Smitha Sumakumari
M.Psy
Smitha is a Master level therapist. Smitha has completed a Master of Psychology in Clinical and Counselling Psychology from Adler Graduate Professional School. Smitha is registered with the College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO) and is in the process of collecting hours to become a fully registered professional. She is currently working under the supervision of Dr. Taube-Schiff.
She also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Behaviour Science Technology from George Brown College and a Master’s in Psychology from Kerala University, India. Smitha has more than 15 years of extensive experience in the field of clinical psychology. Through those years of clinical work, she was able to gain expertise in providing evidence-based therapy for children, adolescents, and adults with various concerns such as depression, OCD, anxiety, phobia, panic disorder, trauma, grief/bereavement, work and school stress, workplace accident, and motor vehicle accident sequelae. Smitha has experience working with different types of obsessions such as contamination, harm, pathological doubt, symmetry, religion, existential, sex, just right, and health-related.
Smitha has extensive experience in providing Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) as well as using integrative approaches in her work. The evidence-based interventions she uses are derived from Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), such as Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) as well as mindfulness. She also offers Inference-Based Cognitive Therapy as an alternative and complementary approach to Exposure with Response Prevention.
Smitha also works with individuals with Body Focused Repetitive Behaviours (BFRBs), such as excoriation disorder (skin picking) and trichotillomania (hair pulling).
She has provided evidence-based therapy for children, adolescents, and adults with OCD, related to the themes of contamination, perfection, symmetry, harm, religiosity as well as sexuality. She has also helped individuals with Tourette’s syndrome, Tic disorders, phobia, trichotillomania, hoarding and other anxiety-related disorders. Her clinical work has helped children, adolescents, and adults with life transitions as well as coping with the distress related to chronic physical conditions like cancer, diabetes, and epilepsy.
Smitha uses an anti-oppressive, compassionate, trauma-informed, and culturally sensitive approach in her practice. She has extensive experience working with front-line workers from different walks of life who experienced complex trauma. She provides a trauma-informed, strength-based approach and is comfortable working with clients from diverse backgrounds.
Treatment modalities include evidence-based therapies such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Cogntive Processing Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Therapy. She is also trained in the Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP) technique and is experienced in working with obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety-related disorders in children, adolescents, and adults. She also offers Inference-Based Cognitive Therapy (I-CBT) as an alternative and complementary approach to Exposure with Response Prevention.
Smitha is an empathetic, passionate, and committed therapist and supports her clients to reach their goals, enhance their well-being, and help them enjoy their lives in a meaningful way. Smitha firmly believes and respects each person’s unique strengths, values, and resilience and works collaboratively with her client as a team. Her goal is to maximise client independence and empowerment while providing a safe space to achieve their potential for physical, social and mental well-being.
Smitha is proficient in providing service in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam. She is also working in the Brain, Body and Perception Lab in CAMH and doing evaluation for Body Dysmorphic Disorder.
Smitha is highly engaged in ongoing professional development, including attending workshops on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for trauma, interventions for grief work and I-CBT for OCD.
