Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills therapy in Ottawa helps individuals who have identified, often painfully, that the way they relate to other people is getting in the way of the life they want. This might look like chronic conflict at work, friendships that keep fizzling out, a pattern of partners saying they feel unheard, or a quieter but persistent sense of disconnection even in rooms full of people. Interpersonal difficulties are rarely about a lack of effort — usually they are about patterns learned early that no one ever helped you update.

Our approach draws on Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), attachment-based work, and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy skills. Sessions focus on specific situations you are navigating — a tense conversation with a manager, a friendship that is quietly dying, a recurring argument at home — and use them as live practice material. You will learn how to recognise your own attachment responses under stress, how to advocate for yourself without steamrolling others, and how to stay emotionally present during difficult conversations rather than shutting down or escalating.

Many clients who come in for interpersonal skills therapy also have underlying anxiety, depression, ADHD, or trauma histories that shape how they show up with other people. We address those layers when they are relevant, but the focus stays practical: more satisfying friendships, healthier professional relationships, and partnerships where you feel like yourself. Book a free consultation to talk through what you have been noticing and whether this approach fits what you are looking for.