What is Empathy?
em·path·ic /em'paTHik/
showing an ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
Empathic Counselling Centre strives to provide you with exactly that, empathy in counselling. Our team values and uses empathy as a driving force to connect with you emotionally, normalize your experiences, and provide a safe space for you to not only tap into your emotions, but use them as as driving force for change. We believe in the idea that effective change can best occur when we are honest with ourselves and are able to compassionately open up for self-reflection.
I absolutely love elephants, traveling, working out, and a good cup of coffee. I have recently become a girl-mom and loving every second of it!
“A lot of the challenges that my clients have faced, I have faced, so that level of understanding and empathy is there”
Meet Our Founder
Juliann Rasanayagam
Empathic · Authentic · Dreamer
Hello! My name is Juliann Rasanayagam and welcome! Thank you for your interest in working with Empathic Counselling Centre. From a young age, I have always had an interest in the helping profession. Through my early experiences in working in hospitals, retirement homes, and local crisis hotlines, it was obvious to me that my heart and passion belongs to helping those in need.
Empathy has always been the foundation of my approach, allowing me to connect meaningfully with others. Central to our mission, I strive to create a warm, non-judgmental space where you can explore your needs, fears, regrets, guilt, and grief. In addition, my experiences in working with clientele who have been involved with the law piqued my interest in understanding complex emotions, especially anger. As a result, I have developed a unique understanding of anger from various viewpoints, allowing me to create treatment plans that are holistic in nature and can be applicable to all anger styles.
Born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario, I've always seen a need for mental health services in my community. In an effort to bridge this gap and to give back to the community that gave me the foundation to become who I am, I decided to open Empathic Counselling Centre right at home.
At my core, I am a dreamer. Being of South Asian background, it was important for me to especially connect to the large South Asian population in Scarborough. Through hard work, relentless drive, building trusting relationships with others, what began as a solo practice has gradually expanded into a collaborative team, all committed to the same values of compassion and empathy. Each therapist on our team has been carefully selected to ensure they provide a similar non-judgmental environment. I am proud that Empathic Counselling Centre is primarily and uniquely a South Asian focused practice where we offer therapy in multiple languages to provide mental health services to all - the first of its kind in Scarborough.
Meet Juliann Rasanayagam, a Registered Psychotherapist in Scarborough, Founder of Empathic Counselling
It’s Been a Wild Ride
Since our founding in 2017, Empathic Counselling Centre has hit the ground running! We've been quite busy! Here's a peek at what we've been up to!
Interview with CBC's Ontario Morning to discuss the prevalance of road rage
Providing professional education in Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace
Liasoning with community agencies to promote mental health practices in young women and men
Working with a population of men who have been involved with the law
Accepting clients through company Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
Publishing our workbook, DIY Anger Kit: Create your own Anger Management Toolkit
Actively updating our blog with 100+ postings and a growing Reader's List
Volunteering with the Canadian Centre for Men and Families and providing pro-bono counselling sessions to members facing various challenges.
Getting involved in community-based research projects that inform mental health promotion programs within the community.
Establishing the What If Scholarship- A $3000 scholarship awarded to women who are in the pursuit of “non-traditional” careers. To date, we have awarded close to $10 000 to our recipients
Why our Clients continue to Choose us
We strive on developing a deep, trusting relationship with our clients. Therapy is such a personal journey, why not take it with someone you trust?
We work with you to overcome a variety of challenges including anxiety, depression, relationships, family conflict, difficulty in communication, self-esteem issues, trauma and emotion regulation.
We are a safe space! Our core value is that we provide an empathic, non-judgmental space to explore your thoughts and feelings.
Flexibility! Our clinic is open seven days a week with options for in-person and virtual sessions, making therapy more accessible than ever.
Our therapists are skilled professionals who love their jobs! They are amazing at building trusting relationships, teaching valuable skills, showing kindness and gentleness, and are super friendly.
We encourage our clients to leave therapy with emotional and mental well-being, personal growth, development of skills to overcome future challenges, and the feeling of support - knowing that they can always come back.
We speak your language! We have therapists who speak many languages including Tamil, Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Dari and Farsi.
