ABOUT

GET TO KNOW ME &
THE STORY OF
GROUNDING COURAGE COUNSELLING & PSYCHOTHERAPY®

Hello & welcome!

My name is Laura Peters-McNeil, MSW, RSW. I am a registered social worker with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW) and a psychotherapist. You could also refer to me as a therapist, mental health counsellor, or guide. I hold aMasters Degree in Social Work which I completed in 2014, and an Honours BA specializing inPsychology.I am the founder and sole practitioner at Grounding Courage Counselling & Psychotherapy®. Welcome!

Through both personal and professional life experience, my deep-seated passion for helping others formed. More specifically, I help people work through theirtrauma, grief, loss, moral injury/sense of disenfranchisement, and symptoms of PTSD. Additionally, I find great meaning in helping people navigateanxiety/stress/worryas well asdepression/feeling down/low motivation.

I hold a great deal of respect and admiration for people whoharness and ground their courage to seek out therapy and I understand thattrust and fit between you and your therapist is paramount.

I have been in the mental health fieldfor over a decade, and bring asense of calm, working as a guide to help you cope, learn new skills, and process your experiences/thoughts/emotions.

I believe in placing your struggles inyour environment and life context. I strive to work from an empowering perspective to help awaken your inner voice that many of us learned to ignore, sometimes quite early along the way.

Iaccompany you on your journey of harnessing andgrounding your courage so you can learn to (further) trust yourself and the therapy process. This helpsbuild confidenceto eventuallylean into your painand grow from there in a more meaningful, aware, and skilled way. I ultimately help you grow toward living a life morealigned with what you value.

I lean into this journey by combining warmth, respect, and authenticity – focusing greatly on building trust and rapport. When appropriate, Imight pepper in some humour and skillful directness (& always warmth!) to help you move along your therapy journey.

I act as aguiding light in the darkness, with the goal of passing you the lantern to carry on your journey ahead.

I have witnessedincredibly rewarding outcomes from therapy, particularly through trauma work. Over the course of my career in mental health, I have worked with children through older adults, people frommany walks of life, and in various frontline capacities and community settings. For example, I have experience in non-profit organizations, hospital settings, and the justice system.

Most recently, I worked at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre in the Operational Stress Injury (OSI) Clinic. In this role, I had theprivilege of helping Veterans and RCMP members work through complex trauma and operational stress injuries such as PTSD, depression, and moral injury/institutional betrayal.

I believe in theimportance of self-reflectionas an individual and therapist. I am never done learning, whether it be in my career, life, or creative pursuits!

You can visit the Therapy Offerings page to learn more specifics about the therapy I offer (such as areas of practice and theoretical approach).

After years in the community and then working in a hospital setting, I eventually left the hospital industry and started my own practice. Grounding Courage Counselling & Psychotherapy® came to light in 2023.

The name was inspired from two seeds:

1) witnessing, on many occasions, the power of learning to ground (calm one’s nervous system) and center one’s courage to be able to lean in toward “the tough stuff”

2) my love for and personal connection to the grounding and calming effects of nature

Grounding Courage Counselling & Psychotherapy offers virtual therapy for adults (18+) in Ontario that is rooted in:

compassion

authenticity

respect

& integrity

While forming a foundation of trust through:

warmth & attentiveness

curiosity

integrative care

trauma & evidence informed care

Emotional work is real work – and it has the power to create real and meaningful change in your life.

“We think we listen, but very rarely do we listen with real understanding, true empathy. Yet listening, of this very special kind, is one of the most potent forces for change that I know.”

Carl Rogers

_{Please note: Laura Peters-McNeil Social Work Professional Corporation operates as Grounding Courage Counselling & Psychotherapy}®