What If Your Relationship with Alcohol or Substances Could Be Different?
If you’re drinking more than you intended, relying on substances to cope, or finding it difficult to break old habits, you’re not alone. Maybe you don’t know whether to stop completely, cut back, or simply understand what’s happening. You may not even be sure whether your substance use has reached the point where you need help.
You don’t need to know exactly what you need or where to start. We can figure that out together.
Whether you’re thinking about cutting back on drinking, reducing alcohol use, or changing your relationship with substances, therapy can help you understand your patterns and explore a way forward that feels right for you.
Imagine understanding why you turn to alcohol or substances and then knowing how to make choices that reflect the person you want to be. Therapy can help you begin working toward that life, one step at a time.
Inner Wisdom Psychotherapy provides specialized, effective, evidence-based virtual psychotherapy for adults across Ontario, including Woodstock, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, Cambridge, Hamilton, Toronto and surrounding communities.
Does This Sound Familiar?
You might be managing work, family, and everyday responsibilities while privately worrying about your drinking or substance use. Maybe other people don’t realize how much you’re struggling. Maybe you’ve started questioning whether alcohol is taking up more space in your life than you want it to.
A part of you wants things to change. Another part still reaches for that familiar sense of relief.
You might recognize yourself in some of these experiences:
- Drinking more than you intended, even when you planned to have only one or two.
- Relying on alcohol or substances to unwind, manage stress, or quiet your thoughts.
- Looking forward to drinking at the end of the day or week just to feel some relief.
- Feeling guilty, shameful, frustrated, or disappointed about your use, yet finding yourself returning to the same patterns.
- You’ve told yourself you’ll drink less, stop for a while, or do things differently. When the same patterns return, you wonder why change feels so difficult.
- Worrying about how your use might affect your health, relationships, or future.
If your relationship with alcohol or substances isn’t working for you anymore, that’s reason enough to explore a change.
How Therapy Can Help
Changing your relationship with alcohol or substances isn’t always as simple as deciding to stop. Alcohol and substance use can become connected to a variety of life experiences including ongoing stress, relationship challenges, difficult emotions, unresolved trauma, grief, and the routines that help you get through everyday life.
Whether you’re looking for effective addiction counselling in Ontario, alcohol counselling online, or substance use therapy that considers the bigger picture of your life, our work will be tailored to your unique experiences, needs, and goals.
How Therapy Can Help You
Therapy helps you explore what’s contributing to your alcohol or substance use, work through the underlying challenges, and develop new ways of coping that support the changes you want to make in your life. Therapy is tailored to your experiences and goals.
Depending on your needs, your therapy may focus on:
1. Cutting back, reducing or stopping your alcohol and substance use
Explore your using patterns, identify triggers, and understand the situations that make it difficult to change your habits.
2. Understanding the reasons behind alcohol and substance use
Explore how stress, anxiety, trauma, grief, and difficult emotions may influence your relationship with alcohol and other substances.
3. Developing coping strategies
Build practical ways to navigate uncomfortable emotions, manage stress, and respond differently to situations that previously led to alcohol and substance use.
4. Relapse prevention and maintaining change
Identify high-risk situations triggering use, recognize early warning signs, and develop strategies to help you navigate setbacks and maintain progress toward your goals.
5. Building self-awareness and self-trust
Move beyond shame and self-criticism to better understand yourself, recognize your strengths, and make choices that reflect what matters to you.
In therapy, you won’t be told what to do or be expected to have all the answers. Instead, you’ll have the space to explore your experiences, build on your strengths, and find a path forward that feels right for you.
Support for Family Members Affected by a Loved One’s Alcohol and Substance Use
When someone you care about struggles with alcohol or substance use, it can take an emotional toll on you, affect your relationships, and leave you feeling worried, overwhelmed, or unsure of what to do next. You deserve support, too.
If you’re seeking support as a family member of someone experiencing alcohol or substance use concerns, you’re welcome to discuss your situation during a free consultation. Together, we can explore your needs and determine whether services at Inner Wisdom Psychotherapy are the right fit for you.
What to Expect
Starting therapy can feel like a big step, especially if you’ve never talked openly about your relationship with alcohol or substances. At Inner Wisdom Psychotherapy, the goal is to make the process comfortable, effective, straightforward, and supportive.
Heidi Klett, MSW, RSW, is a Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist and Certified Canadian Addiction Counsellor specializing in alcohol and substance use. She uses specialized, effective, evidence-based therapeutic approaches including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Motivational Interviewing, Internal Family Systems (IFS) informed Parts Work, and Somatic Practices.
When you work with Heidi Klett, MSW RSW, you’ll have a therapist who deeply understands the questions, uncertainties, and challenges that can arise when you’re considering changing your relationship with alcohol or other substances. You will receive compassionate, non-judgemental and expert care tailored to your needs and goals. Additionally, Heidi assists clients with accessing referrals to addiction medicine clinics, medication assessments, day treatment, and inpatient treatment when additional care is needed.
1. Book a Free Consultation
We’ll discuss what’s bringing you to therapy, answer your questions, and explore whether working together feels like a good fit. You don’t need to know exactly what you want to change before we talk.
2. Review Your Benefits Coverage
If you need support navigating your benefits coverage, we can review your options together. As a Registered Social Worker and Psychotherapist, Heidi’s services are covered by most workplace benefits plans. Additionally, Heidi is an approved provider under the Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) Program, allowing eligible First Nations and Inuit adults to access mental health counselling for alcohol and substance use concerns.
3. Begin With Your First Session
We’ll explore your concerns, experiences, and goals at a pace that feels comfortable for you. There’s no expectation that you have all the answers or need to share everything at once.
4. Work Toward Meaningful Change
Together, we’ll develop a personalized approach to help you understand your patterns, build coping strategies, and work toward the changes that matter to you. We’ll also explore additional supports that may benefit you, including peer support, withdrawal support, anti-craving medication, workplace accommodations, and relationship or family counselling. This ensures you have access to holistic and comprehensive care that supports your goals.
Virtual Therapy Across Ontario
Access to specialized and evidence-based psychotherapy should not depend on where you live.
Looking for an online therapist in Ontario? Inner Wisdom Psychotherapy offers virtual psychotherapy for adults across the province, including Woodstock, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Hamilton, Guelph, Toronto and other Ontario cities.
With virtual sessions, you can access therapy from the privacy and comfort of your own space without needing to travel to an office.
Whether you’re searching for psychotherapy in Ontario, a therapist in Woodstock or therapy covered by benefits, you can explore support that fits your needs and circumstances.
Session Fees and Benefits Coverage
Inner Wisdom Psychotherapy believes that accessing therapy for alcohol and substance use should be as straightforward as possible.
- Session format: Sessions are completed online through a confidential video telehealth platform
- Session length: 50 minutes or 90 minutes
- Session fee: Fees for services: $180 for a 50-minute session, $270 for a 90-minute session.
- Benefits coverage: Psychotherapy services provided by a Registered Social Worker are covered by most workplace health benefit plans, although coverage varies by plan. Inner Wisdom Psychotherapy is also an approved provider under the Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) Program for eligible First Nations and Inuit adults. If you don’t have insurance coverage, fees for eligible psychotherapy services may be claimed as a medical expense on your income tax return.
- Sliding-scale therapy: Three spots, for reduced cost therapy, are offered to individuals who would not otherwise be able to access therapy. Please reach out to Inner Wisdom Psychotherapy if you want to explore your eligibility for this. If all three spots are filled, you can add your name to the waitlist.
About Me
Meet Heidi Klett, MSW, RSW
Heidi Klett, MSW RSW is a Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist, Certified Canadian Addiction Counsellor, and founder of Inner Wisdom Psychotherapy. Based in Woodstock, Ontario, Heidi provides virtual psychotherapy to adults across Ontario, bringing more than 20 years of counselling and psychotherapy experience to her work.
Through her experience working in addiction treatment centres and emergency addiction medicine units, Heidi has developed a deep understanding of the complexities of alcohol and substance use. She recognizes that drinking and using substances are often connected to underlying challenges, such as stress, isolation, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, difficult emotions, unresolved experiences, or coping patterns that have become part of everyday life.
At Inner Wisdom Psychotherapy, Heidi brings this specialized knowledge into a compassionate, collaborative, and non-judgmental therapeutic relationship. Heidi believes that understanding yourself, recognizing your strengths, and developing new ways of coping can help you move toward meaningful change.
