Our Vision
Aspen Psychology Group is a collective of psychologists who supported each other through graduate school and had a dream of building a practice together. Aspen is the culmination of that dream. Our vision is to create a warm and welcoming space that offers real, honest, and person-centered therapy.
Our Philosophy
The aspen tree is representative of our philosophy and vision for our practice and clients. Aspen trees grow together, supporting one another and sharing resources through their connected root system. The aspen tree is also flexible and strong, thriving in most environments. With the right support, humans are also resilient and can flourish in almost any environment. The therapists at Aspen Psychology Group are here to become part of your community, providing individualized support and strategies to help you reach your goals.
Melissa Sawers
Registered Psychologist, Masters of Counselling Psychology.
Melissa is passionate about working with children, youth, families, and pregnant & new mothers.
She is driven to help her clients learn to manage their problems more effectively by learning to identify, disrupt, and replace unhelpful thought and behaviour patterns with positive ones, improve coping and communication skills, and strengthen the connection with their support networks so they may live happier, healthier, and more productive lives.
She has specialized training in:
- Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART for trauma)
- Perinatal Mental Health
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Family Systems Therapy
- Emotion-Focused Family Therapy
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) (Informed)
Melissa excels at working both with children and their support networks and is passionate about mothers' perinatal mental well-being. She provides a warm, supportive, collaborative, and holistic therapeuitic experience.
Lisa Thompson
Registered Psychologist, Masters of Counselling Psychology and Art Therapy.
Lisa is passionate about working with children, youth, couples, and families struggling with a variety of challenges including anxiety, depression, parenting struggles, and life transitions.
Lisa believes when offered the security and support of the therapeutic relationship, clients can identify inner strengths; recognize problematic interpersonal patterns at play within their relationships; and realize new possibilities for growth and change, resulting in greater contentment within themselves and in their relationships.
Lisa works from a collaborative, strength-based perspective and has specialized training in:
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
- Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy
- Gottman Method Levels 1 & 2
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) (Informed)
- Polyvagal (Informed)
Lisa also has specialized training in art therapy and can offer art as an additional therapeutic tool: engaging the creative process to help communicate, gain insight, and find solutions by viewing challenges from a fresh perspective.
Mary-Lou Carlyle
Registered Psychologist, Masters of Counselling Psychology.
Mary-Lou is passionate about working with youth (13+), adults, and couples struggling with a variety of challenges including anxiety, depression, parenting struggles, communication breakdown, relationship strife, career stressors, and life transitions.
Mary-Lou recognizes that therapy may feel overwhelming and scary for many, so prioritizes making her clients feel welcomed and at ease with her warm, approachable, and down-to-earth nature. She is a strong believer that the issues that bring clients into counselling can be serious and complicated, AND it is ok to incorporate humour and laughter into sessions when appropriate. Counselling does not have to be a narrow vision of a clock ticking with a therapist silently waiting for your deep responses.
Mary-Lou avoids using a cookie cutter approach and instead works with her clients to create a unique experience by drawing from elements of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Mindfulness, Attachment Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and has specialized training in:
- Gottman Couples Therapy Levels 1 & 2
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
- Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy
- Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART for trauma)
Kate Dinning
Registered Psychologist, Master of Counselling Psychology.
Kate is passionate about working with youth (16+), adults, and couples interested in managing stress, anxiety, depression, and building boundary setting, confidence, and effective communication skills. Kate is also passionate about supporting clients through their trauma work.
Kate works holistically and has a strong interest in the mind-body connection as she believes this alignment results in lasting change. She supports clients in their change process by acknowledging their strengths, building on this foundation, and creating the space where clients feel comfortable and empowered to create positive change.
Kate draws from therapeutic approaches that highlight emotion, attachment, cognitive behavioural tools, and communication.
Kate has specialized training in:
- Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
Alanna Kelly
Registered Psychologist, Master of Counselling Psychology.
Alanna works with adolescents and adults experiencing trauma, anxiety, depression, stress/burnout, relationship stressors, perfectionism, and self-esteem concerns.
Alanna approaches therapy with the belief that human beings are the experts of their own lives and that people can show remarkable resilience when provided the necessary support. Alanna believes we heal through our relationships and connection with others.
Alanna uses a combination of attachment-based, narrative, cognitive behavioural, and emotion-focused therapies and has specialized training in:
- Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy
- EMDR for Early Trauma Held in Implicit Memory
- Solution Focused Brief Therapy
- Narrative Therapy
- Polyvagal
Before private practice, Alanna worked in early intervention programs, specialized educational environments, residential treatment settings, and programs that provided educational and occupational guidance to individuals.
Meghan McDonald
Registered Psychologist, Master of Counselling Psychology.
Meghan is passionate about working with individuals, families, couples, and the LGBTQ+ community and believes in each person’s capacity to create meaningful change and positive growth in their lives.
Meghan embodies a holistic, affirming, and integrative framework that draws on a variety of modalities to best fit each person’s unique wellness goals. Meghan supports people identifying and disrupting harmful or unproductive thought patterns and behaviours through collaborative therapeutic conversations and focused strategies. Her approach is trauma-informed and she has an extensive background in addiction and mental health, grief and loss, anxiety, stress and burnout, self-esteem, life transitions, mood disorders, communication skills, LGBTQ+, family, and relationship concerns.
Meghan cultivates a compassionate and safe atmosphere to ensure clients feel understood, valued, and secure. She supports each individual in advancing their strengths and capabilities in order to foster lasting, beneficial personal, emotional and relational changes.
Meghan has specialized training in:
- Family Systems
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
- Narrative Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
Aspen Leung
Graduate Student, Master of Counselling Psychology
As a current Masters student, Aspen is excited to work with youth (16+), adults, seniors, and couples who may be navigating life transitions,
struggling with anxiety, depression, grief, or stress. She is also passionate about supporting those working on cultural
identity-related concerns.Aspen believes in creating a space where clients feel welcomed, safe, and supported, acknowledging the courage and strength it takes to seek support for one’s struggles. Using a collaborative approach, she believes that change is possible when clients can be their authentic selves and build on their inherent strengths. She aims
to support clients through an intersectional lens, recognizing the reciprocal impact between mental health and other aspects of life.Aspen’s approach is fundamentally person-centred, trauma-informed, and culturally-sensitive. She incorporates aspects of:
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Narrative Therapy
and is looking forward to developing skills in:
- Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
- Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Gottman modalities.
From her involvement in a healthcare setting, Aspen has experienced how much of a difference a compassionate, non-judgmental approach can make when clients are stressed, overwhelmed or burnt out. She strives to apply this in her work to make genuine connections with her clients as the basis for empowerment and change.
*As a pre-licensed professional Aspen is offering her services for low cost and sliding scale is available to make her services more accessible. Please note that insurance companies will not cover pre-licensed individuals.
Aspen is supervised by Registered Psychologists and a practicum supervisor through her university.
