Tya Pierce is currently a Mental Health Therapist, awaiting registration as a Provisional Psychologist with the College of Alberta Psychologists. Prior to returning to school to complete her Master of Counselling degree at City University of Seattle, she worked as a nurse for over 10 years in both antepartum and postpartum units. This work provided her with a comprehensive understanding of the complex interplay between medical and psychosocial factors affecting individuals and families throughout the perinatal period.

Tya’s lived experience has further informed her clinical focus and therapeutic perspective. As a mother of four, she has personally navigated both birth-related trauma and profound loss. At 34 weeks pregnant, doctors discovered that her baby had a brain tumour. A month later, despite the amazing care from a large team of specialized physicians, Tya and her family experienced the heart-wrenching grief that follows the loss of a child. This life-changing event was what precipitated her to step out of her career as a nurse and pursue a career as a psychologist. She considers it a profound privilege to support individuals who have experienced hardship and to walk alongside those navigating pain, adversity, and loss.

Both her professional and lived experiences have cultivated within her a deep sense of empathy and a meaningful commitment to supporting individuals, couples, and families as they process trauma, grief, and the multifaceted challenges associated with the perinatal period. Tya is passionate about women’s health, and she holds a deep appreciation for the vulnerability and strength inherent in this stage of life.

Tya’s therapeutic approach is grounded in an empathetic, trauma-informed, and client-centered framework. Tya is also an Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) certified clinician and has Levels 1 and 2 of the Gottman Method Couples Therapy. With specialized training in Solution Focused Therapy, Cognitive Therapy, Internal Family Systems, and Emotionally Focused Therapy, she helps clients find empowerment as they explore and foster healing by identifying and building upon individual and familial strengths.

Incorporating mindfulness-based strategies and principles derived from Polyvagal Theory, Tya supports clients in developing skills to remain within their window of tolerance, thereby enhancing emotional regulation and reducing reactivity. She provides a consistent, attuned, and supportive therapeutic presence, fostering an environment in which clients may engage in meaningful processing and movement toward healing and wholeness. She offers support to individuals and couples on Wednesday evenings and Thursdays during the day.

Wherever you are in your journey, Tya is here to offer you the care and compassion you need.

Tya Pierce is currently a Mental Health Therapist, awaiting registration as a Provisional Psychol... Read More

Dr. Teela Tomassetti (PsyD) is a Certified Canadian Counsellor through the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association and can support people across Canada.

Teela received her Doctorate (Psy.D) and completed her doctoral research at California Southern University. Her research consisted of a qualitative study utilizing semi-structured interviews with therapists’ experiences supporting birth trauma, the fawn trauma response and mistreatment by providers. It is currently in the process of publication.

Teela has been a therapist since 2005, supporting those with sexual assault, domestic violence, tragic losses and addiction concerns before becoming a registered provisional psychologist in 2021. For the last five years, Teela has specialized in birth trauma and identifies as a birth trauma survivor by way of an excessive postpartum hemorrhage that threatened her life, with another one to follow at six weeks postpartum due to a retained placenta. She knows on a personal level what it is like to navigate trauma while also beginning your journey as a parent.

Teela shares that she helps people untangle what they’ve been carrying, restore safety in their nervous systems, and reclaim their lives and identity after experiences that unexpectedly changed them. She works from a feminist perspective and a trauma-informed lens, walking alongside her clients, and her approach aims to empower them while providing a warm, safe, and compassionate space.

Teela’s approach blends Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Compassion-Focused Therapy and Narrative Therapy to help you process what happened, rebuild safety, and move forward without leaving parts of yourself behind. Teela is additionally trained in Advanced EMDR, Somatic EMDR and Fertility EMDR. Teela has also acquired her Perinatal Mental Health training through Postpartum Support International and the Postpartum Stress Centre. She has also sought out additional training and expertise on fertility struggles, endometriosis, PCOS, pregnancy and infant loss.

Teela is a social justice advocate and international conference speaker, and has offered in-person and online workshops to providers on incorporating trauma-informed care into their roles and systems. She is also a published author of chapters on birth trauma from “The Pain Mothers Must Never Expose” and “Gone Feral: The Undoing of Normative Feminity.”

Teela is also a Trauma-Informed Care Consultant, leading the way internationally in how we deliver trauma-informed care and in challenging what it has become and the direction it needs to go. She offers training, workshops, and presentations on this around the globe, and you can read testimonials from medical professionals who have attended them about how she uses a practical framework with innovative concepts and connections to drive home how we can change systems and improve care.

Teela offers support to those struggling with fertility, IUD trauma, pregnancy and infant loss, paternal mental health, endometriosis, PCOS, and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. She also feels passionately about “helping the helper” and loves supporting nurses and doulas in managing the stress and demands for their lives. She offers individual therapy in person and online support for all of Alberta as well as professional consultation across the world.

You can follow her @theteaonbirthtrauma, where she has worked hard to build a safe community for over 45,000 birth trauma survivors.

Dr. Teela Tomassetti (PsyD) is a Certified Canadian Counsellor through the Canadian Counselling a... Read More