Débora Kirschbaum Nitkin Psychotherapy
About
I am a Registered Psychotherapist operating a private practice in Toronto, Ontario. Lacanian Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy are the approaches that have underpinned my therapeutic work for over thirty years. These are forms of treatment that allow us to freely explore your genuine aspirations, and articulate them in your own voice. This can be extremely liberating for people living with different levels of mental distress, because most of this suffering results from efforts to adjust ourselves to norms and expectations established by others, which do not necessarily align with our own ways of experiencing our inner and outer world. As the treatment progresses, you will rely less each time on others’ opinions and perspectives, and will find your own language to express your path in life. This will enable you to connect with others in more pleasant and fulfilling ways, as you become more equipped to engage with.
My work in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis is also augmented by my practice as a clinical supervisor, mental health nursing professor, researcher and a clinician both in Brazil and Canada. My previous experience with severely ill patients enables me to refine my assessments, skilfully manage crisis intervention, help patients to navigate the health care system, and to support other psychotherapists as an astute and resourceful clinical supervisor.
I work with adolescents, young adults, adults and seniors from diverse gender and racialized groups, struggling with a range of issues that include, but are not limited to, anxiety, depression, trauma, body image, somatizations and psychosomatic phenomena, associated or not with life transitions (separation, grief and loss, academic stress, career choice, aging, parenthood), immigration, and identity issues.
From the initial interview on, I will encourage you to engage with me in an open dialogue, while we explore your conflicts, dilemmas and symptoms. I will encourage you to speak freely on these issues, and will listen to you respectfully and non-judgmentally.
Experience
I am a Registered Psychotherapist with private practice in Toronto since 2013. Previously, I have practiced psychotherapy individual and group for over seventeen years in mental health university services in Brazil. I am also a Registered Nurse and a faculty member of the Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, since 2010. At University of Toronto, I have taught and acted as clinical coordinator for Mental Health Nursing courses in the undergraduate program and lectured Critical Theory in the graduate program. Prior, I was an Associate Professor of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), São Paulo, Brazil (1990-2010). I found and coordinated the "Nucleum of Research in Psychoanalysis, Nursing and Mental Health” (1999-2010), a research group that congregated scholars, and PhD, master and undergraduate students under my supervision, who were engaged in investigations funded by the Brazilian Research Council (CNPq) and Research Foundation of the State of São Paulo (FAPESP), about the impact of the Lacanian approach on the recovery process of persons living with psychosis treated in the then newly created community psychosocial centres, called CAPS. In these services, linked to the university health network, I also accumulated extensive experience as clinician and clinical supervisor of graduate and undergraduate students, and provided individual and group therapy drawing from Lacanian theory (1992-2009), which still informs my current clinical work and my role as clinical supervisor for other psychotherapists. I have published in peer-reviewed journals and collections both in Canada and Brazil, as well as served as Reviewer for research agencies (Research Foundation of the State of São Paulo, Brazil), and editorial boards (Nursing Inquiry Journal, Brazilian Nursing Journal, and others).