Alysha Boles, MSW, RSW, Social Worker
Alysha Boles is a senior clinician with a Master of Social Work degree from Wilfred Laurier University. She offers therapy for couples and has been providing therapy to older adolescents (16+) and adults since 2005 for a range of concerns such as anxiety (e.g., generalized anxiety, panic, social anxiety), depression, substance use, childhood trauma and family of origin issues, self-esteem/self-criticism, life transitions, stress in relationships (e.g., family, partner, work), perfectionism, loss and grief. Couples’ issues addressed include negative communication patterns, betrayals and emotional injuries, and rebuilding of trust, intimacy, empathy, and connection.
Alysha’s therapeutic approach is strength-focused and integrates evidence-based treatments, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Schema Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), mindfulness interventions, and Motivational Interviewing (MI). When working with couples, she uses a primarily Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT-C) approach; however, Schema Therapy and IFS also inform her understanding and intervention when working with individuals within a dyad.
Alysha is attachment- and trauma-informed and seeks to explore each person’s unique perspective and relational history, identify their unmet needs and work together to bring awareness to the patterns that maintain negative cycles.
Alysha considers it a privilege to be invited into your life to support you, and she works to ensure that you feel comfortable and at ease in sessions. Her presence is warm, empathic, and open, and she takes a gentle and genuine approach towards therapy. She will collaborate with you to ensure that she is meeting your needs. Alysha is patient and active in therapy, guiding you to explore and therapeutically challenge aspects of self that may be contributing to unproductive life patterns and maintaining painful feelings. Her goal is to help each person gain new awareness and self-compassion that aligns with the needs of their authentic self.
Alysha’s therapeutic approach is strength-focused and integrates evidence-based treatments, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Schema Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), mindfulness interventions, and Motivational Interviewing (MI). When working with couples, she uses a primarily Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT-C) approach; however, Schema Therapy and IFS also inform her understanding and intervention when working with individuals within the relationship. Alysha is attachment- and trauma-informed and seeks to explore each person’s unique perspective and relational history, identify their unmet needs and work together to bring awareness to the patterns that maintain negative cycles.
In her work with couples, Alysha views her role as that of a coach – guiding you as you connect to self and other, regain intimacy and develop healthier ways of relating to meet each other’s needs and those of the partnership as a whole. Alysha attends to how each partner perceives and engages in the relationship based on earlier attachment injuries and unmet emotional needs. Relationships can be hard and conflict is inevitable. Alysha views the couple’s process during difficult conversations as much more important than the content of their arguments and she works on helping them reduce reactivity and shift their unconscious patterns so they can see each other clearly once again and respond from a place of greater openness. As they restore their relational connection with one another, they heal themselves in the process.
Alysha believes that effective couples therapy simultaneously addresses unconscious individual and relationship dynamics, fostering individual responsibility, renewed empathy, shared intimacy, and deeper emotional connection. In this way, she helps you change damaging cycles into positive feedback loops that help transform your partnership and yourself in the process. She sees herself as working alongside couples to help empower, motivate, and change towards a more satisfying, compassionate, loving and connected relationship.
Alysha’s passion for inner growth has culminated in a career filled with enriching experiences. She has worked in diverse mental health settings providing individual and group therapy as well as program development. She worked for several years at McMaster University as a therapist and instructor teaching emotional awareness/self-reflective functioning skills to students in the health sciences program. Prior to this, Alysha was part of an innovative interdisciplinary program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Her work at CAMH involved individual and group psychotherapy, where she addressed a wide range of issues such as substance use, chronic pain, depression, anxiety, self-esteem, loss, difficult transitions, relationship stress, and chronic disability. She was also involved in the start up of the Ontario Pharmacy Support Program as an advisor and member of the directorate. The program was designed to assist the Ontario College of Pharmacists in identifying, monitoring, and providing critical mental health treatment to its members. Alysha was formally recognized for her work at CAMH with a Social Work Leadership Award.
Earlier in her career she received training at the Wellington District Catholic School Board and Family and Children’s Services in Guelph, working with adolescents in individual and group formats for a range of concerns. Alysha was a team leader in student support at the University of Guelph and also led group therapy at a community agency for young women navigating motherhood.
Alysha is a member in good standing with the Ontario College of Registered Social Workers and Social Service Workers.
Online therapy available