Meet the Founder
Meet Shamira
Welcome. Thank you for taking the time to visit my bio page. On this page, you will find some information about me, Shamira. It is an honour to tell you more about myself and my journey to, and with, the rewarding world of psychotherapy.
My name is Shamira Drice. I am a Registered Psychotherapist (RP) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO), and an approved Clinical Supervisor. I hold a Master of Arts Degree in Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Spirituality from Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario. I currently have 8+ years of experience in mental health services and have been in private practice full time since 2018.
I am passionate in supporting children (5+), teenagers, and adults with ADHD, anxiety disorders, and relational trauma. My goal as a therapist is to provide meaningful support that promotes lasting improvements to mental health and emotional well-being. I take a collaborative approach to sessions that is tailored to the unique needs of each client.
In my therapy sessions, I primarily lean towards implementing the modalities that I have advanced training in: Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), and Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). I also utilize specialized psychotherapy modalities like Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and Play Therapy to clients who seek these specific services. My extensive training background and clinical experience allows me to be prescriptive in my approach to therapy sessions.
Learn more about Shamira
People are my strength
As a warm, adaptable and genial human, I work in collaboration with my clients in the therapy room - welcoming their feedback, personality, and preferences to help guide the therapeutic process. I believe that providing an open space for your emotional vulnerability and following you at your pace is the key to the onset of your healing journey. When appropriate for your needs, I incorporate practical tools established in evidence-based modalities to further assist you towards reaching your reported goals and take a strengths-based approach to ensure that your inner strengths are being accessed and cultivated.
I recognize that the therapy hour can feel like an external representation of all of your wounds. Because of this, therapy with me is client-led. This means that as the therapist, I help to facilitate the process and integrate the psychotherapeutic tools while I follow your lead in cultivating the environment you require for healing and invite you to guide the pacing of your journey.
Passionate and Experienced
Before opening Drice Psychotherapy, I worked in crisis counselling, community support, and former group private practice settings. My roles in crisis counselling and community support included providing clinical support to people without homes, low income communities, newcomers, people struggling with substance misuse, and survivors of sexual violence.
My previous private practice allowed me to work closely with a Clinical Psychologist that specialized in learning and thinking differences. Because of this, I gained an abundant amount of experience working with youth and their caregivers, and assisting clients of all ages with a variety of anxiety disorders (Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, panic, phobias, social anxiety), and attention disorders (particularly Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
In 2020, an unexpected opportunity led me to an undiscovered passion in mentorship. Since then, I have been providing clinical supervision and consultation services to other psychotherapists and related professionals. I have provided supervision to mental health professionals in a variety of settings:
Somerset West Community Heath Centre: RSWs, RP(Q)s, and RPs providing mental health and counselling services
Saint Paul University: counselling interns as they complete their internal practicum training at Saint Paul's Counselling and Psychotherapy Centre
within Drice Psychotherapy: internally to associate therapists, externally to counselling/psychotherapy interns, RP(Q)s, and RPs
As a self-proclaimed nerd and eager information sponge with a healthy relationship with helpful perfectionism, I have sought a considerable amount of trainings for continuing education purposes, professional development, and to better serve my community. My training and education can be found here.
On A Personal Note
I am a proud Haitian immigrant. I moved from Haiti with my mother and younger sister in early childhood to the United States. In my late teens, my family made the collective decision to move to Canada and I have lived in Ottawa, ON since then.
When I am not wearing my therapist hat, I deeply value the connection and time with my loved ones, my community, and nature.
My world is intentionally centralized around fur babies.
The cupboard in my home that is dedicated to my tea mugs is unfortunately at capacity so I may need to (excitingly) create another space for them. My absolute favorite tea is Davids Tea’s Buddha Blend.
I truly enjoy consuming almost all forms of media (podcasts, music, movies, tv shows) and read at least one book a week. I welcome any suggestions you may have!