Evidence-Based Emotion Regulation Therapy in Hamilton or Online
Experienced Help Finding Calm, Clarity, and Emotional Balance
Overwhelmed by Emotions?
Strong emotions are part of being human. Difficulties arise when emotions feel overwhelming, hard to manage, or trigger you to respond in ways you don’t want.
When emotions escalate quickly or linger too long, people may experience intense distress, angry outbursts, shutdown, or impulsive reactions — often followed by guilt, shame, or confusion.
Difficulties with Emotion Regulation
Emotion regulation challenges can involve mood swings, difficulty calming down, emotional numbness, or feeling frequently overwhelmed by everyday stressors. These patterns often develop over time and can be shaped by temperament, life experiences, stress, or trauma.
Anger & Emotional Reactivity
Anger is a natural emotion, but when it becomes intense, explosive, or difficult to calm, it can strain relationships, and harm self-esteem. Emotional reactivity often reflects a nervous system that shifts rapidly into threat or defence mode.
Distress Tolerance
Distress tolerance refers to the ability to get through intense emotional moments without making things worse. When distress tolerance is low, emotions can feel unbearable, urgent, or impossible to manage.
Helping You Find Emotional Balance
Dr. Jennifer Barbera, PhD, and team offer compassionate, evidence-based therapy to help adults & adolescents strengthen emotional awareness, increase distress tolerance, & respond to emotions in more effective ways — without suppressing or judging them.
What Is Emotion Regulation Therapy?
Emotion regulation therapy focuses on helping you understand your emotional responses, calm your nervous system during distress, and build skills to help you respond rather than react.
With effective therapy you will notice improvements in:
- Managing intense emotions without becoming as overwhelmed
- Reducing angry outbursts or emotional shutdown
- Frustration tolerance and overall patience & mood
- Feeling more in control during stressful situations
How We Support Emotion Regulation
Our approach helps with the emotional, cognitive, behavioural & physiological aspects of regulation, including:
- Emotional overwhelm or mood swings
- Anger that feels intense, explosive, or hard to control
- Difficulty calming down once upset
- Impulsive reactions, including self-harm
- Emotional numbness or shutdown
- Low tolerance during stress or conflict
- Challenges managing emotions in relationships or at work
We get to the root causes of these symptoms.
Compassionate, Skilled Help for Emotion Regulation Difficulties
We work with adults and adolescents (15+) experiencing a range of emotion regulation concerns, including:
- Emotional overwhelm or reactivity
- Anger management difficulties
- Low distress tolerance and difficulty coping with stress, including self-harm
- Challenges related to anxiety or depression
- ADHD-related emotional dysregulation
- Difficulties linked to trauma or attachment patterns
- Relationship conflict driven by emotional escalation
You do not need to be in crisis to benefit from emotion regulation therapy.
What to Expect:
Beginning therapy can feel intimidating, especially when emotions feel hard to manage. We make the process clear, supportive, & empowering through:
- An initial assessment: A safe, non-judgemental space to understand emotional patterns, triggers, & goals
- Evidence-based therapy approaches, tailored to your needs (e.g., DBT-informed skills, CBT, ACT, EFT & nervous-system–based strategies)
- Practical tools for distress tolerance, & self-regulation
- Ongoing support to maintain progress
Learning to regulate emotions doesn’t mean suppressing them — it means you can respond with greater choice & balance
Big Feelings? Let’s Connect!
FAQ
Therapy is a non-judgmental space. We focus on understanding your emotions, reducing shame, and building skills, rather than judging or criticizing you. Shame often fuels more anger or self-harm, so addressing shame is an important part of therapy.
No. Emotion regulation therapy does not aim to suppress emotions or change your personality. Instead, it teaches skills to understand, tolerate, and respond to emotions effectively, helping you make clearer choices and feel steadier in daily life. Therapy can also focus on healing experiences that led to greater difficulty with regulating your emotions.
The length of therapy depends on your goals and needs. Some clients find a few focused sessions helpful for learning key skills, while others benefit from ongoing therapy to practice and reinforce emotional regulation strategies, and heal past experiences that still affect emotion regulation abilities. Your therapist will work with you to develop a plan that fits your situation.
Sometimes, anger is a signal that a need or boundary has been overlooked or violated. Anger can also reflect stress, fatigue, past experiences, or patterns learned in childhood. Therapy helps you identify the underlying causes for your anger and develop healthier ways to respond.
Anger problems aren’t just about yelling or outbursts. They include:
- Feeling frustrated or irritated much of the time
- Quick temper or explosive reactions
- Difficulty calming down once upset
- Feeling guilty, ashamed, or regretful after angry responses
- Strained relationships due to emotional reactions
Therapy helps you respond to anger without it controlling your actions or relationships.
Contact Us
Taking the first step can feel difficult – we will make it easier. We’re here to guide you with care and professionalism.
905-407-5758
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