Hi, my name is Shaden Sowan, and I’m a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying).
I specialize in working with people who feel stuck, caught between who they’ve had to be and who they actually are. Many of my clients come from histories marked by migration, emotional restraint, or traumatic experiences that left them changed.
I understand how it feels to live disconnected from yourself, or to inhabit a body in pain. These experiences are part of why I believe therapy matters: because clarity can replace confusion, and new parts of us can emerge when given a safe space.
Being Palestinian has strongly influenced how I experience the world. Having lived in Doha, Paris, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, I bring a sensitivity to how place, culture, and history shape us.
Before becoming a therapist, I spent eight years in the corporate world. Outside of sessions, you can usually find me in the mountains or my garden. I collect sticks, rocks, and seashells, watch lots of movies, and speak Arabic, French, and Italian.
CULTURALLY INFORMED ANTI-OPPRESSIVE THERAPY
CULTURALLY INFORMED ANTI-OPPRESSIVE THERAPY
licensure
Registered Psychotherapist, Qualifying (#19658) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO)
Credentials
degrees
Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology, Yorkville University, 2025
Bachelor of Arts, McGill University, 2017
Credentials
advanced training
Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Level 1 (September 2025)
Finding a Way Out of the Maze: Working with Defense and Anxiety in AEDP (clinical seminar)
Internal Family Systems Therapy Immersion (12 hours, PESI)
Trauma-Informed Motivational Interviewing (9 hours, PESI)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) (8 weeks, Psychwire)
In addition to formal training, my work continues to develop through ongoing clinical supervision. This means I meet with seasoned psychotherapists every week for case consultations and skill-building. The supervisors I work with are trained in various modalities, including AEDP, somatic experiencing, expressive arts therapies, psychoanalysis, and IFS. While some of these modalities are not ones I’m formally trained in, they inform how I think about and work with emotional experience. I also engage in my own therapy as part of my ongoing development.
My Values
INTEGRITY
I take this work seriously. I’m honest about what I know, clear about what I don’t, and I am committed to showing up with care, attention, and respect for the process.
CURIOUSITY
I don’t make assumptions. I ask, listen, and try to understand what matters and why, without judgment.
CONNECTION
I believe that healing happens in relationship with ourselves, others, the Earth, and time. I try to stay present to what’s unfolding, and let the work move at the pace it needs.
SERVICE
I view therapy as sacred work. I approach it with commitment, humility, and a sense of responsibility.
“I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also much more than that. So are we all.”
— James Baldwin