Aaron Halliday
Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)
His approach is evidence-informed, trauma-informed, and integrative. In plain language, this means Aaron draws from approaches grounded in research and clinical practice while tailoring therapy to the person sitting in front of him. He doesn’t believe people fit neatly into one-size-fits-all boxes, and he doesn’t believe therapy should be cookie-cutter either. Depending on each client’s needs and goals, Aaron may draw on elements from person-centred therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based strategies, solution-focused therapy, narrative approaches, attachment-informed work, and body-based/nervous-system-oriented strategies for self-regulation. Above all, he values building a therapeutic relationship where clients feel safe, heard, respected, and supported. He also offers practical tools, resources, and strategies that clients can practice between sessions, because change has to survive contact with real life.
Before entering the field of psychotherapy, Aaron worked as a researcher and behavioral scientist at Western University. His research explored resilience, mindfulness, stress, adversity, trauma, attachment, relational trauma, and the ways people adapt within the relationships, systems, and circumstances that shape their lives and mental health. He has published peer-reviewed research and co-authored work related to attachment and relational trauma, including the development of the Childhood Attachment and Relational Trauma Screen (CARTS), – a (nationally and cross-culturally) validated relational-socioecological measure that’s been translated into at least 10 different languages (Schnyder et al., 2017) and used in both North American and international contexts as a relational-socioecological measure of childhood maltreatment, attachment, and relational family dynamics within context. This background continues to inform his clinical work, especially in helping clients understand the connections between personal experience, relationships, stress, work, coping, and wellbeing.
Aaron offers psychotherapy for individuals and couples who are looking for an honest, supportive, thoughtful, and collaborative space to make sense of what is happening beneath the surface. His work is grounded in the belief that therapy is not about being handed a script for who you are or what you should do. It is about slowing things down, getting curious about the patterns that keep showing up, and building new ways of living, relating, and responding that feel more steady, intentional, and aligned with what matters to you.
Aaron works with adults experiencing concerns such as fear/anxiety, depressed mood, stress and burnout, hyperactivity and impulsivity, family conflict, relationship challenges, emotional regulation difficulties, major life transitions, trauma-related concerns, and patterns connected to adversity and resilience. Many of the people he supports are trying to understand themselves in the real context of their lives: their relationships, families, histories, work, identities, nervous systems, and day-to-day pressures. He also helps clients better understand how their nervous system responds under stress, and how to work with their body rather than feeling like they are constantly fighting against it.
Aaron also has a strong interest in relationship-focused therapy. In addition to working with individuals, he provides couples therapy informed by the Gottman Method and has completed Gottman Method Couples Therapy Level 2 Training, along with additional continuing education in couples therapy, relational conflict, affairs and trauma, intimacy, and relationship challenges. His work with couples is structured, compassionate, and focused on helping partners better understand themselves, their needs, their patterns, and the ways they can strengthen communication, rebuild trust, and create more secure and sustainable ways of relating.
Aaron provides psychotherapy as a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with ongoing clinical supervision in accordance with CRPO requirements. Services are available in person at Maple Shores Health Centre in Port Elgin and virtually for clients located in Ontario.