Existential Psychotherapy with Eryn Azzopardi, Registered Psychotherapist

The Therapist

My work as a therapist is rooted in existential analysis, a depth-oriented approach that helps you navigate life’s challenges by examining your emotions, values, and relationships with honesty and clarity. Rather than focusing on rigid techniques or symptom management alone, we look at the deeper patterns shaping your experience, making room for self-awareness, freedom, and personal responsibility. I'm not interested in interpreting your experiences through my own lens; I want to truly understand what it is to be you. Existential therapy works with deeply rooted issues, values, and beliefs, so my clients usually have already learned the skills and techniques necessary for distress tolerance and basic emotional regulation.

In our work together, I offer a space where you can openly engage with what feels stuck, heavy, or unclear. Through reflection and dialogue, we explore not only the difficulties you face but also the possibilities available to you. I believe therapy is about reclaiming your ability to choose and to live with meaning, even in the presence of struggle. Whether you’re navigating anxiety, trauma, or relationship challenges, we move at your pace, working toward a life that feels more authentic and grounded in who you are.

I don’t spend a lot of time trying to fix you or convince you to think better thoughts. I sit with people in the parts of their lives that don’t resolve neatly. The moments where you realize you are actually the one choosing your life, and that no one is coming to do it for you or save you from it. I’m interested in the choices you keep avoiding and the patterns you know you’re repeating. I’m interested in what it means that your life is finite, that death will come, and that you will have to face it, and that you still have to decide what to do with all the times before it anyway. This work is not about becoming a better version of yourself; it’s about facing the fact that you are already here, already choosing, already responsible, whether you like it or not—and then deciding what to do next.

The Personal

I have been married for ten years and have three children between the ages of 7 and 16. I originally studied history and wanted to be a historian, but returned to school instead to study a master's in psychology. I love nonfiction and biography writing (The Road to Jonestown and Educated are a couple of favourites!), I have a million hobbies and tend to be good at any craft I pick up. I love music and am loyal to Weezer and Elton John. I'm a big TV fan and almost always have a new favourite show. I'm not very outdoorsy but will walk significant distances if a treat is waiting for me at the end. I love scotch and sparkling wine (not together!), I collect copies of Through the Looking Glass, and my biggest unfulfilled dream is to have a life-size statue of David in my garden.

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Is Psychotherapy With Me Right For You?

Existential Psychotherapy

I tend to work with people who are at a point in their lives where something no longer makes sense. Sometimes that is a relationship, sometimes work, family, or a major decision, and sometimes it is harder to name than that. You may know that you are unhappy without knowing what you actually want instead. You may have spent years doing what was expected of you and are now questioning whether the life you have built is actually the one you want to be living. I also work with people who feel disconnected from themselves, struggle to make decisions without looking to other people for the answer, or have a difficult time knowing what matters to them apart from what they have been taught should matter. My work is not about giving you a set of tools to manage these feelings or telling you what you should do. I am interested in understanding your experience with you, including the parts that may be uncomfortable, contradictory, or difficult to explain. From there, we can look at the choices you are making, the relationships you are in, and the values you want to live by, and work toward a life that feels more like something you are consciously choosing rather than something you have simply found yourself living. I am not a direct or overly guiding therapist; I will not have a set of questions to ask you or fill the silence as I truly believe that to be existential and phenomenological is to allow what exists to fill the space naturally, so if you are someone that needs strong direction in therapy, I may not be the best choice for you.

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

I work with adults who grew up with emotionally immature parents and who are still trying to understand what those relationships have meant for them. Sometimes these relationships are described as narcissistic parenting, and sometimes as emotional abuse. I have training in working with the aftermath of these relationships, including recognizing narcissistic and emotionally immature patterns and understanding how they can continue to shape a person's sense of self and their other relationships. If you are considering whether or how to have a relationship with a parent, we can explore that together. That might mean working toward reconnection, finding a different way of relating, or deciding that distance is what you need. My approach is not centred around the boundaries-based advice or social media language that has become common when talking about narcissistic people. I am more interested in your experience of the relationship: what it has been like to live inside it, what you learned about yourself and other people through it, and what you want your life and relationships to mean now. The work is about developing a stronger sense of yourself and your own values, rather than simply learning how to manage another person's behaviour.

First Responders and Their Partners

I work with first responders and, when it is helpful, their partners. This is not stress management, and I am not particularly interested in giving people another set of strategies for coping with a job that is inherently difficult. As the wife of a military veteran and former police officer, I have a personal understanding of the psychological and emotional effects this kind of work can have—not only on the person doing it, but on the family around them. For many first responders, the work is about much more than a job. Purpose, identity, competence, financial security, and a sense of who you are can become deeply tied to the role. That can make it difficult to separate what happens at work from who you are when you come home. It can become difficult to be fully present with a partner or children, to feel seen and understood by them, or even to know who you are outside of the role without feeling as though you are giving something important up. I work with first responders and their partners to explore these tensions at a deeper level: how the work has shaped the self, what has been gained and what has been lost, and how to build a life in which purpose and meaning do not have to come entirely from the role you perform.

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What if I'm not for you?

I truly believe that the "right" therapist is out there for everyone, and this might take some trial and error! Different people and different skills mean a totally different therapeutic connection.

If you've read through my website and it's not clicking for you, here are some other local therapists that I refer to often. I know them personally and trust their judgment and work.

Psychotherapy

Carly Redmond, RP www.carlyredmond.com

Danielle Lauzon, RN, Psychotherapist www.consciousfolkcounselling.ca

Social Work and Counselling

Danielle Cyrenne www.tiredmamaconsulting.com

Dana Thompson www.danathompson.ca

Assessments and Psychology

Claire Crawford www.lakeshorepsych.ca