”What is to give light must endure burning.”
~ Viktor Frankl
My Story
For much of my life, I was the strong one. Capable, responsible, always striving to succeed. I learned early to adapt and hold things together through change and loss. From the outside, I appeared steady; building a career, leading teams, raising a family. Inside, there was a quiet sense of being out of place and deeply lonely.
Without realizing it, I carried two beliefs: If I stay strong and independent, everything will be okay. And needing others is a sign of weakness.Strength became my protection. Independence became my safety.
But strength can become a barrier. Protection can turn into distance.
As my relationships deepened and my children grew, I began to see how these early strategies were still shaping me. The part of me that could manage everything struggled to soften. I longed not just for harmony, but for real emotional connection. To feel truly known.
Through personal work and training in attachment-based and trauma-informed therapy, I came to understand how early experiences shape the way we attach, protect, and love. We can build successful lives while still carrying unprocessed grief or unmet needs beneath the surface.
My healing was gradual; learning that strength and vulnerability can coexist.
Today, I help clients gently untangle patterns that no longer serve them and move toward deeper connection – in their relationships and within themselves.
Because healing begins when strength no longer means doing it alone.
My Why
Because real change is possible. Not just surviving the week, or managing the symptoms, but genuinely feeling more like yourself. More connected, more at ease, more whole.
I've seen it happen. I know what it takes to get there.
I believe that most of the patterns that cause us pain were once strategies that kept us safe. The part that stays guarded, the one that overthinks, the one that gives endlessly to others while quietly running on empty. These aren't character flaws. They're brilliant adaptations to difficult experiences. And they deserve compassion, not correction.
Healing, in my view, isn't about becoming someone new. It's about returning to yourself. The version of you that existed before the world taught you to brace, shrink, or disconnect.
That's why I work in a way that's relational first. I believe the therapeutic relationship itself is where change begins. When we feel truly safe with another person, something in us relaxes. Old patterns become visible. New possibilities open up.
I draw on Emotionally Focused Therapy, attachment-based approaches, and somatic and inner child work to help clients not just understand their patterns intellectually, but actually feel something shift; in their bodies, in their relationships, in the quiet moments between sessions.
My Philosophy
My Career
I came to therapy through a long path; one that I believe prepared me for this work in ways a more direct route might not have.
I spent over two decades in education, first as a teacher and eventually as an assistant principal. What I was really doing in those roles, I now understand, was providing relational support: holding space for struggling adolescents, navigating family dynamics, leading teams through conflict and crisis. Long before I had clinical training, I was doing the work of a counsellor.
That calling eventually led me to formalize it. I completed my Master of Social Work at Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University and am registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW).
I hold a certification in Emotionally Focused Therapy through the Toronto Centre for EFT, and have training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Attachment-Based Therapy, Inner Child Work, and Somatic Approaches to Trauma.
My clinical experience spans individual and couples therapy in both in-person and virtual settings, with a focus on adults navigating trauma, anxiety, depression, ADHD, relationship difficulties, and major life transitions. I am fluent in English, Spanish, and Hebrew, which allows me to work with clients from a range of cultural backgrounds.
My Areas of Focus
Attachment & Developmental Trauma
Grief & Loss
Relationship Struggles
Major Life Transitions
Maternal Mental Health
Contact Ruti at ruti@innersummits.ca, or book a complimentary phone consultation
