My Approach to Helping
Therapy at its root is often "having a conversation". Therapy can involve changing behaviours, processing emotions, increasing awareness and gaining skills.
You may experience therapy as enjoyable at times, as the therapist's job is to completely focus and pay attention to you. Therapy takes many forms and may include play, art and music, specialized techniques for specific issues of concern, or utilization of technological devices. Research has shown that what is most effective in therapy is having a safe and trusting relationship with your therapist. So what is most important is that you are able to feel safe and accepted and to begin to trust in the therapy process.
My clients come to see me because they want to talk. They don't want to have issues. But talking with me is a way of managing their issues at the very least. And at the best, it is about solving issues. I would like to support you as we work together to sort it out.
Research has also shown that what makes for an effective and helpful therapist is our willingness and expertise at engaging in reflection and our reflexivity, our ability to grow and reflect on ourselves and our practice of therapy. Therefore, it is useful and important for you to feel able to give your therapist feedback if you need to about what seems to work or not work so well for you.
More Info About My Practice
You may be seeking help for a wide range of emotional and behavioral issues that span from therapy for depression and grief counseling to parenting support, couples counseling and beyond. In a comfortable and supportive atmosphere, you will receive a highly personalized approach tailored to each of my your individual needs to help you attain the personal growth you are striving for. I welcome people of ALL GENDERS AND SEXUALITIES. I work with couples, families, adults, individuals and children in long term or short term therapy and I am available daytime and in the evenings during the week as well as on Saturdays.
Leslie Malchy is a Registered Clinical Counsellor working in private practice in Downtown Vancouver, BC, Canada. She works with couples, families, adults, individuals and children in long term or short term therapy and brings over 15 years of experience in the mental health field. Leslie holds two Master degrees: A Master of Science in Psychiatry from McGill University and a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy from Antioch University Seattle. She is currently a member of the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counselors (RCC #3958) and the British Columbia Division of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Leslie's areas of expertise are RelationshipCouple Therapy as well as Family Therapy. Her specializations include pre-commitment counseling and couple communication. She also specializes in adults struggling with childhood sexual abuse and trauma.
Specific Issue(s) I'm Skilled at Helping With
Many couples come to therapy with the hope of improving their communication skills in order to help build or reestablish a sense of trust. I am very skilled as well as experienced in helping couples to speak and listen more effectively to their partner as well as to remove barriers to trusting in each other. As therapists we are trained to listen well but not necessarily to interrupt well. Listening effectively as well as intervening gently but firmly and at times interrupting the conversations in my office are highly developed skills I have honed over time and with many couples who have taught me that the most memorable experiences happen in therapy when they are able to have a different experience with me in the room than they have with each other at home. The therapy begins with this experience and then translates into new successful experiences at home. I practice this every day with the couples and families that I work with as well as within the relationships I have in my own life. It is not always easy to change the well established patterns we have but it is almost always the case that when people are able to change and have better experiences with communicating with each other, that provides the hope, inspiration and eventually the evidence of the most rewarding and long lasting change.
My Role as a Therapist
In my work with couple therapy, sometimes one or both partners in the room will expect or ask a therapist to be a "mediator" or a third objective party to listen to each person. This is in part my role as a therapist. However I had had experience in which one or both partners also wants me as a therapist to choose who is "right" or "wrong" between the couple with respect to issues they may be struggling with.
Relationship therapy works best when each person in the room is focused on themselves. Some people come to therapy hoping their significant otherothers will change. Your best hope is to have personal awareness or shifts for yourself. Therapy is not about advice giving or "lying on a couch". It is also not a way to get someone else to change or a magic bullet to fix or correct someone else. It is an active and collaborative process between you and your therapist. If you are coming for relationship therapy, your therapist will not "decide" who is "right" or "choose sides". Your therapist will work for the hopes and visions of the relationship.
