We Believe...
I angsted long and hard about what to write here, worried about how to tell you what I believe in. How could I show you that we, The Happiness Factory team, really can help? Ultimately, I decided to say what we believe in and let you be the judge. The Happiness Factory team is united in believing you can be your authentic self. You can move beyond the person you currently are, to the person you yearn to be. We can help you be that person by providing you with a proven, effective framework for growth. You don’t have to feel like you’re not good enough, you don’t matter, that you are responsible for other people’s feelings, or that you’re stuck. You don’t have to fear being abandoned or letting people in. You can stop doing the dumb shit that you know is wrong for you. We can work through what makes you feel anxious or depressed in a way that you know isn’t logical. Together we can do what you couldn’t do alone.
You Can!
We believe you deserve access to therapy that actually works, that is not one size fits all, and that actively achieves the goals that drive you to seek therapy. We believe therapy should be predictable and not mysterious. We believe therapy should have a clear direction, it should make sense, and you should know you are making progress. We believe if you wanted to feel like you were chatting with a friend you would buy a friend (or a stranger) coffee and talk with them. We believe that therapeutic gains should be permanent, that therapy should make things better, not just duct taping the bleeding wound in hopes it heals. These are the shared beliefs about therapy that have guided the selection of each Happiness Factory team member.
The feelings, thoughts, and behaviours that do not benefit you come from somewhere. Emotions make sense, in their own emotion-based ways. If you’ve ever tried to use logic to overcome feelings you know how little dysfunctional ways of feeling care about logical thinking. That’s where we come in. If you’re tired of just surviving and think life should be something more, let us guide you. Our united purpose is to provide guidance and insight to those seeking to positively change their lives. We’d be honoured if you chose us to journey with you in this.
Meet Alyson
I grew up in a large and diverse family; less ‘blended’ and more ‘pureed’. There was always someone around doing something. As an introvert, I developed the hobby of extreme reading. In fact, I got my first broken bone while reading! Today, reading is not such a contact sport. If I’m not reading, I enjoy spending my time traveling or bouncing on the trampoline with my niblings. I am continually amazed at how powerful self-compassion is and I absolutely love to see people free themselves to truly be themselves. To be brutally honest, I don’t think I could be a psychologist if we aren’t actively and effectively working towards change. This is the guiding principle of what I do both as a psychologist and as a business owner.
Meet Brent
I grew up in a small tight-knit family. It’s through helping my family that I learned helping others is something I’m fulfilled by. My favourite questions is “how can I help?”. As a relatively shy kid growing up, I found that playing sports was an easy way to develop a connection with others (without having to do a lot of talking). From there I developed a love of sports, playing them and watching them. I am a big-time Oilers fan! When I am not involved in sports I enjoy spending time with my wife and hanging out with my family. Especially my nephews, whose batteries never seem to run out.