Come back to yourself.

I'm Sam (she/they), a Registered Social Worker and psychotherapist working with adults, couples and people in alternative relationships, in person in Ottawa and virtually across Ontario.

Therapy can be a place to begin listening differently.

What if you aren't broken?

What if the ways you respond to life—your anxiety, your disconnection, your perfectionism, your anger, your avoidance, your difficulty trusting, your tendency to overthink or shut down—developed for reasons that made sense at the time?

We are shaped by our biology, our experiences, our relationships, our families, our cultures and the systems we live within. Sometimes the patterns we learn continue long after we need them.

Therapy can be an opportunity to understand them, experience them differently, and create more freedom in how you live.

We won't simply ask “What's wrong?” We'll ask:

What happened?

What did you learn?

What did you need?

What makes sense about the way you respond?

And what might be possible now?

The body is part of the story.

Our experiences don't live only in our thoughts. They can shape how we breathe, move, protect ourselves, connect, desire, withdraw, reach for others and respond to intimacy.

Sometimes the body reacts before we know why. Sometimes it remembers what the mind would rather forget. Sometimes it has learned to stay vigilant long after the original danger has passed.

Somatic therapy gives us another way to listen. Rather than treating the body as something to control or fix, we can become curious about the information it carries.

We slow down. We notice. We develop capacity. And, gradually, we create more room for choice.

Sexuality is part of the story, too.

Sexuality is not separate from the rest of who we are. It intersects with our bodies, relationships, attachment histories, identity, culture, shame, pleasure, vulnerability and sense of safety.

• For some people, sexuality has become a place of pressure or performance.
• For others, it has become disconnected from their bodies.
• Some people are trying to understand desire. Others are trying to recover it.
• Some want to feel safer with intimacy. Others want to feel more alive.
• And some simply want to discover what a deeply fulfilling sexual life might mean for them.

My approach to sex therapy is influenced by the work of sex researcher and therapist Peggy Kleinplatz, whose research with people reporting extraordinary sexual experiences shifted attention away from sexual performance and toward qualities such as presence, embodiment, connection, authenticity, vulnerability, communication and exploration.

Trauma, sexuality and relationships often meet in the same place.

The way we learned to survive can influence the way we connect.

These patterns aren't evidence that something is wrong with you. They are adaptations that made sense in the context of your life. And when we understand them, we can begin to ask a different question:

Do I still need to live this way?

You don't have to become someone else.

I don't believe therapy is about constructing a perfected version of yourself. It is about becoming more fully able to inhabit your own life.

• To notice what you feel.
• To recognize what you need.
• To know your boundaries.
• To tolerate vulnerability.
• To experience pleasure without immediately turning it into performance.
• To stay connected to yourself while connecting with someone else.

More choice. More presence. More connection. That is the direction of the work.

I don't believe my role is to tell you who you should become.

My role is to create a relationship and space where you can become more deeply connected to your own experience, values, needs and knowing.

I'm a Registered Social Worker and psychotherapist with 15+ years of experience in community mental health, residential and psychiatric settings, shelters and hospitals in Canada and abroad. I'm also a Registered Yoga Teacher, a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and certified in Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness.

Sam Rice, RSW · OCSWSSW #830808 · SEP · RYT 200

A place to explore what becomes possible.

You don't need to know exactly what kind of therapy you need before reaching out. You might come because of—

Or simply a sense that something in you wants to be understood more deeply. We can begin there. You don't have to have the whole story figured out before you walk through the door.

Free 15-minute resonance check

Finding the right therapist is a relational process. We'll connect by phone or video so you can ask questions and get a sense of what it feels like to work together.

There is no pressure to commit.

Or email samricetherapy@gmail.com