The Team
Who We Are
Melissa Taylor, MSW
Clinical Director/Therapist
Melissa Taylor is a social worker, therapist and trainer with more than 15 years in the non-profit sector. Melissa’s purpose is to re-learn what connection is and how to reconnect to her ancestors. Her theoretical orientation is anti-racism and anti-oppressive practices and Black feminism. Her private practice focuses on BIPOC; trauma, generational trauma, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, mental health, gender and 2SLGTBQ+ .
Cognitive Processing Therapy
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Narrative Therapy
Mindfulness
EMDR Therapist
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Level 1
$150 / 50 minutes
ca
Certifications
Chantel Simms
Therapist in Training
I am a therapist in training and yoga instructor who helps individuals from a holistic perspective with a combined experience of 7 years using various theoretical models. My current focus incorporates an emphasis on mindfulness and being gentle with ourselves to promote healing.
The two tenets that guide my work are the ideas that everyone deserves care and respect and that my role is to help you, the expert on your own life, solve the problems and overcome the obstacles that are holding you back from achieving the best version of yourself.
Sliding Scale: $50-80
Tara Salehi Varela, MSW
Social Worker/Therapist
Tara Salehi Varela MSW, RSW is a critical social worker, educator, and liberation-oriented therapist. She has over 5 years of experience supporting individuals and families in community-based mental health settings. Her passion for a holistic, empowered approach to healing and a recognition of the ways systemic oppression impacts BIPOC mental health led her to conduct research in graduate school to develop a framework of therapy that pursues authentic connection, ancestral wisdom, and collective liberation. Tara works from an anti-oppressive and trauma-informed approach, offering both cognitive and embodied therapies to support healing from trauma and navigating life’s challenges.
$150/session
Ariel Dasrath
Therapist in Training
My name is Ariel Dasrath and I’m a practicum student working with Ancestral Memory for my supervision. I’m a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with CRPO, and a student member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. I have an educational background in neuroscience, and work history in equity fields and culturally responsive practices, particularly with marginalized and intersectionally marginalized populations. I’m a second-generation immigrant from the South Asian and Caribbean diaspora, and I find that my own lived experiences help me to openly and acceptingly approach understanding the experience of others.
Sliding scale: $50-80
