About Steph Koutsoulianos

Stephanie is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) #14536 and member of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and minored in Family and Child Studies at the University of Guelph and her Master of Counselling Psychology through Adler University. She finished her internship at MyLife under the supervision of our Clinical Director Mark Nixon. We invited Stephanie join MyLife as a trusted associate thanks to her proven ability of helping a wide range of clients in need.

Stephanie’s history of helping people started early as a student. She played multiple roles at the University of Guelph including volunteering as a note taker with Student Accessibility Services, working as the team leader coordinating the SafeWalk program, and volunteering as a Peer Helper with Co-operative Education and Career Services. Her experience working with a wide range of students led her to appreciate the challenges and stressors they face and the often-unseen toll it can take on their mental health. She took her interest in helping others a step further as a distress line volunteer at the Torchlight Distress Centre in Guelph. She provided compassionate and non-judgmental support to callers experiencing a range of issues including anxiety, stress, racism, loneliness, grief, loss, and relationship issues.

Thanks to her training and diverse range of experiences, Stephanie is skillful at listening to her client’s needs and developing clear and concrete strategies for helping them through their issues. Clients would describe her approach as grounded, compassionate, and goal oriented. Not only is she an attentive listener, but she is also highly skilled at helping clients identify their core values. Stephanie’s training and experience working with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps clients use their values to guide them to do things that will enhance their lives while effectively handling the pain and suffering that come with being human.

Stephanie draws heavily from mindfulness-based approaches in her work with clients. Mindfulness helps people become more aware of their choices and thoughts instead of simply reacting to situations in unhelpful ways. Clients will find that she is eager to work with their counselling preferences, help create goals collaboratively, and work towards a mutual understanding of what “getting better” uniquely means for them. She always acknowledges her clients’ unique lived experiences in terms of gender, sexual orientation, culture, socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity.

Stephanie has special interest and training in helping clients whose struggles stem from discrimination, racism, bias, and stigma. She is an ally of the LGBTQ2+ community and understands that safety and trust is created together with clients one session at a time. She is a passionate advocate for inclusive and equitable treatment of people accessing mental health services and draws from her own lived experiences as a multiethnic individual. Stephanie is prepared to deal with the unique challenges cross-cultural individuals face.

Out of the office, Stephanie enjoys reading (both fiction and non-fiction), weightlifting and strength-training, and can often be found on FaceTime with her long-distance partner. She sees herself as a perpetual student who is eager to learn and aspires to pursue further education and training in the field of sex therapy.