Skip to content
Talk with me, free
Anjana Iyer seated on a linen sofa in a sage blazer, smiling, in a bright room with plants.

Trauma therapy and EMDR for Whitby, Oshawa and Durham Region

For the anxiety, old trauma and exhaustion you carry through shifts, school runs and everything else. EMDR and somatic therapy, online with me, Anjana Iyer, Registered Psychotherapist, anywhere in Durham Region.

Other psychotherapists recommend me

You can verify me on

  • Psychology TodayVerified profile
  • CRPO #17275Registered

Book a free 15-minute call

Pick a time that suits you. Video or phone, whichever feels easier.

Pick a time (Toronto time)

Finding open times…

Can’t see a time that works? Ask me to call you.
When’s a good time to talk?

I only use these details to get back to you. See the privacy page.

Start with a conversation

Fifteen minutes tells you more about whether someone is right for you than another evening of comparing profiles.

Talk with me, free

Fifteen minutes, free, with nothing to prepare and no obligation to book sessions.

Anjana Iyer in a sage blazer, seated in her sunlit therapy room among plants.
Anjana's therapy room: a soft armchair with a green throw, a reading lamp and a tall window onto pine trees.

Hi, I’m Anjana

I’m a Registered Psychotherapist with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (#17275), and I hold a Master’s in Counselling Psychology. I work online with adults living anywhere in Ontario.

My work brings your body into the conversation. Alongside talking, we pay attention to what your breath, muscles and attention are doing, drawing on my training in EMDR, Integral Somatic Psychology, CBT and mindfulness-based approaches.

I believe change often comes when your body, and not only your mind, gets to feel that what happened is over.

More about me and how I work

  • CRPO#17275
  • Verified onPsychology Today
  • Affiliate memberEMDR Canada
  • Listed onTherapyOwl

What people in Durham Region come to me with

Not diagnoses. The things people actually say in the first call. You don’t need to recognise yourself in all of them.

  • Shift work that keeps your body on alert, even on your days off
  • Sleep that comes in pieces and never quite feels like rest
  • Being the steady one at home while something old still hurts
  • Snapping at the people you love, then feeling awful that you did
  • Something from years ago that still hits hard when you least expect it
  • Anxiety that looks like busyness to everyone else

How I work

Most of my work draws on these three, often together. You don’t need to know which one you need before we talk; that’s what the first call is for.

When talk therapy hasn’t reached it, when insight isn’t always enough

You know your history. You can point to where your patterns began. And still, your body reacts as though the danger is happening all over again.

Understanding it and feeling better aren’t always the same thing.

Body-based trauma work goes past insight, to the part of you that learned to stay alert and protect you. It gives your nervous system the chance to experience something new: that what happened is no longer happening, and that you are safe now.

When your body never gets the all-clear

Durham runs on shift work and young families: hospitals, plants, warehouses and emergency services along the lake, and households where two working parents hand the day back and forth. Both ask your nervous system to stay ready, and after a while it forgets how to stop.

Learning to come back down

That readiness is not a character flaw. It is your body doing what it learned to do. Somatic work and EMDR help it notice that the shift, the call or the old memory is over, so you can come down from alert instead of living there. We book sessions one at a time, around the week you actually have.

  • Pickering
  • Ajax
  • Whitby
  • Oshawa
  • Courtice
  • Bowmanville
  • Uxbridge
  • Port Perry

Online only, by secure video. Anywhere in Durham, and anywhere else in Ontario, works.

An hour that fits around your week

A free 15-minute call, by video or phone. If your schedule is complicated, tell me on the call and we’ll see what fits.

Talk with me, free

Fifteen minutes, free, with nothing to prepare and no obligation to book sessions.

Anjana Iyer mid-session at her laptop, speaking warmly to a client on a video call.

What a session actually looks like

Fifty minutes, by secure video, from wherever you feel most like yourself.

We begin with where you are today. Early sessions are often about building enough steadiness and safety to approach difficult material without becoming overwhelmed. That foundation matters. It’s what allows the deeper work to happen at a pace your system can manage.

  • You’ll always know what we’re doing and why.
  • You can pause or stop at any point. Sometimes stopping is exactly what the work needs.
  • You don’t have to recount everything that happened. We work with what feels possible, at a pace your system can tolerate.

What actually happens on the free 15-minute call

Not knowing what a call will be like is a good enough reason to keep putting it off. So here is the whole thing, in order.

  1. Pick a time that suits you.

    By video or by phone, whichever feels easier. There's nothing to prepare, and no need to have your story figured out before we speak.

  2. We talk about what brings you here.

    I'll ask what has been going on lately and what you've already tried. You can share as much or as little as feels comfortable. There's no need to tell your whole story or go into painful details on a first call. We can begin with what feels manageable.

  3. I explain how I would approach the work.

    I'll explain the approaches I use, how they may apply to what you're experiencing, and what you can expect from sessions with me. We'll talk about what the work might look like in practice, so you have a clearer sense of what beginning therapy would involve.

Other psychotherapists recommend me

Registered psychotherapists are not permitted to publish client testimonials in Ontario, and I would not want to. These are endorsements from other registered therapists, left publicly on my Psychology Today profile.

  • Anjana brings something rare to her work: a trauma-informed, somatic approach grounded in EMDR and genuine attunement. She holds clients through the kind of healing that goes beyond the surface. A colleague I refer to with confidence.

    Blanca Alagon

    Registered Psychotherapist

  • Anjana is a thoughtful, compassionate, and highly skilled psychotherapist. She brings warmth, professionalism, and genuine care to her work, creating a supportive space where clients can feel understood and empowered to make meaningful change.

    Max Tkachenko

    Registered Psychotherapist, MEd, C-EFIT

  • Anjana is a compassionate therapist who supports adults with anxiety, trauma, relationship challenges, life transitions, and burnout. She brings a calm, steady presence and offers a culturally aware space where clients can reflect and move toward healing.

    Kamakshi Marwah

    Registered Psychotherapist, MA, MSc

Questions people ask before booking

I work rotating shifts. Can I still see you regularly?

Often, yes. Sessions are booked one at a time on a calendar you can see, so you can choose times around the rota you actually have that week. If none of the open times suit, ask me to call you and we'll look at it together.

Do you have an office in Whitby or Oshawa?

No. I work online only, by secure video. There is no office in Durham or anywhere else, so sessions happen from wherever you are private.

Does EMDR work online?

Yes. The bilateral part of EMDR works on screen: you follow a point moving side to side, or tap on your own shoulders or knees while I guide the pace. The preparation, pacing and checking in are the same as in a room.

Do I have to talk about everything that happened?

No. You don't have to tell your whole story, and you never have to go faster than feels manageable. Early sessions are about building steadiness. We approach difficult memories only when you feel ready, and you can pause at any point.

What does it cost, and is it covered?

The first 15-minute call is free. Sessions are $180 for a one-hour appointment (50 minutes together), with no HST added. OHIP doesn't cover private psychotherapy, but many extended health plans cover a Registered Psychotherapist, and I give you a receipt after every session.

What happens next?

A free 15-minute call, by video or phone.

Nothing to prepare and nothing to decide on the call. Tell me a little about what’s bringing you in, ask whatever you want to ask, and hear how I work.

If you would rather read more first, see trauma therapy, EMDR or fees and insurance.

Talk with me, free