Lia Bishop
REGISTERED SOCIAL WORKER | RSW
Your experiences and voice matter here. I believe belonging is powerful medicine, and grounded spaces make healing possible.
I’m Lia, RSW/MSW, and I work with individuals who are seeking a deeper connection to themselves, others, and the environments around them. Perhaps you’ve become curious about creating more space for healing, harmony, and repair in your life. Maybe you’re ready to gently explore what has been hidden in the dark, while feeling hesitant to reopen wounds from the past. Or perhaps you’re looking for support in gaining insight, reconnecting with yourself, and moving toward a new chapter with greater clarity and compassion. If this resonates with you, you’re in the right place.
My Approach?
Your identity and emotions deserve affirmation and space.
There is strength in vulnerability. Healing begins by reconnecting with ourselves and giving voice to what is ready to be spoken. Therapy is a collaborative space where stories, relationships, and lived experiences can be explored with care and curiosity.
I bring a grounded, relational presence that helps clients feel safe enough to be honest — even about the parts of themselves they may have hidden or carried alone. Together, we explore life’s complexities at a pace that feels supportive and manageable, moving toward greater authenticity, belonging, and self-understanding.
$150.00
INDIVIDUAL
RSW
# 18050
18+
AGES
TRAUMA
FOCUSED THERAPY
MAYBE YOU'RE HERE BECAUSE...
1
Traumatic experiences have begun to impact your ability to live freely.
The effects of trauma may interfere with your sense of safety, trust, identity, emotional wellbeing, and connection to others. Your self-esteem feels lower than ever. Your mood, sleep, and relationships have started to shift, and you may notice increasing anxiety, overwhelm, or a dysregulated nervous system. It can feel difficult to talk about your pain or imagine a clear path forward.
My work alongside survivors has shown me the depth of human resilience and strength. I support survivors of abuse and violence across all identities and genders, recognizing the many ways trauma can shape our relationships, nervous systems, and sense of self. Together, we work toward restoring safety, self-trust, agency, & connection.
2
Grief and loss feel too great to contain for adults and families. The unexpected happened, and you’re struggling with uncertainty.
You’ve feel exhausted and disengaged. Emotions can feel heavy, disorienting, quiet, angry, numb, tender, or overwhelming — sometimes all at once. At times, the pain can feel unbearable, leaving you uncertain about how to move forward or whether healing is even possible.
Grief changes us, and part of healing is learning how to move forward while still honouring what has been lost. Therapy creates space to process these experiences with care, compassion, and honesty while reconnecting with yourself, your relationships, and a renewed sense of hope, meaning, and belonging.
3
You’re struggling to find connection to yourself and others during mid-life transitions. You feel you’ve lost yourself somewhere along the way and struggle to feel worthy.
Feeling confident in relationships, speaking your mind, getting out of bed in the morning, or even walking into a room of people has become difficult and isolating.
Returning to ourselves is a gradual process of healing, where wounds are met with care and old narratives are gently reshaped.
Together, we use supportive tools that foster reconnection, self-trust, and a deeper remembrance of who you are.
I WORK WITH:
1
Individuals 30+
Grief, Trauma, Anxiety, Burn-Out, Transitions, & Navigating Midlife
4
Families (ages 12+)
Communication, relationship dynamics, connection, boundaries
2
Survivors of Trauma
Adults working through past
and present traumatic experiences
4
Adults (30+) in Mid-life Stages
Career Transitions, Identity Shifts, Burn-Out, Life Direction & Planning
3
Peoples In Need of Support
Grief, end-of-life and loss
WHAT WE'LL WORK ON TOGETHER:
Working Through
Trauma Wounds
-
Exploring how past trauma shows up in the present and practicing self-compassion
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Building a sense of safety within yourself, your relationships and your environment
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Understanding survival responses with curiosity rather than shame
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Using grounding and somatic tools to foster safety and connection within the body
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Supporting nervous system regulation to better manage stress, overwhelm, and daily life
Navigating Anxiety
and Burnout
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Exploring coping patterns that may no longer feel supportive and developing new ways of responding to stress
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Understanding thought patterns and challenging limiting beliefs rooted in fear, pressure, or self-criticism
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Re-evaluating personal needs, values, and goals to support a more sustainable and aligned life
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Setting boundaries that create safer, healthier relationships
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Challenging unrealistic expectations we hold ourselves to
Grief, Loss &
Transitions
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Navigating loss, death, betrayal, uncertainty, environmental degradation, and the fear of the unknown
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Creating space to safely process grief, bereavement & emotional pain
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Honouring emotions rather than suppressing them or avoiding them
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Exploring ways to move forward through life transitions with greater clarity and self-trust
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Fostering resilience, self-compassion, and authentic connection through the healing process
Social Belonging
& Relationships
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Exploring how political, social, and systemic structures shape personal experiences, relationships, and wellbeing
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Reclaiming power, identity, voice, and sense of community
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Honouring culture, community, and collective care as important sources of healing and resilience
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Supporting identity exploration in ways that feel affirming, authentic, and empowering
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Approaching therapy through a grounded and relational lens that values lived experience and collective healing
Self Esteem
and Autonomy
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Challenging limiting beliefs, internalized narratives, and patterns of self-criticism
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Strengthening confidence, self-trust and connection to self
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Developing healthy boundaries, communication skills and relationship patterns
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Exploring past experiences that impact sense of self worth
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Examining early attachments and their influence on emotional and social development
Relationship Repair
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Creating healthier, intentional relationships with ourselves and others
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Strengthening communication skills rooted in honesty and respect
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Supporting healthier ways of expressing needs, emotions and boundaries
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Examining attachment patterns, roles and personal accountability
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Rebuilding trust, intimacy and emotional safety aligned with our personal values
COMMITMENT TO COLLABORATIVE CARE
I won’t judge you. That’s not my job. This is a space where you can be honest without worrying about how it lands.
I won’t see you as innately flawed. Because you’re not. Your responses to pain make sense within the context of what you’ve been through.
I won’t push you beyond your limits. You set the pace. Healing that happens too fast often doesn’t hold. We go at the speed that feels safe.
I won’t force what isn’t working. You know yourself best. If something isn’t landing, we talk about it and try something else.
I won’t be perfect. And I don’t expect that from you. This is a human process between two people doing their best.
My Approach?
YOUR IDENTITY DESERVES TO BE AFFIRMED & YOUR EMOTIONS DESERVE SPACE.
My approach to therapy is grounded, relational, trauma-informed, and rooted in self-determination. I believe healing begins by creating a space where people feel safe enough to show up authentically and explore their experiences without fear of judgment. Together, we work to understand not only how we got here, but also what is needed to move toward a fuller, more connected, and meaningful life. I view therapy as a collaborative process that honours each person’s lived experiences, relationships, identities, and strengths.
In trauma work specifically, I prioritize creating stability, safety, and integration before moving into deeper processing. I incorporate somatic and nervous system regulation tools to support clients in understanding where trauma is held and how survival responses may continue to shape daily life. I believe many coping strategies are intelligent adaptations developed in response to pain, disconnection, or unsafe environments, and I approach these patterns with curiosity and compassion rather than shame.
My work is also informed by parts-work and attachment-based approaches that support greater self-awareness, emotional understanding, and reconnection with self. Together, we may explore the different parts of ourselves that have developed to protect, survive, or seek connection, while building healthier relationships internally and externally. I also use systems approaches to better understand familial, relational, and environmental dynamics, recognizing that our struggles do not exist in isolation from the larger systems we move through.
I recognize the profound impact that systemic oppression, marginalization, and intergenerational experiences can have on mental health and wellbeing. Honouring culture within therapy recognizes that people carry wisdom, strength, and healing traditions that exist beyond Western approaches to mental health. I believe healing involves not only individual growth, but also reclaiming identity, voice, belonging, and connection within the broader contexts of community, culture, the natural world/land, and collective care.
Person-Centred Therapy
Recognizing that you are the expert in your own life and healing. Therapy is collaborative, but the pace, priorities and goals of therapy are self-determined.
Somatic Approaches
Provides connection between the body, emotions and your lived experience. This allows you to notice how emotions and experiences are held in your body through tension and sensation.
Strength-Based Therapy
Highlighting and utilizing your innate capacity, qualities and resources to support the healing journey
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Identify and challenge unhelpful thought patterns, emotions, and behaviours to support healthier coping and emotional wellbeing.
Trauma-Informed Practice
Prioritizing safety and stability throughout therapy so that the healing process is manageable and empowering.
IFS (Parts-Informed)
Understanding how different "parts" of ourselves show up for self-preservation and protection, while supporting healing through reconnecting with the core Self.
Attachment Theory
Examining how early attachments influence our connections, trust and responses to people in the present.
Narrative Therapy
Helps people explore and reshape the stories they hold about themselves, and creating space for new meanings and possibilities.
EDUCATION & TRAININGS
DEGREES & EDUCATION
MSW - Master's in Social Work
MA - Sociology and Gender Studies
BA - Sociology
SPECIALIZED TRAININGS
Trauma-Informed Practice
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
End-Of-Life Doula
PROFFESIONAL REGISTRATIONS
Registered Social Worker
18050
Ontario College of Social Workers & Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW)
Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW)
MY CORE VALUES
Survival Strategies are Intelligent
Survival strategies are intelligent because they develop as ways to protect us during overwhelming, painful or unsafe experiences. Hyper-independence, avoidance, substance use, people-pleasing, nervous system activation are not signs of weakness they are adaptive ways the mind & body learn to survive. We can approach these patterns with curiosity & compassion rather than shame, recognizing they are survival attempts that we are ready to let go of.
Connection is Medicine
Connection is medicine because healing does not happen in isolation it happens through culture, belonging, community, and remembering who we are. The natural world, ancestral knowledge, spirituality, language, storytelling, and collective care can offer grounding, resilience, and meaning during times of pain and disconnection.
Healing is Not Linear
Revisiting old wounds does not mean failure; it often reflects deeper layers of healing and understanding emerging over time. A non-linear approach to healing encourages compassion, patience, and curiosity rather than perfectionism or shame. It honours the reality that healing is a lifelong and deeply human process shaped by our experiences, relationships, and environments.
HOW I GOT HERE:
I became a therapist because navigating personal experiences of loss, trauma, and disconnection showed me how transformative compassionate connection and belonging can be. I believe healing becomes possible when we feel seen without judgment, supported enough to be vulnerable, and empowered enough to reconnect with our own strength, identity, and humanity.
Prior to becoming a therapist, I worked in academic teaching and research, frontline support, and community development alongside vulnerable populations. Through this work, I developed a deeper understanding of the relationship between social marginalization, systemic harm, and mental health, particularly how trauma can be shaped and intensified by these experiences. These experiences continue to inform my grounded, relational, trauma-informed, and decolonial approach to therapy.
I have sat with survivors carrying decades of silent pain, witnessed families navigating unexpected loss, and supported clients moving from deep shame into self-compassion through the safety of being truly heard. This is the work I believe in. Working with me means moving at your pace, in your language, with your full story welcomed into the room. I bring honesty, warmth, and a deep respect for the complexity of being human. You do not have to be fully ready — only willing to begin.