Seek help if:
- Symptoms last more than two weeks
- Daily life feels unmanageable
- You have thoughts of harming yourself or your baby
- You feel anxious, panicked, or scared most of the day
- Immediate help: Call 911 if you feel you or someone else is in danger.
Other ways to cope:
- Talk to your doctor or OB-GYN—they can screen for postpartum depression and anxiety.
- Connect with a psychotherapist for guidance and coping strategies.
- Share your feelings with trusted family or friends.
- Practice self-care: rest, eat well, and accept help.
- Join support groups for new parents.
Divorce and Separation Therapy in Newmarket & York Region | You Are Allowed to Fall Apart a Little
The end of a marriage or long-term relationship is one of the most disorienting experiences a person can go through. Even when the decision was right. Even when you knew it was coming. Even when staying would have been worse.
The grief of separation does not follow logic. It does not wait until you have signed the papers or divided the furniture or told the children. It arrives when it arrives, often in inconvenient waves, and it asks for more than most people are prepared to give it.
Therapy does not rush that process. It makes space for it.
As a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) in Newmarket, I offer divorce and separation therapy for adults virtually across Ontario, using CBT, ACT, somatic nervous system work, mindfulness-based therapy, Behavioural Activation, narrative therapy approaches, attachment-based approaches, and psychoeducation. No waitlist. Sessions available day and evening.
No Waitlist
Start this week.
Free 15-min call
No commitment
Day & Evening
Flexible hours
Virtual
All of Ontario
What Divorce and Separation Actually Feel Like
Separation is not just the loss of a relationship. It is the loss of a shared future, a daily routine, an identity as part of a couple, a family structure, and often a social world that was built around the relationship. It is rarely just one loss. It is many losses arriving simultaneously.
If any of that sounds familiar, you’re in the right place.
“I knew this was the right decision and I still feel devastated.”
“I do not know who I am outside of this relationship.”
“I am angry and sad and relieved and guilty all at the same time.”
“I am holding it together for the kids and completely falling apart when they are not watching.”
“I thought I would feel better by now.”
“I do not know how to start over at this point in my life.”
All of these are valid. All of these are normal. And all of these deserve a space where they can be said out loud without judgment.
What I Work With in Divorce and Separation Therapy
Emotional Processing of Divorce and Grief
The grief of separation is real and significant, and it does not resolve on a timeline that other people set for you. Therapy provides a consistent, safe space to process the full complexity of what you are feeling, including the parts that feel contradictory, uncomfortable, or that you believe you are not allowed to feel. Grief needs to move through, not around, and therapy is where that movement is possible.
Separation After a Long-Term Relationship or Marriage
The longer a relationship has lasted, the more thoroughly it has become woven into a person’s identity, daily life, and sense of self. Leaving or being left after years or decades together involves a fundamental renegotiation of who you are, what your life looks like, and what you want from the chapter ahead. That process takes time and deserves real support.
Identity Rebuilding After Separation
Who are you when you are no longer part of that relationship? That question, which seems simple, is often one of the most disorienting aspects of separation. Therapy helps clients examine the identity they carried in the relationship, what of themselves they set aside or lost along the way, and what they want to build in the space the relationship has left.
Co-Parenting Conflict and Stress
Separation is most complex when children are involved. The ongoing relationship required for co-parenting means that separation is never fully complete, and the stress of navigating parenting arrangements, communication with an ex-partner, and the impact on the children can be significant and sustained. Therapy helps clients develop strategies for managing co-parenting stress, communicate more effectively in a high-stakes dynamic, and protect their own well-being while prioritising their children. For more on supporting children through parental separation, specifically, parent-child therapy in Newmarket covers how I work with families in this situation.
Supporting Children Through Parental Separation
Children experience parental separation in their own ways, often without the language or emotional vocabulary to communicate what they are going through. Many parents seek therapy for themselves as a way of better understanding how to support their children through the transition, and that is a completely valid reason to reach out. I can work with parents on how to talk to their children about what is happening, how to read the signs that a child is struggling, and when to consider additional support for the child directly.
High-Conflict Separation
Not all separations are straightforward. High-conflict separation, where communication with a former partner is hostile, manipulative, or unsafe, creates a specific and demanding psychological environment that ordinary stress management strategies do not address adequately. Therapy helps clients build the internal stability and practical strategies needed to protect their own well-being while navigating a high-conflict situation.
Divorce Alongside Anxiety or Depression
Separation is one of the most significant risk factors for both anxiety and depression, and many people experience one or both in the aftermath of a relationship ending. The uncertainty, the loss, the disruption to daily life, and the isolation that separation can create all create fertile ground for mental health difficulties to emerge or intensify. Therapy addresses both the separation process and any co-occurring anxiety or depression simultaneously. For more detail, anxiety therapy in Newmarket and depression therapy in Newmarket cover those presentations in full.
Rebuilding Life After Divorce
At some point, the acute phase of separation gives way to the longer work of building a new life. New routines, new relationships, new goals, a new sense of who you are and what you want. This phase has its own challenges, including the fear of repeating old patterns, the vulnerability of starting over, and the grief that can resurface at unexpected moments. Therapy during this phase supports the construction of a life that is genuinely chosen rather than simply what remains after the relationship ended.
How I Work With Divorce and Separation
Attachment-Based Approaches
How a person experiences and responds to separation is deeply shaped by their attachment history. The way you bonded in the relationship, the patterns that developed within it, and the way you are experiencing its ending all connect to earlier experiences of loss, connection, and security. Attachment-based work helps clients understand their relational patterns and build the internal security that supports genuine recovery rather than simply repeating old patterns in new relationships.
Narrative Therapy Approaches
Separation involves a significant disruption to the story a person has been telling about their life. Narrative approaches help clients examine the stories they are carrying, including the stories about what the relationship meant, what went wrong, and what they deserve, and begin constructing a new narrative that holds the truth of what happened while leaving room for what comes next.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT addresses the thought patterns that can become particularly destructive during and after separation. The self-blame, the catastrophising about the future, the all-or-nothing thinking about what has been lost, the rumination that replays the relationship, looking for the moment everything went wrong. CBT provides practical tools for interrupting these patterns and building more accurate, balanced ways of understanding what happened.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT is particularly valuable in separation work because it helps clients hold the pain of what has been lost while taking values-driven action toward the life they want to build. The grief and the forward movement do not have to be sequential. ACT builds the psychological flexibility to navigate both simultaneously.
Somatic Awareness and Nervous System Regulation
Separation activates the nervous system’s threat response in ways that can persist long after the legal and practical aspects of the split are resolved. The body processes loss in its own way and on its own timeline. Somatic approaches help clients regulate the physiological aspects of grief and stress, building the nervous system stability that supports clearer thinking and more grounded decision-making.
Mindfulness-Based Therapy
Separation pulls attention relentlessly toward the past, through grief and regret, and the future, through anxiety and uncertainty. Mindfulness approaches build the capacity to be present in the life that is actually happening now, which is where the work of rebuilding takes place.
Behavioural Activation
Separation frequently involves withdrawal from activities, relationships, and experiences that previously provided meaning and pleasure. Behavioural Activation supports the gradual reengagement with life, building evidence that connection, enjoyment, and a sense of self outside the relationship are still possible.
Psychoeducation
Understanding the psychology of loss and attachment, why separation hurts the way it does, what the grief process actually involves, and what genuine recovery looks like, helps people make sense of their experience and reduces the shame and confusion that often accompany the emotional intensity of separation.
Most clients begin to notice a real shift within 8 to 12 sessions. I check in on your progress regularly, and I adjust the approach as your needs change.
What to Expect When We Work Together
Your first session is 50 minutes focused on understanding where you are in the separation process, what you are finding most difficult, and what support would be most useful right now. There is no expectation that you have it together or that you know what you need. Many people arrive at their first divorce therapy session in the middle of significant distress. That is exactly the right time to reach out.
Sessions adapt to where you are. Early work often focuses on emotional stabilisation and processing the acute grief of the separation. Later work tends to focus more on identity, patterns, and building toward what comes next.
Divorce and Separation Therapy with Maria | Support from Friends and Family | No Support | |
Non-judgmental professional space | ✓ | Partial | ✗ |
Attachment and pattern work | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Grief processing at your own pace | ✓ | Partial | ✗ |
Co-parenting strategy support | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
No waitlist | ✓ | N/A | N/A |
Virtual across Ontario | ✓ | N/A | N/A |
Extended benefits coverage | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
You've been managing this long enough.
Let's actually change it.
No waitlist. Most clients start within the same week as their consultation call.
- Sessions from $120
- Extended benefits accepted
- In-person & virtual
- Day & evening hours
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know before booking your first session.
How much does divorce and separation therapy cost in Newmarket?
Sessions are $120 per 50-minute appointment. Many extended health benefit plans in Ontario cover sessions with a Registered Psychotherapist. A receipt is provided after every session for direct submission to your insurer. Check your plan under “Registered Psychotherapist (RP)” or “Psychotherapy.”
How many sessions will I need?
This depends on where you are in the separation process and how complex your situation is. Many clients find meaningful support within 12 to 20 sessions. Situations involving high conflict, children, long-term relationship loss, or co-occurring anxiety and depression typically benefit from longer work. I discuss realistic timelines at the assessment stage.
Do you offer virtual divorce and separation therapy in Ontario?
Yes. Virtual sessions are available to clients anywhere in Ontario, day or evening. For people navigating separation, virtual therapy is often particularly practical given the disruption to daily routines and the logistical complexity of the separation process itself.
Is there a waitlist?
No. There is currently no waitlist. You can book a free 15-minute consultation and typically begin your first full session within the same week.
My separation was my choice. Am I allowed to be this upset about it?
Yes. Absolutely yes. Choosing to end a relationship does not mean the loss is not real or that the grief is not valid. Many people who initiate separation experience profound grief, guilt, ambivalence, and distress that they feel they are not entitled to because they made the decision. You are entitled to all of it. Grief does not require that the loss was forced upon you.
Can therapy help if my ex-partner is being difficult or hostile?
Yes. Therapy cannot change your ex-partner’s behaviour. What it can do is help you build the internal stability, practical strategies, and emotional resilience to protect your own wellbeing while navigating a difficult dynamic. High-conflict separation is one of the most demanding psychological situations a person can be in, and having consistent support through it makes a significant difference.