About Nikita Rinaldi

Nikita Rinaldi is completing her Master of Counselling Psychology and is working toward becoming a Registered Psychotherapist under the supervision of Clinical Director Mark Nixon. Before entering the counselling field, she spent over a decade in education, teaching humanities and social studies to students in grades 6 through 12. In those classrooms, she learned something that now shapes everything she does as a therapist: what shows up on the surface is almost never the full story.

Nikita brings a warm, grounded presence to her work. She’s not interested in making therapy feel clinical or intimidating. Instead, she creates a space where you can show up exactly as you are — overwhelmed, unsure, frustrated, or just tired of carrying things quietly on your own. Her approach draws from emotion-focused, person-centred, and acceptance-based practices, which means sessions focus less on rushing to “fix” and more on understanding what you’re feeling, why it makes sense, and what might need to shift so you can move forward in a way that actually feels like yours.

Student Stress and Anxiety

If you’re a student right now, the pressure can feel relentless — comparisons on social media, the expectation to have your future mapped out, test anxiety, social anxiety, and the loneliness of feeling like everyone else has it figured out except you. Add in the weight of climate change, a shaky economy, and political uncertainty, and it’s no wonder so many young people feel stuck or running on empty.

Nikita spent twelve years working closely with young people on the stuff underneath the academics — identity, confidence, self-doubt, and the pressure to perform. Whether you’re dealing with ADHD, struggling through a transition to or from university, or just feeling lost about what comes next, Nikita offers a space where you don’t have to pretend everything is fine.

Relationship Endings and New Beginnings

Separation, divorce, remarriage, co-parenting, blended families — these transitions can quietly dismantle your sense of who you are. Nikita knows this personally. She went through a divorce after marrying her high school sweetheart and understands the layers: the grief for the life you thought you’d have, the shame, the financial stress, and the challenge of rebuilding your identity.

Her father’s words carried her through: “Just because your marriage ended doesn’t mean your life is over.” She has since remarried and is raising an eleven-year-old stepson and a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. She lives the realities of co-parenting and building a blended family every day. If you’re in the middle of that kind of transition, she meets you there without judgment and with real understanding.

Parenthood and Postpartum Issues

Becoming a parent changes everything — and sometimes the hardest part is how alone it can feel, even when your life is full. Nikita works with parents adjusting to the realities of raising young children while trying to hold onto themselves. That includes the anxiety, the intrusive thoughts no one warns you about, and the quiet grief of losing parts of your identity in the process.

She connects especially well with those becoming parents later in life, where the joy can arrive alongside unexpected pressure, identity shifts, and the challenge of balancing parenthood with a career. As a mother navigating that balance herself, Nikita understands that parenthood is beautiful and hard, often in the very same moment.

Health Anxiety and New Diagnoses

A serious diagnosis doesn’t just affect your body. It reshapes your sense of safety, your plans, and your relationship with the future. Nikita has walked this path herself — after her mother was diagnosed with kidney cancer, Nikita took a leave from work to become her caregiver. Having survived her own cancer diagnosis shortly after, she knows firsthand the terrifying uncertainty of illness and the struggle to preserve your identity within a complex medical maze.

These experiences taught her that uncertainty and hope can exist side by side. If you’re navigating health anxiety or adjusting to a new diagnosis, Nikita offers a space to process the fear, the stress, and the unpredictability without having to hold it all together.

Personal Background

Nikita’s Italian heritage runs deep. Her father immigrated to Canada from Friuli, Italy, and her paternal grandfather lived with her growing up. Family is central to who she is — Sunday lunches, cooking together, and now teaching her daughter Italian through songs. She carries a tattoo of the word Grinta — Italian for “grit” — in honour of her father and the resilience he instilled in her.

Outside of therapy, you’ll find Nikita lost in a Frieda McFadden thriller, perfecting a sourdough recipe, doing yoga, or heading out for a family walk. She’s a fan of outdoor country music — especially Chris Stapleton — and believes that the small, grounding moments in life are often where the real healing happens.

Email: nikita.rinaldi@mylifecounselling.ca
Phone: 1-800-828-9484 (ext. 140)