“Who am I? What matters to me? Where am I going?”
These are the questions Shihara loves sitting with alongside her clients. She is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) who creates a warm, curious, and non-judgemental space to explore your past, who you are now, and who you are becoming. She offers virtual sessions across Ontario in both English and Sinhala.
Shihara works with adults and youth (16+) navigating anxiety, depression, grief and loss, trauma, stress, and burnout. She is especially passionate about supporting people who are exploring questions of identity, meaning, purpose, and belonging, including those navigating 2SLGBTQIA+ identity, racial, cultural and ethnic identity, artistic and creative identity, intergenerational trauma, second-generation and bicultural experiences, intercultural or interracial relationships, and career and educational direction.
Shihara holds a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Western University and has training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), career counselling, trauma, and complex trauma. Her approach is integrative, drawing on narrative and existential therapy, person-centred and strengths-based approaches, and trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, and feminist perspectives.
Shihara is also an academic researcher, exploring how ACT, positive psychology, and existential therapy exercises grounded in mortality awareness can shape meaning-making, value clarity, identity, and anxiety about the future in emerging adults.
Shihara believes therapy should feel like a collaboration, not a checklist. She’s here to walk alongside you with compassion and curiosity, wherever you’re starting from.
Outside of therapy, Shihara enjoys making art, cooking new recipes, and tending to her 36 houseplants.
