What Is Alchemical Psychotherapy? A Spiritually Integrative Approach to Therapy in Waterloo Region

Since opening my private practice, I have been finding that many people are curious about the approach I take in my work. Often this centers around the name of my practice "The Age of Alchemy". Alchemy is a word that has been getting a lot of attention and use recently and is one that I have been using for a very long time. When you see or hear it, do you know what it means? I use the word in my work because at its very core it is a process of transformation, which is exactly what therapy is (in my humble opinion).

You see, most people don’t start therapy because they are “broken.”

They come to therapy because something isn’t working for them anymore, or life has “happened” in ways that they are unsure of how to navigate or cope with:

Anxiety that won’t quiet. Patterns in relationships that keep repeating. Burnout that rest doesn’t fix. A lingering sense that you’ve outgrown who you used to be…but don’t yet know who you’re becoming.

And sometimes it isn’t just about coping better. It’s about understanding yourself more deeply.

And this is where my work tends to live.

My Approach: Therapy That Goes Beneath the Surface

Traditional therapy has often focused on reducing symptoms, and that absolutely matters as part of the process. Anxiety, depression, trauma responses, even emotional overwhelm all deserve thoughtful, evidence-informed care, and this is not about eliminating that.

But many of the adults I work with in Waterloo Region tell me:

• “I’ve done therapy before.”

• “I understand my patterns intellectually.”

“I want to go deeper.”

• “I feel like there’s more underneath this.”

Let me be clear: Alchemical psychotherapy is NOT about replacing evidence-based care. It’s about expanding it.

Using an “alchemical” approach might sound a bit witchy woo, but it actually blends trauma-informed, relational, and somatic approaches with depth psychology and meaning-making. It honours nervous system science and lived experience, blending science and spirituality in ways that makes room for both practical tools and deeper inquiry.

So we don’t just ask, “How do we reduce this symptom? ”We also ask, “What is this pattern protecting? What is it teaching or telling me? What does it need? What is trying to change?”

Why “Alchemy”?

Historically, alchemy was the art of transformation, the art of turning base metals into gold.

In modern day through and through a psychological lens, it becomes a powerful metaphor.

“Alchemy” in therapy might look like:

• Turning shame into self-understanding.

• Turning grief into integration.

• Turning people-pleasing into boundaries.

• Turning survival strategies into conscious choice.

• Turning burnout into a reorientation toward values.

Nothing is shamed. Nothing is discarded. Everything is worked with.

Your anxiety isn’t a flaw. Your coping strategies once made sense. Your “too muchness” likely developed for a reason.

The work of alchemy is not to erase parts of you. It’s to understand and integrate them, accepting yourself authentically and not trying to discard or release but rather owning it all as part of your beautiful, messy journey in this lifetime.

Alchemy, in psychotherapy practice, can also be termed Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy, Holistic Therapy, Depth-Oriented Therapy, or even just Integrative Therapy. So when you see these words, you can know that at the heart of the work is alchemy. I have seen a growing need for this type of work in Ontario and within Waterloo Region, and I feel privileged to leading the exploration of this work with clients who are curious and wanting to go deeper in their work. There truly is a need for this added layer within therapy work.

So, What Does This Looks Like in Sessions?

Spiritually Integrated or Alchemical psychotherapy is collaborative and paced. It is not dramatic or performative. It is steady, curious, and grounded, but also a place where the therapist holds space for all the emotion, messiness and integration.

In practice, this may include:

• Exploring attachment patterns and relationship dynamics

• Noticing how emotions show up in the body

• Working with inner parts, younger parts, or shadow aspects

• Examining inherited beliefs, family patterns and family dynamics, as well as identity shifts of life transitions

• Integrating insight with practical, solution-focused and somatic tools that can align the mind-body connection

• Clarifying values and aligning behaviour with what matters for the client

Some sessions are very practical. Some are reflective and exploratory. Most are both.

This approach can be especially supportive for adults navigating anxiety, burnout, life transitions, career transitions, family dynamics and generational traumas, relationship ruptures, shame, grief, the long-term impacts of trauma and those who are the deep feelers like highly sensitive people (HSPs) or Empaths.

Why Its Important to Bring Science and Meaning Together

Alchemical and Spiritually Integrated psychotherapy should always be trauma-informed and grounded in established modalities such as:

• Solution-Focused Therapy

• Psychodynamic and Depth approaches

• Humanistic, Client centered therapy

• Somatic and nervous system-informed work

• Relational and attachment-based frameworks

It is ethically grounded and aligned with professional standards.

At the same time, it allows space for the deeper questions:

• Who am I becoming?

• What patterns am I ready to release?

• What parts of me have been silenced?

• What does healing actually mean for me?

An Important Note: You do NOT need to identify as spiritual for this work. You simply need a willingness to be curious about yourself. Spiritually based tools are only brought into sessions when my clients request it, this is not something I prescribe or use without permission and never take the place of evidence based practices.

Who This Work Often Resonates With

This approach tends to feel like a good fit for people who:

• Are thoughtful, self-aware, or highly sensitive

• Feel emotionally intelligent but still stuck

• Have done personal development work and want integration

• Want therapy that honours both science and inner life

• Seek deeper meaning and insights into themselves through self actualization

• Are navigating life transitions, grief, or identity shifts

• Long for something more meaningful than symptom management alone

• Already use spiritually or personal exploration-based tools as part of their self actualization work (i.e. Enneagrams, Human Design, Meyers Briggs, Astrology, Tarot/Oracle, Dream Interpretation)

Knowing this, if you’re looking for therapy in Waterloo Region that is integrative, depth-oriented, and grounded in both nervous system science and reflective exploration, this may resonate. I always invite clients to bring meaning making tools into our work and to decide what resonates with them. In doing so, every session is collaborative and client led with me holding space to support personal transformation that is rooted in empowerment, autonomy and the curation of personalized tool kits that clients can continue to carry with them when our work is done.

My Invitation to You

I want to declare this: Therapy is not about fixing you.

Each of your experiences are there as part of your journey, part of your story. But you have choice in how you want to integrate and use those experiences as you move forward.

Therapy work is about creating enough safety to explore what is already there, and enough steadiness and support to allow something new to emerge.

Transformation does not happen through force. It happens through awareness, compassion, and integration.

That is the heart of alchemical work, and why I love the work that I do so very much. So when you hear the word alchemy, know that it simply means transformation in the most beautiful and empowering way.

As always, take wheat resonates, leave the rest. If you want to talk more about this or any other topics, I would love to hear from you and invite you to comment or connect with me at hello@ageofalchemy.ca.

I offer integrative, trauma-informed psychotherapy for adults in Waterloo Region, including Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, and surrounding Ontario communities. Sessions are available in person in and online across Ontario.

Spiritually Integrative, Holistic & Depth Oriented Therapy Office Waterloo Ontario for Anxiety, Trauma, Burnout, Grief, Womens Mental Health and Life Transitions. Virtual or In Person