Barrie Therapist
and Counselling Services
Helping you tap into your potential
I assist individuals and couples with relationship problems, depression, anxiety, mental health issues, sexual identity, and other challenges they face in life.
Now is your opportunity to explore some of the changes you want or need (or, in some cases, been told you need).
About Jeff Long
I am a Registered Social Worker (RSW) with more than 15 years of experience providing individual, couple and family counselling services and psychotherapy. My experience includes working in community mental health agencies, primary care agencies and hospital settings.
I practice from an evidence based, eclectic approach and draw from several counselling modalities to support clients, including cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), narrative therapy, emotion-focused therapy (EFT), motivational therapy and solution-focused therapy.
Personally, I enjoy sailing, travelling and spending time with my partner and my cat and dog. I currently volunteer as a board member for Redwood Park Communities in Barrie, as I strongly believe in the need for better housing supports, as everyone deserves safe, affordable and hopeful housing. I was previously a board member for the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka.
My Services
Individual Counselling
Individual counselling means choice, not force, not advice. With counselling, it is the client who takes the decisions so that the solutions adopted are more likely to be appropriate. An appropriate solution will be one that the person can follow with successful results.
Couples Counselling
Once refreshing, full of life and fun, relationships can begin to feel like too much work. It’s normal for relationships to get stagnant, as life gets busy. Counselling can assist in identifying necessary changes to enhance your relationship. These changes may relate to children, work, or other factors.
Clinical Supervision
I offer a safe and empowering environment for clinical supervision, which allows for two-way learning to happen. I meet the standards outlined by CRPO for clinical supervision and can sign-off on supervision attestation forms. Click the clinical supervision tab to learn more about me!
What you can expect from counselling
Counselling can involve unearthing many things your brain has worked hard to bury — the painful memories and feelings you may not have been up to exploring on your own. And as you sit down for first-time therapy, you may find the floodgates opening, whether you mean them to, or not.
Here are a few other things that can be opened-up in counselling:
Being Happy
Life can get boring and stagnant at times. Counselling can activate change – positive change. For some people, counselling activates happiness and a plan to move forward in life.
Making Changes
Change is hard. Counselling increases personal awareness, often the first step in making change and personal growth. Goal setting is much easier after you better understand your problem.
Fulfilling Potential
You have tried so damn hard, yet you still feel stuck. Sometimes developing a better understanding of yourself leads to positive change and self-empowerment. This leads to a whole new you!
Finding Balance
Finding balance is an individual task, which allows you to live more in the moment. This leads to greater life satisfaction and well-being, which improves your ability to find balance in the future.
Getting Started
The goal of counselling is often to investigate the root cause of a problem and to develop healthier and more meaningful ways to cope with the problem. New coping strategies are only a click away!
Easily book appointments online
Free 15 minute consultation available, which helps to confirm suitability together
In-person services are available in Barrie, or virtually across Ontario
Why Choose Me
As a Registered Social Worker, I use a person-centred approach, as my primary mission is to enhance client well-being, as I believe every human being has the capacity to fulfill their potential.
A Safe Space
With counselling, the development of compassion, both towards yourself and towards others, is an emotional response that often has a benefit of improved mental and emotional health, which allows for forward growth.
Experienced
I have more than 15 years of counselling/psychotherapy experience and specialize in mental health issues, relationship issues and couples counselling.
Compassionate
Compassion, both toward the self and toward others, is an emotional response believed by many to be an essential aspect of well-being. In counselling, its development may often have the benefit of improved mental and emotional health, which is the cornerstone of moving forward for many.
My Philosophy
Working Collaboratively Together
Respect for the Dignity, Rights and Worth of Individuals
Reaching out to a counsellor can be a difficult thing to do, but I have gratitude that you are placing your trust in me. As we start the counselling journey together, feel free to ask me anything you need to make the experience more comfortable and welcoming for you. As a Registered Social Worker, I am committed to maintaining your best interest during each and every interaction together.
I have more than 15 years offering counselling services and psychotherapy experience and specialize in mental health issues, relationship issues and couples counselling. I use a strengths-based, client-centred approach and use several evidence-based approaches to help clients move forward. Prior to working in private practice, I worked in agency and hospital mental health settings, so I am quite familiar with supporting clients with mild, moderate or severe mental illness. In order to be effective, I believe, counselling must be rooted in empathy, be genuine, be non-judgemental and be a collaborative process, as this stokes positive regard, positive change and personal growth.
I have formal training in Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Brief Solution-Focused Therapy (BSFT), Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), Gottman Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), Motivational Therapy and Mindfulness Therapy. I maintain currency in counselling/ psychotherapy by regularly attending in-services or workshops and participate in clinical supervision to ensure I am providing effective and professional counselling services.
