Nirja Thakkar, MACP

Registered Psychotherapist

(Qualifying)
Location: Virtual
Schedule an Appointment with Nirja

Clinical Approach

  • Psychodynamic Therapy
  • Internal Family Systems (IFS)
  • Somatic Strategies
  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
  • Dialectal Behavioural Therapy (DBT)

Specialties

  • Eating Disorders
  • ADHD & Autism Spectrum (Neurodivergence-Affirming Care)
  • Shame, Perfectionism, & People-Pleasing
  • Hypervigilance & Anxiety
  • Complex Trauma (C-PTSD) & Attachment Styles
  • Relational & Familial Conflicts (Couples & Family Therapy)
  • Perinatal & Reproductive Mental Health

Our Registered Psychotherapists (Qualifying) are trained mental health professionals who have completed graduate-level clinical education and are registered with their regulatory body. They provide psychotherapy while completing additional requirements for full independent practice.

As part of this process, they engage in regular clinical supervision with an experienced, fully licensed clinician. Supervision offers ongoing guidance, consultation, and support to ensure high-quality, ethical care.

Make an appointment with Nirja

About Nirja

Background & Clinical Focus

Nirja Thakkar is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) practicing under clinical supervision in Ontario. She holds a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University and brings over 10 years of diverse experience in the mental health field across Canada and India.

For over six of those years, Nirja has specialized deeply in supporting neurodivergent individuals, specifically focusing on ADHD and Autism. Her foundational background as an Applied Behaviour Therapist and disability support professional has shaped her passionate commitment to neurodivergent-affirming care. She understands that navigating a world not built for neurodivergence often breeds deep-seated perfectionism, chronic shame, hypervigilance, and people-pleasing patterns. Nirja works collaboratively with clients to untangle these survival strategies and build self-compassion.

Approach and Training

Nirja believes that genuine healing happens within safe, non-judgmental relationships. Her practice is trauma-informed, person-centered, and grounded in an anti-oppressive framework.

Crucially, she operates through a non-pathologizing, non-polarizing lens. Rather than viewing your symptoms or coping mechanisms as “bad” or “wrong”, she looks at how your unique lived experiences and attachment styles have shaped how you protect yourself and how well they have served you so far..

Her integrative therapeutic approach includes:

  • Psychodynamic & Attachment-Based Therapy: Exploring underlying relational patterns, attachment styles, and how early childhood dynamics influence present-day behaviors.
  • Internal Family Systems (IFS): Compassionately exploring different “parts” of the self (such as the inner critic, the perfectionist, or the people-pleaser) without judgment.
  • Somatic Strategies: Anchoring the therapeutic work in the body to help release stored trauma, calm hypervigilance, and regulate the nervous system.
  • ACT & DBT: Offering practical, evidence-based tools to navigate intense emotions, resolve conflicts, and live a values-aligned life.

Who She Works With

Nirja works with individuals (15+), couples, and families navigating:

  • Neurodivergent Life: Navigating executive dysfunction, burnout, and late-diagnosed ADHD/Autism, caregiver burnout.
  • Relational & Familial Dynamics: Helping couples and families dissect conflict resolution styles, heal attachment wounds, and build deeper, secure connections.
  • Complex Trauma & Stress: Moving through chronic anxiety, hypervigilance, and systemic or childhood trauma.
  • Perinatal & Reproductive Mental Health: Supporting clients through life transitions such as new parenthood, postpartum depression/anxiety (PPD/PPA), fertility challenges, PMDD, and PCOS, particularly as they intersect with neurodivergence.

Nirja offers culturally responsive care and strives to create an affirming space for LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, Indigenous communities, and individuals with disabilities. She provides therapy in English, Hindi, and Gujarati.

Professional Status

Nirja is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) in Ontario and practices under the supervision of an experienced, fully licensed clinician as part of her path toward independent practice.

She offers virtual therapy to clients in Ontario and Québec. (Please note that insurance coverage may vary for clients residing in Québec; clients are encouraged to confirm eligibility with their provider).

Schedule an Appointment with Nirja
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