Anna Silverman

MCP, Registered Clinical Counsellor #12780

Anna Silverman is currently accepting new clients.

In order to have our best possible experience in therapy, we must feel wholly accepted and seen. Anna (she/hers) fosters your comfort in opening up, to help you to claim your healing process.

Anna’s passion for therapy comes from learning about social justice. In 2007, Anna worked in community-based health services, supporting people with complex and terminal health statuses, Anna soon discovered that health and wellness are not isolated experiences, but are often socially determined.

Having chosen psychotherapy as her tool for change, Anna earned her Master’s of Counselling Psychology at Adler University in 2014. Her approach is politically-located, holistic, and- most importantly- determined by her clients’ goals and perspectives.

In addition to counselling at Peak Resilience, Anna has worked in non-profit and post-secondary settings as a support worker, group facilitator and has developed trauma-informed programs.

Anna is an approved mental health provider with the First Nations Health Authority, the Crime Victim Assistance Program, and the Residential Historical Abuse Program.

anna@annagranuzzosilverman.com

Areas of Practice

Trauma and Violence
Anxiety
Depression
Exploring Spirituality
Accountability
Relationship Concerns (Individual)
Grief and Loss
Life Transitions

Approaches Used

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Emotion-Focused Therapy for Individuals
Mindfulness
Existential Therapy
Healing-Centred Engagement
Liberation Psychology

What experience or background do you bring to your counselling and supervision practice that is uniquely yours?

The counselling and clinical supervision that I provide is informed by my own experiences of harm and resistance. In reflecting about this, I recall that in 2010 I began volunteering with a fantastic local victim services agency. I had briefly been a client of the agency before, when a partner of mine became dangerous and I needed help safety-planning. Volunteering there, I began a journey of dignity and empowerment that continues to dazzle me. The other major shift that started at that time was learning about the diversity and resilience of other people and communities. Now thinking about it, this volunteer work was possibly the single biggest turning point in my professional and personal journey. I want that for the therapy clients and supervisees whom I support; dignity in community.

What is your favourite thing about working closely with people every day?

Working closely with people is soul-work for me, aka my true path. I love my clients! They are all wonderful. Sitting with them I feel present, receptive, and appreciative. I’m not saying therapy is fun and games, but that I sincerely love people and appreciate my clients’ vulnerability.

What is a personal challenge that you have overcome in your own life?

I haven’t always loved myself well, and I spent years thinking that I wasn’t a good-enough person. I lost my mother at a young age, and without an understanding of the impacts of this grief, I ended up carrying sadness for years, which expressed itself as thoughts that I was permanently broken. As a young woman, I realised how gendered some of this was, and that I had been absorbing disempowering cultural messages about my worth as a woman. It’s incredible how life has helped me to heal these things. Both the part about being a woman and the part about grief were helped by meeting people that understood those parts of me, as well as taking the time to understand myself without judgment. Once I was ready, I did chunks of this healing work with counsellors and traditional knowledge-keepers.

What have you learned from your work?

Human beings need unconditional love and acceptance to function on just a basic level. If we have enough good support, we can make wonderfully creative decisions, take chances, and flourish.