About Stacey Van Riel
Finding the right therapist can take time. Credentials matter, but so does whether you feel like you could actually talk to the person.
I’m a Registered Social Worker and Psychotherapist working with teens and adults across Ontario. My approach is grounded primarily in Emotion-Focused Therapy, with a relational, trauma-informed and attachment-based lens.
I want to help you understand why you feel and react the way you do, not just how to get through the moment. Making sense of those patterns can help create change that lasts, rather than only helping you cope until the same thing happens again.
Some people come to therapy knowing exactly what they want to work on. Others just know they feel overwhelmed, stuck, or tired of carrying things the way they have been. Both are completely okay places to start.
What shaped how I work
Before becoming a social worker and therapist, I spent many years working in early childhood education. That experience still shapes how I think about attachment, emotional development, relationships, and the impact early experiences can have long after childhood.
Much of my clinical work has involved supporting people through trauma, difficult family experiences, grief, mental health struggles, and times when life simply felt like too much.
My work has also been shaped by my own lived experience with mental health, grief and loss. I know that reaching out for support can feel vulnerable, and that being understood by someone who is not trying to rush, fix or judge you can matter. My experiences are not the same as anyone else’s, but they have shaped the kind of therapist I try to be: human, curious, and willing to sit with difficult things.
I also work with neurodivergent and 2SLGBTQIA+ clients and offer sex-therapy-informed support around sexuality, intimacy, relationships and identity.
Culture, identity and belonging
I began my career working with immigrant and newcomer communities, and I have also had my own experience of moving countries and building a life somewhere that was not originally home.
That has given me a personal appreciation for some of the complicated feelings that can come with belonging in more than one place, adapting to a different culture, and being away from familiar people and ways of life.
Culture, faith, family and identity are also part of my own life in a bicultural and interfaith family. I do not assume that means I understand someone else’s experience. I try to approach these conversations with curiosity, humility and a willingness to keep learning.
What I hope therapy feels like
I want therapy to be a place where you do not have to perform, explain yourself perfectly, or know exactly what you are supposed to say.
You can come in unsure.
You can come in knowing exactly what hurts.
You can come in somewhere in between.
We can start there.
Cultural Humility, Accountability & Ongoing Learning
I believe therapy should take into account the whole context of a person’s life, including their relationships, family, culture, community, spirituality, identity, history, and lived experiences.
I also know that therapy and social work have been shaped by Western ideas and systems, and those approaches do not fit everyone equally well.
As a white, third-generation Dutch Canadian settler, I see cultural humility as an ongoing responsibility. That means continuing to reflect on how power, privilege, bias, and my own assumptions may shape my work, learning from Indigenous-led teachings, seeking consultation when needed, and being honest about the limits of what I know.
My role is not to tell someone what healing should look like. I aim to work collaboratively, respect each person’s own knowledge and choices, and support connection with cultural, community, spiritual, traditional, or other forms of support when those are important to them.
Credentials
“I believe being a therapist means remaining a learner: curious, reflective, and willing to keep growing.”
— Stacey Van Riel
My Training & Qualifications
Registered Social Worker / Psychotherapist
Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers
Master of Social Work
King’s University College at Western University
Bachelor of Social Work, Honours
Western University
Early Childhood Education Diploma
Lambton College
Emotion-Focused Therapy Training
Emotion-Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) is an evidence-based, attachment-focused approach that helps people understand and work with the emotions and patterns that may be keeping them stuck.
Rather than only helping people cope with difficult feelings in the moment, EFIT works with the emotional responses and patterns that may be driving the struggle. The goal is to support deeper change that can last over time. Research on emotion-focused and experiential therapies suggests that gains can be maintained after therapy ends, with some studies finding stronger long-term outcomes than certain comparison therapies.
My EFIT training: EFIT Fundamentals completed, EFIT Essentials scheduled for October 2026, along with ongoing EFIT-focused clinical supervision.
Specialized & Continuing Education
- 2SLGBTQ+ Foundations Certificate — Rainbow Health Ontario
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Certificate
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) Certificate
- Trauma and Addictions Certificate — Wilfrid Laurier University
- Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)
- Indigenous Canada — University of Alberta
- Central Black Youth Wellbeing Certificate
- Parkinson Foundation Certificate
- Adolescent Brain Development Certificate
Additional continuing education in trauma, attachment, neurodiversity, grief, and culturally responsive practice
I continue to take part in training, supervision, and consultation as part of my ongoing development as a therapist.