Carmel Avitzur (she/her)

MA, PhD Student Therapist

Carmel is currently completing her PhD  in Clinical Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). She earned her Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from TMU and her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Queen’s University. Carmel works as a therapist and assessor at Forward Thinking. She takes a collaborative and thoughtful approach to clinical work, creating a professional and supportive environment where clients feel comfortable engaging with complex and challenging concerns.

At Forward Thinking, Carmel welcomes adolescent and adult clients and has a particular interest in working with individuals experiencing OCD and anxiety-related concerns. Carmel also provides comprehensive psychodiagnostic assessments, as well as adult ADHD and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) assessments. She ensures that treatment and assessment are delivered from a neuroaffirming lens, allowing individuals to be present as their authentic self and benefit from the safety of the therapeutic space.

In terms of her therapy with individuals with OCD, Carmel has worked with with a wide range of OCD concerns, including intrusive and obsessional doubts related to feelings of “just rightness”, contamination, harm to oneself and others, and visual alignment, and compulsions related to checking, repeating, cleaning/washing, and mental rituals (i.e., figuring it out).

Carmel strives to create a supportive, collaborative, and non-judgmental therapeutic environment. She works with her clients to support meaningful progress toward their goals, while helping them clarify and act in accordance with their values. She takes an integrative approach to therapy and tailors the therapeutic process to unique client needs, drawing from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based approaches, Inference-Based CBT (I-CBT), and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP).

Carmel also has experience providing assessment and treatment in both individual and group settings, including the provision of clinical services at the Psychology Training Clinic at St. Michael’s Hospital. Her intervention work over the years has involved individuals presenting with concerns such as OCD, generalized anxiety, chronic worry, social anxiety, depression, trauma, insomnia, burnout, and substance use difficulties.

Carmel also currently works with the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy program at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH). At CAMH, Carmel provides group CBT treatment for anxiety, OCD, and depression, and conducts psychodiagnostic assessments.

In addition to her clinical practice, Carmel conducts research on cognitive functioning. Her work has examined the impact of concussions on emotional distress and recovery, and she is currently investigating how social anxiety influences attention and memory.

In her free time, Carmel enjoys reading, running, and trying out new recipes.