Dr. Katherine Welch, Psychologist
Dr. Katherine Welch is a registered clinical psychologist and associate at Toronto Psychology Centre. She provides Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), and Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) for Depressive, Anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD), and Traumatic Stress Disorders, as well as other areas of concern.
Dr. Welch has a particular interest in the assessment and treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and has received intensive training in a specialized protocol for OCD called Exposure and Ritual Prevention (Ex/RP) from Dr. Edna Foa and other training faculty of the Centre for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety.
Dr. Welch also has had extensive experience with assessment and treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Specifically, at Homewood Health Centre, she worked at the intensive outpatient day program providing assessment as well as group and individual psychotherapy to first responders diagnosed with PTSD. In this role, she provided trauma-informed care as well as cognitive processing therapy (CPT), and virtual reality exposure therapy for PTSD.
Currently, Dr. Welch works with the student population at the University of Toronto’s Health and Wellness Centre. She provides assessment, individual and group therapy as well as facilitates workshops on emotional eating and sleep. She also supervises graduate students who are completing their clinical psychology residency and practitioners who are completing their supervised practice.
Dr. Welch is engaged, thoughtful, and sensitive in her work with clients. In a collaborative manner, she helps clients to identify and change problematic thoughts, behaviours, emotions, and interpersonal patterns while facilitating their ability to relate to and make use of their own experience in a healthy way.
Dr. Welch prioritizes a strong therapeutic relationship, which she fosters through active empathy, warmth, and unconditional positive regard. Her approach is grounded in attachment theory and draws on her training in several evidence-based therapies, which allows her to flexibly integrate interventions in response to clients’ needs and goals.
Dr. Welch completed her PhD at University of Windsor, where she also earned her master’s degree. She completed her predoctoral residency with Wayne State University’s School of Medicine (Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences). Dr. Welch completed rotations at the University Psychiatric Centre, the Detroit Medical Centre (Life Stress Centre), and the Internal Medicine Clinic. In this capacity, Dr. Welch worked closely and collaboratively with physicians and other health care providers. During her residency she provided psychological assessment and treatment for outpatients and inpatients, crisis and follow-up services to ER patients who suffered trauma as a result of being a victim of crime, and consultation services for physicians and other medical health providers (e.g., mental health screenings, consultation on behavioural health conditions, collaborative development and monitoring of treatment plans, and initiating patient engagement in medical treatments).
Prior to her residency, Dr. Welch received clinical training in CBT, EFT, and psychodynamic therapies at the Psychological Services and Research Centre at University of Windsor and the University of Windsor Student Counselling Centre, and IPT during her supervised practice period. She also trained at Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital (providing dialectical behaviour therapy to an inpatient and outpatient population), the Canadian Mental Health Association (individual and group treatment using mindfulness-based cognitive therapy), and the Bulimia Anorexia Nervosa Association (i.e., group treatment for clients with eating disorders). Dr. Welch has provided assessment and treatment in private practice for approximately five years prior to joining Toronto Psychology Centre.
Dr. Welch doctoral and master’s research focused on body image and body dissatisfaction in men. Her research on the intersection of health and psychology has spanned many years, with involvement in health-related research at New York University Medical Centre, Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the Compulsive and Impulsive Disorders Program, and Princess Margaret Hospital in Psychological Oncology and Palliative Care.
Dr. Welch has also taught courses in psychology, regularly engages in professional development and is a member of the Ontario Psychological Association (OPA).
Online therapy available