Dr. Eli Cwinn, PhD, C.Psych. Psychologist
Dr. Eli Cwinn is a registered clinical psychologist with a practice in the area of children, adolescents, and adults. He holds a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Western Ontario and currently is only providing clinical supervision for associates at Toronto Psychology Centre.
Dr. Cwinn’s main therapeutic orientations include Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) approaches, with an emphasis on third wave forms of CBT such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT). He has also trained in and uses Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFFT), and Positive Parenting.
Dr. Cwinn has worked in a variety of clinical settings such as private practices, community mental health agencies, schools, and a youth detention facility. His research and clinical interests have focused on self-criticism, shame, and the development of, and capacity for self-compassion to promote healing.
Dr. Eli Cwinn completed his PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Guelph and his residency program through the University of Toronto. He has extensive experience in assessing and treating a wide range of psychological difficulties such as Anxiety and Depressive Disorders, trauma, Substance Use Disorders, and complex mental health challenges. Dr. Cwinn also treats other types of clinical issues such as perfectionism and self-criticism, body dissatisfaction, low life satisfaction and existential angst, work stress, relationship difficulties, parenting stress and burnout, parenting adult children who have mental health challenges, procrastination and other organization/productivity concerns, and difficulties related to loss and grief.
Dr. Cwinn’s main therapeutic orientations include Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) approaches, with an emphasis on third wave forms of CBT such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT). Dr. Cwinn also incorporates Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) strategies to help gain clarity and transform distressing emotions (e.g., sadness, anger, shame, fear) that can keep people feeling stuck in negative patterns; whether in relation to themselves or in their relationship with others. Similarly, Compassion Focused Therapy promotes healing, particularly with self-criticism and feelings of shame, by identifying ways to increase compassion toward oneself and others. Dr. Cwinn researches and specializes in treating self-criticism, shame, and the many ways we try not to feel these painful experiences. Dr. Cwinn also has a special interest in working with clients who have had unsuccessful experiences in therapy before, particularly when they felt misunderstood.
Dr. Cwinn believes in empathy and compassion to help clients understand their problems and make changes to live a meaningful and fulfilling life. Dr. Cwinn is firmly grounded in a collaborative perspective. He highly respects your life experiences, values, and knowledge about yourself with the aim of integrating the way in which thoughts, emotions and behaviours contribute to your distress. Ultimately, Dr. Cwinn aims to individualize evidence- and research-based therapies to develop a treatment plan that facilitates change.
Dr. Cwinn has worked in a variety of clinical settings such as private practices, community mental health agencies, schools, and a secure detention facility. He continues to be involved in research on self-criticism and shame and in identifying innovative approaches to improve “treatment resistant” difficulties. Dr. Cwinn has provided professional development for other psychologists and clinical psychology residents and continues to supervise students in clinical psychology.
Dr. Cwinn belongs to the following professional organizations:
Canadian Psychological Association
Ontario Psychological Association
Association of Contextual Behavioral Sciences