Rami Nijjar, Registered Psychologist & Clinic Director
I am a people-person and love developing collaborative, therapeutic relationships with my clients. I have been interested in human development, relationships, and resilience for as far back as I can remember. In fact, my clinical training started in my teen years as a volunteer on the teen crisis line and then continued as I volunteered for women shelters and not-for-profits focused on adolescent health. I chose clinical psychology as a field of study because it allowed me to develop an integrated understanding of our psychology, biology, and social functioning.
As a Doctoral student at Concordia University, I learned about the neurobiology of stress and attachment, the vast ways in which stress impacts our lives and relationships, and the numerous pathways to risk and resilience. I explored many of these topics following a group of parents with bipolar disorder and their children as the children matured through adolescence and into young adulthood. Here I was able to witness how early experiences can shape the ways in which we move through life later on. Also, I learned the value of well timed, focused therapy in helping people to overcome such challenges.
I completed my clinical training at the Montreal General Hospital, Royal Victoria Hospital, and McGill Mental Health Service. At these sites, I gained experience addressing a range of issues including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, chronic pain, eating disorders, addiction, school-related stress, working with life transitions, couples therapy, and sex therapy. Upon finishing my schooling, I moved to Vancouver, where I set up my private practice. Alongside my practice, I worked with sex researcher Lori Brotto to help run mindfulness groups for women with low sexual desire. I have also run mindfulness and cognitive-behaviorual therapy groups for women with vulvar pain that interferes with intercourse and men recovering from prostate cancer treatment. Following my joy of teaching, I provide clinical supervision to doctoral students at Adler University and the McGill University Health Centre and am a clinical tutor within the UBC Sexual Medicine Department. I am thrilled to have hand-picked a team of kind and brilliant therapists to work alongside me at Resilience Psychotherapy.
Approach
My clients have described me as warm, intelligent, and easy to talk to. As a therapist, my approach is person-centered, collaborative, and eclectic. What this means is that I seek to understand my clients well and am trained in the use of a broad range of techniques. I work closely with you to help you identify factors in your environment (including your environment during formative years) and within yourself (i.e. behaviour or thought patterns) that may be creating stress in your life and relationships.
Using expansive listening and authentic curiosity, I choose the approach that may best fit your needs, life phase, and personality. At the base, I work to create a safe, non-judgmental space in which you can explore the roots of your struggles and move towards more positive solutions. Ultimately, my goal is to help you to discover your own inherent resilience. My approach includes principles of many evidence-based treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, emotion-focused therapy, compassion focused therapy, mindfulness, and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.
My favourite thing about my job is getting to witness people uncover their own inherent resilience and realize that they are so much more than the stories they tell themselves.
Publications
Nijjar, R., Ellenbogen, M.A., & Hodgins, S. (2016). Sexual risk behavior in adolescent offspring of parents with bipolar disorder: prospective associations with parents' personality and externalizing behaviour in childhood. Journal of Child Abnormal Psychology, 44, 7, 1347-1359.
Iacono, V., Ellenbogen, M.A., Wilson, A., Desormeau, P. & Nijjar, R., (2015). Inhibition of personally relevant depictions of anger moderates the effect of empathy on interpersonal functioning. PLOS One, 10, 2.
Nijjar, R., Ellenbogen, M.A., & Hodgins, S. (2014). Personality, coping, risky behavior, and mental disorders in the offspring of parents with bipolar disorder: a comprehensive psychosocial assessment. Journal of Affective Disorders, 166, 315-323.
Bizik, G., Juster, R. P., Picard, M., Nijjar, R., Tourjman, V., McEwen, B. S., Lupien, S. J. (2013). Allostatic load as a tool for monitoring comorbidities in patients afflicted by severe mental illnesses. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 21, 6, 296-313.