It's 3 a.m., and your mind is wide awake.
If the nights have started to feel long, you're not alone.
Sleep is shaped by the whole of your life: your thoughts, your body, your relationships and your days. Our mind-body approach offers a menu of options, from CBT for insomnia (CBT-I) to psychotherapy for what's keeping you up, with mindfulness and yoga instruction alongside.
A worry you can't put down. A relationship under strain. Grief, a big change, or old memories that surface in the dark. When something in your life is distressing you, it often shows up at night, when there's nothing left to keep it at bay. Your nervous system stays on watch, even when you're exhausted.
Better sleep habits can help, and sometimes they're not the whole story. Psychotherapy gives you a place to process what's underneath, so it doesn't have to wait for you at bedtime.
Psychotherapy for what's keeping you upStart with one, or combine a few. Psychotherapy and the wellness services are labelled clearly, so you always know what you're choosing.
With Sandra Gautreau, RP
If you're looking for CBT insomnia therapists in Ontario, CBT-I is a structured, practical approach to sleep. Together, you look at your sleep patterns, the thoughts and worries that build up around sleep, and the routines that shape your nights, often with a simple sleep diary. It's focused and collaborative, and you go at a pace that feels manageable.
Meet Sandra
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With Amanda Carver, RP, Sandra Gautreau, RP, or Heather Lash, RP (Qualifying)
When anxiety, stress, trauma, grief or a hard season of life is behind the sleepless nights, psychotherapy can help you make sense of it and work through it.
Amanda offers integrative therapy, bringing together attachment-focused, cognitive and body-aware approaches for anxiety, stress and trauma, with EMDR when appropriate. Many people find the body-aware practices help them settle. She sees clients in person in Toronto and Ottawa, and virtually.
Sandra offers therapy for anxiety and the worries that follow you to bed, and can combine it with CBT-I. Her work also includes spiritual psychotherapy and inner child work, virtually across Ontario.
Heather offers grief and loss support, narrative therapy and culturally grounded care for Indigenous clients, in person in Toronto and virtually, at lower fees while she completes her registration under clinical supervision.
Integrative therapy Anxiety therapy Trauma and EMDR Meet the team
With Mark Atherton
Mindfulness offers ways to meet a busy mind at night with a bit more space and a bit less struggle. Mark helps you learn simple practices for winding down, and for building a consistent practice that fits your real life rather than an ideal one.
Mindfulness coaching with Mark
With Amanda, Natalie or Mark
Short, targeted sessions to help you design a bedtime wind-down practice of your own: gentle movement, breath and rest, shaped around your body and your evenings. It can even be a practice you do in bed.
*Yoga instruction is a separate, non-regulated service. If you're already working with Amanda in psychotherapy, your yoga sessions will be with Natalie or Mark. How we bill our services →
Naturopathic care. Dr. Makoto Trotter, ND, is a Naturopathic Doctor offering care in Toronto and virtually. Naturopathic care is a separate regulated health service; you can ask about it during your consult.
Services and feesNot sure where to begin? The free 20-minute consult is a good place to talk it through.
Your body keeps time through the whole day. A few gentle anchors can help it know when it's time to be awake, and when it's safe to rest.
These are general suggestions only. They are not therapy or medical advice, and they don't replace care from a therapist or your doctor.
Sleep problems can have medical causes, so it's worth starting with your family doctor or nurse practitioner. Only a physician, nurse practitioner or psychologist can diagnose insomnia or other sleep disorders. Psychotherapy can sit alongside medical care.
If you're in crisis or thinking about ending your life, call or text 9-8-8, any time.
Sliding-scale spaces are open to anyone.
NIHB, IRS RHSP and MMIWG, with Amanda and Sandra.
Many extended health plans cover psychotherapy; check what your plan covers.
Yoga and mindfulness are billed separately from psychotherapy.
CBT-I is a structured, practical form of cognitive behavioural therapy focused on sleep. It looks at your sleep patterns, the thoughts and worries that build up around sleep, and the routines that shape your nights. At Vistas, CBT-I is offered virtually across Ontario by Sandra Gautreau, RP.
Yes. Some people wake suddenly with a racing heart, fear, sweating or shortness of breath. These are sometimes called nighttime panic attacks. Because similar symptoms can have medical causes, it's important to check with your doctor first. Psychotherapy can help you understand and work with the anxiety behind them.
No referral is needed to book a free 20-minute consult. Psychotherapists don't diagnose insomnia, so if you haven't already, we encourage you to speak with your doctor or nurse practitioner to rule out medical causes. Therapy can begin alongside that.
Many extended health plans cover psychotherapy with a Registered Psychotherapist, but coverage varies, so check your plan. We provide receipts, offer direct billing for NIHB, IRS RHSP and MMIWG with Amanda and Sandra, and have sliding-scale spaces open to anyone. Yoga instruction and mindfulness coaching are billed separately.
Yes. Many people start with one option and add another later. Psychotherapy and the wellness services are separate, and we'll be clear about which is which and how each is billed. If you're in psychotherapy with Amanda, your yoga instruction will be with Natalie or Mark.
No. One-on-one yoga instruction and mindfulness coaching are wellness services, separate from psychotherapy. They can sit alongside therapy or stand on their own.
You don't have to earn it, and you don't have to figure it out alone.
Book a free 20-minute consult to talk through what's keeping you up and which option might suit you.