About Flavia
Flavia provides a safe, confidential, non-judgmental place where you can discuss experiences and share your thoughts, feelings and reactions.
Meet Flavia Ceschin
I am a registered psychotherapist. I received my PhD in Clinical Psychology from Concordia University in Montreal. My clinical training and work focused on individual and family therapy with children, adolescents and their families coping with life issues such as mental health disorders, abuse, and developmental disorders. I did this while The Lethbridge Rehabilitation Center, The Applied Psychology Center of Concordia University, and The C.M. Hincks Treatment Centre. I conducted research in the area of children’s play behavior, exploring individual differences in young children’s make-believe play and its relationships to motivational, cognitive, and family factors. I also have specialized training in Grief and Bereavement as well as Complicated Grief and its treatment and trauma.
Since 2008, I have worked in the area of death, dying and bereavement. From 2008-2012, I was Program Director of The Lighthouse Program for Grieving Children, a youth’s grief support agency in Oakville. While at The Lighthouse, I helped hundreds of grieving children, teens and adults through peer-group grief support, family consultations and grief education.
Since 2012, I continue to offer support and counseling to individuals faced with life’s challenges through private practice in Oakville. I am a therapist who specializes in grief support and counseling for individuals, and their families, complicated grief and traumatic bereavement. I companion grieving clients by providing a safe, confidential, non-judgmental place where they can freely discuss their experiences and share their thoughts, feelings and reactions. I also work with individuals who are faced with other life challenges such as depression, anxiety, and trauma.
The insights I may share in my specialty field of grief come from not only professional studies and experiences but from personal life experiences. My first experiences with grief began at 9 years of age when my father had a near-fatal work accident and a young cousin died of a car accident. As a young adult, my family’s struggles while coping with my father’s death have given me insight into the transformational impact of loss on families and individuals’ lives.
I provide grief education, training and consultations for individuals and professionals in the community. These consultations and presentations focus on resilience and growth after loss, helping adults understand how children and teens grieve; how adults can help young people cope with loss and change due to a family member’s serious illness or death; and the unique qualities of suicide loss.
Community work is an important and rewarding part of my life. I have been an active volunteer for Acclaim Health in their Hospice and Bereavement Programs since 2012, providing one-on-one hospice support and facilitating Spousal Loss Support Groups. I am also a member of Bereaved Families of Ontario-Halton/Peel’s Professional Advisory Council since 2012.
In 2014, I founded Heartache2Hope with the help of a talented and skilled team of individuals. Heartache2Hope is a non-profit organization that provides grief support after suicide loss for adults in Halton and surrounding regions. Losing a spouse, a child, a sibling, a friend to suicide is devastating, and traumatizing. Heartache2Hope helps people cope with the aftermath of this unique loss. Heartache2Hope’s vision is that no one touched by suicide stands alone. Its goals are to break the isolation felt by individuals bereaved by suicide and to assist with healing through nurturing, supportive care and education. If you would like to find out more about Heartache2Hope, please visit www.Heartache2Hope.com.
Awards
Community Spirits Award 2015 Recipient
Flavia Ceschin has been a dedicated Acclaim Health Hospice Visiting volunteer since 2012. She visits clients who are faced with life threatening illnesses and provides companionship, emotional support and much needed time for primary caregivers. Beyond this direct support, she has worked to build Oakville’s capacity to support the mental wellbeing of the bereaved through her work on the Advisory Committee for the Acclaim Health Hospice.
My Continued Training
Bereavement Education Certificate Program (Factor Inwentash School of Social Work at U.of T.), 2015, where I formalized my knowledge about Grief and Bereavement.
Complicated Grief Treatment Principles and Procedures (The Center for Complicated Grief at Columbia University School of Social Work), 2015, where I learned that, sometimes, you reach the point in your grief journey where you feel stuck and that you have to take action, with helpful guidance, to move forward.
Narrative Therapy Training Certificate Program (WINDZ), 2015, where I learned the importance of making the most of every single session through therapeutic conversation.
Stop Panic and Anxiety in 5 Sessions (WINDZ), 2016, where I solidified the idea of integrating mind-body approaches with CBT approaches.
Transforming Trauma: Integrating Mind-Body-Energy Approaches (WINDZ), 2017, where I gained confidence in working with trauma through an integrative mind-body framework.
As important as training and experience is, your therapist/counselor should be someone you are comfortable with and whom you trust. If you would like to meet for an initial consultation, please contact Flavia.