Danielle Kirkland

How I Can Support You  

In therapy, I support people with anxiety, depression, big life changes, and grief and loss. I have a specialization in maternal mental health through the perinatal period.  I provide care for new parents navigating the often overwhelming and exhausting transition to parenthood.  Along with my work in private practice, I also support people in the public sector in a hospital setting. I walk alongside families going through high-risk pregnancy and infant loss, and those facing difficult life changes after a medical diagnosis. Grief is where I feel most at home as a therapist, including families struggling with miscarriage, infant loss, the experience of IVF, unexplained and secondary infertility, and pregnancy after loss. There’s no shortage of pain in grief, but I also see so much strength, hope and love. At its heart, grief shows you how deeply you have loved. I am honoured to help during that tender grieving time. If you need support to make sense of your loss and discover what healing and meaning might look like for you, I’m here to provide that care. 

My Approach To Counselling  

If you’re reading this and still aren’t sure therapy is for you, that’s completely okay. Lots of people feel that way at first. So let me tell you a little about what it’s actually like to sit with me. The goal of therapy isn’t to make everything hard disappear. Instead, I’ll help you build a gentler relationship with what hurts, so it has less of a hold on you and you have more room to live the life you want.  

Here are the approaches I may use to support you:  

• Compassion-Focused Therapy helps you quiet that harsh inner critic, so you can treat yourself with the same kindness you’d offer a good friend. 
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) gives you room for difficult thoughts and feelings, so that instead of fighting them, you can put your energy toward what matters most to you. 
• Mindfulness is about gently noticing what’s happening right now, in your body and your mind, without judging it. It can help you feel steadier and more grounded when emotions run high. 
• Narrative therapy looks at the stories you tell yourself about your life. Together, we can explore your story, notice the parts that may have been overlooked, and find new ways to understand what you’ve been through. 

All of these methods allow you to explore important questions. Specifically, what matters most to you? What kind of life do you want to build? How can you find more connection and joy, even after something painful? These are the questions that both you and I will become curious about during our time together. I’ve also practised Buddhist meditation for over a decade. We don’t have to share any spiritual beliefs to work with me but what it means for you is that I bring a calm, present and compassionate attention to our time together. 

How I became a Mental Health Professional  

My road to becoming a therapist was one with many steps. I studied psychology, then spent years working in finance and later in the arts while raising my children. Through all of it, I had a quiet knowing that I wanted work centred on helping and connecting with people. That all came together when I began volunteering as a counsellor at a crisis center, specifically supporting people who had lost loved ones to suicide. I saw how healing it could be to have your grief truly witnessed, and how people could find meaning again even after the most painful losses. That experience led me to a Grief Counselling certificate at George Brown College, and then a Master’s degree at Emmanuel College. 

Support Through Pregnancy, Birth, and Beyond

Working with parents through the perinatal period is something I feel deeply passionate about as a therapist. There is something truly beautiful about this time in life—the emergence of new life, the unfolding of love, and the ways we grow and change, both personally and spiritually. Simultaneously, the journey into parenthood is an incredibly vulnerable one, navigating shifts in identity, relationships, bodies, and sense of who we are.  

The pregnancy and the early years of raising children can often feel disorienting and overwhelming, delivering big emotions including things like grief, anger, and guilt, especially when life looks nothing like what we expected. Experiences like infertility, IVF, miscarriage, and pregnancy loss can leave parents isolated and depleted. I offer a compassionate space where you can feel heard, understood, and supported through whatever your parenthood journey looks like. 

I help parents reconnect with themselves, make space for their own needs, and find a balance that feels right for them. I offer a space where parents feel seen and understood, and where they can find a little more ease, connection, and confidence as they navigate this beautiful, messy, and transformative season of life. 

I’ve Sat on the “Counselling Couch” too  

As most of us have, I’ve also moved through seasons of struggle in my life, and I’ve sought therapy for myself. Most recently, I saw a counsellor while going through treatment for cancer (I’m fully in remission now). Having someone listen to me and support that journey was such a gift. It helped me face many fears and challenges in a way that brought me hope and confidence for the future. I know what it’s like to be the one asking for help and I think that makes me have a lot more compassion and understanding for those who seek support from me. 

When You’re Ready For Therapy, I’m Here  

I believe good therapy always starts with a comfortable conversation where we can share safely and not feel alone in our pain.  It’s a place where all parts of our humanness are welcome, including laughter.  Sometimes, a little humour is exactly what helps us see things more clearly. If you’re going back and forth about whether to start, here’s the one thing I’ll tell you: we aren’t meant to go through life alone, especially in our hardest moments. Therapy is a gift you can give yourself, one that helps you cope with whatever life brings. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll be here to meet and welcome you.