Ottawa Couple and Family Institute

OCFI is a private institute providing individual, couple and family therapy. The type of therapy offered at the Institute is called Emotionally Focused Therapy. EFT is an empirically validated intervention that has been shown to effectively treat and heal distressed relationships and help create secure bonds between intimate partners and family members. Research has also shown this approach to be effective in addressing individual problems.

The Institute now has 29 of the best trained clinicians in the Ottawa area who specialize in proven/tested interventions to couples, families and individuals. We encourage you to meet our team.

At the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute (OCFI), we adhere to the philosophy that relationships are at the core of human experience. Research indicates that emotionally fulfilling relationships are integral components of mental and physical health, and that emotionally focused interventions have the power to establish and re-create supportive bonds among individuals. We are therefore dedicated to the understanding and enhancement of couple and family relationships through an emphasis on emotions and their interpersonal impact. We believe that all people can maximize their potential given a nurturing social environment, which we endeavour to foster in our work with clients

Our therapeutic contact with clients will be characterized by:

  • Respect, empathic responsiveness collaboration and authenticity

  • Interventions based on the highest ethical standards
  • Interventions based on current empirical research

Our connections with one another will be characterized by teamwork that is:

  • Supportive
  • Open
  • Collaborative
  • Trusting

Our connections with the professional community will be characterized by:

  • Leadership / vision
  • Dedication to ongoing discovery and research
  • Passionate teaching
  • Supportive supervision and training
  • Collaborative consultation
  • The advancement of effective psychotherapy

“Being the “best you can be” is really only possible when you are deeply connected to another. Splendid isolation is for planets, not people.”

SUE JOHNSON, Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships