— Welcome to Know Me Well

About me

Hi, I'm Anthea. I use experiential therapy to help you find renewed understanding of self, inner strengths, and a new way forward.

Anthea Lai psychotherapy portrait

Ethos and Experience

I am an empathetic, encouraging and curious therapist who believes that we carry great potential and strengths within us.

This ethos took shape in my 20+ years of career in business corporate industry settings, from being a supportive peer, to a manager and director in Marketing, Operations, and Strategy capacities, leading and coaching people to be a better version of themselves and reach their potential.

My business streak continues on but I discovered a buried passion to support people in a deeper, emotional way through mental health. I had my share of workplace toxicity, acute loss of relationships, feeling self doubt and experiencing trauma. These experiences have shaped and informed me in how to relate with others in a sensitive, compassionate way, especially those that may be going through similar situations. This led me into a journey of psychotherapy.

My clinical practica include Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (Barrie, ON), St. Michaels Homes - Rehabilitation Centre (Toronto, ON) and Scarborough Health Network (Scarborough, ON). With over 500+ hours of clinical work supporting individuals through major medical crisis, existential crisis, chronic addictions, housing problems, relationship brokenness & trauma, loss of self, and mental health disorders, I have gained experience in acknowledging and handling complexity in the life challenges we face. My focus lies in helping people find transformation in relationships and a deeper "knowing" of themselves so that they can make the choices that resonate with their core self.

I work collaboratively with individuals, integrating with ease of evidence-based therapeutic modalities: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy CBT, Narrative Solutions Focused Therapy, Internal Family Systems IFS, Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy AEDP (based on neuroscience, somatic links for trauma-informed attachment based therapy), Emotionally-Focused Therapy EFT, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy DBT.

I graduated with the following degrees:

University of Toronto, Knox College - Masters (MPS) with Certificate in Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy
Western University, Richard Ivey School of Business - Honors Business Administration (HBA)

Beliefs and Identity

I see myself as a strength-finding detective who is here to work with you in deepening your understanding of yourself, surfacing your inner strength, qualities, resilience and hope.

I am a Canadian-born Asian with a personal experience navigating many intersections of cultural norms that were passed down to me by my family against values of our diverse Canadian culture; thus allowing me to support immigrant families and individuals processing such a transition.

I believe that our spirituality (values, meaning of life, faith, family norms) inform and shape our thoughts & perspective of the world, self and others. I offer spiritually-integrated psychotherapy and embraces working with people of various race, gender, religion and orientation. I value spiritual care, which is the process of finding hope within our faith, religions and/or value systems while navigating crisis and different life transitions.

I am a daughter, sister, grand-daughter, aunt, friend, wife and mother. I value the importance of relationships and have a heart for the parent and child relationship. I believe secure attachments are formative to our identities.

Supporting You

in your discovery of life and breaking free from hurt and trauma.

My designations

I am a licensed Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) practitioner under the College of Registered Psychotherapist of Ontario.

A member of the Ontario Society of Registered Psychotherapists.

A member of Canadian Association of Spiritual Care.

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Book your free discovery session!

My focus is to journey with you in knowing yourself well and to be known by others in a way you did not appreciate before.