My Path Here
About Me
My name is Claudelle Abdo (they/she), and I am a Registered Psychotherapist serving individuals and couples virtually across Ontario, as well as in-person and virtually in Ottawa.
For the past 10 years, I have worked in the mental health field, supporting people through grief, walking alongside the queer community, and with people experiencing mental health crises.
After moving to Canada from the Middle East in 2013, I found myself deeply drawn to questions of belonging and what it means to find home again – not as a place defined by a roof, walls, and a door, but through relationships built with others, and yourself. This desire for connection and community continues to shape both who I am and how I show up as a therapist.
Why This Work Matters
Human behaviour and the ‘why’s’ and ‘hows’ behind the ways we think, feel, and move through the world, have always captivated me. Since I can remember, I have been drawn to the depths of human experience, finding meaning and comfort in vulnerability, complexity, and the many sensitivities that shape who we are.
Learning to embrace the grey has been a thread woven through many parts of my life. It has taught me what it means to be human: to live with uncertainty, remain curious, and witness the things left unsaid. Beneath so many of our experiences is a shared longing to be seen, heard, loved, and understood. This is the core of what keeps me tethered to this work.
Outside the Therapy Room
At my core, I am a deep feeler who loves poetry, dancing under laser lights, and collecting physical and experiential glimmers of all kinds. Outside the therapy space, you can find me curled up under a soft blanket with my three cats watching the most wonderfully brain-rotting TV, with a lit candle that smells like a cupcake.
CRPO License: 11812
MY APPROACH
Connection is at the heart of everything I do.
I am incredibly passionate about all things connection, deep relational experiencing, and attachment. Eclectic, as the way I approach life, I draw from a range of evidence-based modalities to ensure you're met exactly where you are and in the way you uniquely need.
Therapy with me is real.
Therapy with me means no hiding from snot, laughter, or tears. I believe that the moment we offer recognition and compassion to the parts of ourselves we once wanted to veil, distance from, or push away, the layers of fragmentation and confusion begin to slow, soften, and grow a little quieter.
What once brought up shame and puzzlement can become a doorway to insight – helping us understand the roots of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviours while creating the space for something different.
This is a space for the whole you.
I hope therapy feels like one of the places where you don’t have to perform. Laughter is vital, and dark humour, swearing, and play are not only welcomed, but embraced.
I value authenticity, softness, agency, and the messy, beautifully human moments that unfold when we feel safe enough to be ourselves.
Inclusion is a non-negotiable.
As a queer therapist, equitable representation is not optional; it is essential. I am deeply committed to creating spaces where affirmation and acknowledgement are not only prioritized but centred with respect, cultural humility, and care.
While I welcome people from all backgrounds, I work closely with members of the queer, polyamorous, kink, and neurodivergent communities, and I also hold an understanding of the third-culture kid and bi-cultural experience.
We grow together.
As a lifelong learner, I believe healing is never something we do alone. While my role is to support and walk alongside you, I also recognize that this relationship is one of mutual humanity.
I invite you to transform me in the same way this work may transform you.
What Does This Look Like?
Together, we will recount the stories you’ve carried and uncover what they have come to mean to you, your relationships, and the world around you. My role is to guide you as you learn to rebuild your life in a way that feels authentic to your values and needs. Imagining a world where you can take a deep breath and soften the internal conflict and loud voices in your mind may feel out of reach, but sometimes seeking support is the first thing we can do.
I will gently challenge you, and together we can co-create a space where you feel safe enough to consider perspectives that may have previously felt inaccessible or too difficult to hold. Therapy is a place not only for reflection, but also for practice – exploring how new ways of relating to yourself and others and carrying those into your daily life through intentional action. Drawing on neuroscience and the principles of neuroplasticity, our work together can help facilitate these experiences. My anchor in this work is to help foster deep, meaningful change and expand your life exactly the way you envision it, so it feels richer, fuller, and more meaningful.
Part of why I’m here is to help slow down the process to really feel what may have once felt forbidden or straight up too overwhelming to sit with alone. As we begin to untangle what’s been weighing on you, we can unburden some of that heaviness, release what no longer serves you, and make space for something new. Together, we’ll gently explore what feels difficult while making room for what is beautiful, meaningful, and deeply human.
My Therapeutic Foundation
Compassion Focused
I believe it is essential not only to be heard, but to feel truly heard. My goal is to provide a safe, supportive, and authentic space where you can explore your inner world with curiosity and compassion, making room for the complexities of your emotions, thoughts, and lived experiences.
Grounded in Attachment
Coming from a foundation in attachment and neuroscience, I draw on internal family systems, relational psychodynamics, solution-focused, narrative, existential, emotion-focused, and accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy. Jargon aside, this means we dive into the past and learn how to relate to it differently in the present.
Collaborative
Together, we work to help access the emotional pain and trauma, using our innate capacity to transform overwhelming feelings into growth and rebuilding a sense of vitality inside the safe container we share. Practicing this in this container with me allows you to carry this into the life you live outside the therapy space.