License

Number 4198

Education

Master’s of Arts from University of Alberta

Associations

Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association

Association of Counselling Therapy of Alberta

Canadian Association for Child and Play Therapy

The International Society of Accelerated Resolution Therapy

Dawn Israel-Compton, MA, CCC

Dawn has been practicing counselling in the Edmonton area since 2005 with a Master’s Degree from the University of Alberta. She is also a proud member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association and the Canadian Association for Child and Play Therapy.

The focus of her practice is working with children and youth, which started at the Stollery Children’s Hospital during her internship and later focused on high risk children and youth at Catholic Social Services. Since 2009, she has worked in Employee and Family Assistance counselling and has broadened her practice to include more adult individual work.

Dawn’s Philosophy

Research has shown that the most important factor in predicting success in therapy is the quality of the relationship between therapist and client. In fact, research has found this is more important than the therapeutic modality practiced. Dawn’s greatest strength as a counsellor has been to form a genuine connection between herself and her clients of any age. It is always her first goal to create a safe, comfortable, engaging, nurturing, and hopeful environment for clients.

“Happiness is an inside job.” Dawn strives to support clients to recognize that therapy is not about changing others, or engaging in an endless pursuit to adjust circumstances out of their control. Successful therapy allows one to accept their locus of control and use their energy to positively change themselves in order to live the life they desire.

Dawn derives joy working with children and youth. Within this work she supports children in learning new ways to express their thoughts, feelings, and dreams. She believes that children are deserving of respect and need to have a voice in their own lives. This belief is an important part of her work to help children learn new skills so that they can be understood by those who care for them. Working with children and their families / caregivers together to help them communicate more effectively with one another is an essential element in creating family harmony.

Traditional Talk Therapy is therapy designed to help individuals to gain a better understanding of themselves and the changes they may need to make in order to live the life they seek. There are three main approaches for talk therapy:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy focuses on helping clients to challenge cognitive distortions to change their emotional response and subsequent behaviour.

Solution – Focused Therapy is a goal directed and collaborative process in which the client is the expert in their own life. The therapist supports you in recognizing your own resources to move forward. This technique emphasizes present and future circumstances and desires over past experiences.

Humanistic Approach means the therapist will meet you where you are at in a non-judgmental way.

Play Therapy for Children is the use of art, games, story telling, role play, lego, Playdoh, music, DVD’s, puppets and more to support children in expressing their inner world. We use these mediums to support children in learning new skills to improve their lives.

Many behavioural issues for children are not willful misbehaviour. Children want to cooperate and have good relationships with the significant people in their lives. We work to “chase the why” and uncover what skill-deficits children have that are contributing to behavioural/social/ emotional regulation issues. We work together to replace what is not working with more adaptive responses.

“Punishments” are often ineffective for children as they benefit more from collaborative problem-solving, skills building and natural/logical consequences which can be taught to parents for implementation.

Accelerated Resolution Therapy is a form of psychotherapy with roots in existing evidence-based therapies but shown to achieve benefits much more rapidly (usually within 1-5 sessions). Clients with depression, anxiety, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and many other mental and physical conditions can experience remarkable benefits starting in the first session. ART is not hypnosis.

The client is always in control of the entire ART session, with the therapist guiding the process. Although some traumatic experiences can be very painful to think about or visualize, the therapy rapidly moves clients beyond the place where they are stuck in these experiences toward growth and positive changes. The process is very straightforward, using relaxing eye movements and a technique called Voluntary Memory/Image Replacement to change the way in which the negative images are stored in the brain. The treatment is grounded in well-established psychotherapy techniques, and the end result is that traumas and difficult life experiences will no longer trigger strong emotions or physical reactions. Importantly, clients do not even have talk about their traumas or difficult life experiences with the therapist to achieve recovery.

For more information about ART here is a link you can explore.

Skills building is an important part of our work with children, youth and adult clients. One of Dawn’s strengths as a counsellor has been to provide clients with practical techniques they can use to create the change they desire to enhance their lives.

When a person is having trouble making progress in school, is struggling with academic skills (e.g., reading, writing, math), attention problems, or maladaptive behavior, or is demonstrating exceptional skills and may need more of a challenge, a psycho-educational assessment helps gain more information as to what supports are needed. This is a thorough assessment that is helpful in evaluating strengths and areas of challenge in a student’s learning profile and provide a deeper understanding of their educational abilities and
needs.

If you would like to book an Assessment please contact Teresa directly.

Teresa Pucci Devost
780 288 0291
[email protected]

Fee Schedule

Sessions will be 65 minutes for face to face counselling time and 10 minutes for documentation for a total cost of $200.00 plus GST.

Letter writing: $75 per letter

Telephone consultations with parents, teachers, physicians: Will be charged in 15 minute increments.

If finances are a concern, please discuss it with me right away. I will do my best to make fair and feasible arrangements for those experiencing financial difficulties.

Insurance

Dawn Israel-Compton is registered with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association as a Certified Member. This designation is recognized by many insurance companies including SunLife Insurance Company of Canada, Manulife Insurance Company, Green Shield, Equitable Life, Blue Cross, and Desjardins. It may be recognized by other insurance companies as well – please check with your provider. Each insurance policy and professionals covered under each policy vary. It is your responsibility to explore your coverage through your individual health care plan for counselling services. Clients also may choose to use Health Spending accounts or “Health Technologies Not Otherwise Specified” to cover sessions with me if available through your specific employer’s plan.

After your session you will be provided with a receipt that includes my designation and registration number (4198) with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. These can be kept for your records for income tax purposes.

If you would like to access my services but your plan does not cover Certified Canadian Counsellors and Psychotherapists please let me know as there are advocacy options we can explore with the support of my association or I can adjust the cost of sessions accordingly.

Blossom Counselling accepts all major credit cards including Master Card, American Express, and Visa. E-transfers can also be completed. There is a link on BlossomEdmonton.com to pay on-line if you wish using MONERIS as a secure on-line payment server.

Please click here for online booking.

Enter your email and create a password.

Please make your appointment under the name of the primary client if you are booking for a minor i.e. your child or teen’s name.

Verify account (you will receive an email in your inbox to verify before you can start on-line booking).

If you run into any difficulties please email me.

Cancellation Policy

A credit card number will be taken at the time of booking your first appointment. The first time clients no show or late cancel with less than 24 hours notice they will be charged half the time set aside for them. Subsequent no shows and late cancellations less than 24 hours in advance will be charged the full cost of time set aside.

Payment

Credit, Debit, Cheque, E-transfer.
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College Plaza
Suite #506, 8215 – 112 Street
Edmonton, AB
T6G 2C8
780 756 6551

Hours

Mondays / Tuesdays 12:15pm-7:45pm
Wednesdays: 11:45am-6:00pm
Thursdays / Fridays: 11:45am-4:45pm

Forms

Explanation of Forms

1) Blossom Counselling Consent for a Minor – this document needs to be signed by both biological parents for all children under the age of 18 years old unless there is a sole guardianship agreement. Once signed it can either be brought in at the time of the first session or scanned and emailed back to me. If you have sole guardianship documents I will require a copy for the file. The age for a Mature Minor in Alberta is 15 years of age which means that youth over the age of 15 can seek counselling services without consent of a guardian following the completion of a Mature Minor assessment with myself.

2) Informed Consent for Blossom Counselling – this document needs to be signed by all clients over the age of 18. This includes parents that will be joining sessions with their children.

3) Information Form For A Minor – this is an information gathering sheet that I ask parents to complete for children and youth under the age of 18. You can both complete one or designate one parent to fill in the information it is up to you.

4) Information Form For An Adult – this is an information gathering sheet that I ask all adults seeking counselling for themselves to complete.

5) Youth / Adult Questionnaire – this questionnaire needs to be completed by all youth over the age of 13 and all adults seeking services.

6) Blossom Counselling Client Information Package  – Please print off these documents and complete them prior to the first session and bring them along. If you do not have access to a printer to complete forms before your first session just arrive 15-20 minutes early and I will have hard copies waiting for you at the clinic.

Forms for Adults

Information Form for Adult – Blossom Counselling

Informed Consent – Blossom Counselling

Adult & Youth Questionnaire

Forms for Youth

Consent for a Minor – Blossom Counselling 

Informed Consent – Blossom Counselling

Information Form for Minor – Blossom Counselling

Adult & Youth Questionnaire

Forms for Children

Consent for a Minor – Blossom Counselling 

Informed Consent – Blossom Counselling

Information Form for Minor – Blossom Counselling

Blossom Counselling Client Information Package

Client Information Package – Blossom Counselling 

Privacy

When there is a clear risk of substantial harm to myself or threat of harm towards another person, my Counsellor is ethically bound to disclose this information to appropriate authorities. When there is reason to believe that a child or a vulnerable adult needs protection, such as where a child or vulnerable adult has been or is likely to be physically, sexually, or emotionally harmed, abused, or exploited, my Counsellor is legally bound to report the matter to appropriate authorities. When the court of law requires the release of personal information my Counsellor will disclose what is required.