrating medical knowledge with therapeutic modalities to support the whole person. Psychotherapy provides a safe, confidential space to explore thoughts, emotions, patterns, and past experiences that may be impacting current wellbeing. Using evidence-based approaches, I tailor each session to meet the unique needs and goals of the client, helping to foster insight, resilience, and meaningful change.
Through my accreditation with the Psychotherapy Matters Virtual Clinic, I am able to offer clients enhanced access to comprehensive mental health care. This unique platform allows for direct collaboration with psychiatrists and primary care providers when appropriate, ensuring that care is coordinated and timely—especially important given the long wait times for psychiatric support in many communities. By working within this virtual model, I can help streamline the referral process and offer continuity of care, all while continuing to provide in-depth psychotherapy that is grounded in clinical training and a holistic understanding of mental health.
Psychologist-supervised psychotherapy is a collaborative model in which a Registered Psychotherapist or Social Service Worker provides therapy under the clinical supervision of a licensed psychologist. This structure ensures that the therapeutic work is continually supported by advanced oversight, allowing for ongoing consultation, case review, and integration of best practices. It enhances the quality of care through the lens of psychological expertise while maintaining the therapeutic relationship between client and therapist. This approach supports ethical, effective, and evidence-based treatment within a structured and professional framework.
Grief therapy offers a supportive space—either individually or in a group setting—to navigate the emotional, physical, and spiritual responses to loss. It recognizes that grief is not something to be fixed, but something to be witnessed and integrated. This approach honours each person’s unique experience and timeline, while helping them find meaning, connection, and the capacity to carry their grief alongside everyday life.