Areas of Practise

Trauma (sexual, physical, PTSD); Grief; Substance Abuse; Couples

Population Served

Adult, Child Elementary, Early Adolescents, Geriatric, Late Adolescents

Services Offered

Assessment, Cog./Behavioural Therapy, Couples Therapy, Family Therapy, Individual Therapy, Marital Therapy, Rehabilitation

Biography

Lillian Benrubi practices counselling and therapy in Newmarket under the supervision of a Registered Psychologist or Registered Psychological Associate who are members of the College of Psychologists of Ontario.

I knew that this would be both my professional and my life's work by the time I was thirteen years old. By this, I meant that I wanted to immerse myself both professionally and personally in the growth and development of individuals, couples, communities --- people. And myself of course, how could I possibly give anything to anyone if I didn't have some personal experience and the wisdom that arises from it. I've always gotten so much out of meeting and connecting with new people, and getting to know who they really are, underneath all the armour, however light or heavy. I love life, even with all its challenges, curve balls, and sometimes, brick walls.

At a really early age, and I don't know that I am entirely unquire to this, I discovered something new to being a child, emotional suffering. My earliest experiences began at home with my parents, and as I grew older, my peers at school, my colleagues, and mentors. Suffering is not a unique life experience, nor is it reserved to only a few, we all experience it at some level at different times of life. Our first experience of it, I imagine, would be when emerging from the safety and comforty of the womb to the unknown, into the yet to be discovered world around us. A pattern in my younger life was finding myself attracted to older friends, and colleagues, and immersed in entirely uncontrived, unsuspecting but very connecting, one-on-one, deep and personal conversations. Stories were exchanged, laughter shared, sadness expressed, whether it was to pass the time on a long plan ride or deliberate self-exploration in a colleae of supervisor's office. These experiences, accompanied by an iron force to have answers, as well as some great mentors along the way, have led me to much of my own inner guidance and wisdom, which I believe is the only place we find the answers that are true and real for ourselves. Absolutely nothing wrong with stepping out and inquirying, questioning, mulling over, but ultimately, integrating what is real for yourself with what is true for yourself will always guide you in the right direction. The task sometimes, however it looks for you, is wading through the layers of experience and stories that came out of them, to find that inner knowing.

Essentially, what I was determined to do, if it was at all humanly possible, and if I could find a way to express it, was to contribute, however little or large, to the ending of suffereing, on a personal and global level. I do what I do, as both a personal and professional expression of that desire. And as my clients and fellow beings develop and integrate themselves, I too develop and integrate myself, chick or egg thing, my journey intersects with theirs and theirs with mine.