Max Mckenzie (they/she)
Registered Psychotherapist, MACP, BSc
I am a queer, neurodivergent therapist, and I bring a unique background of animal biology and neuroscience to my work. I am drawn to the deep work of psychotherapy, that goes beyond just listening and coping skills, into the root of issues to resolve them.
Folks often come to me when they are stuck - you’ve tried everything you can think of on your own, and now you don’t know where to go. You’ve read books, tried breathing exercises, thoughts your problems to death, and you still feel the same. This is where having an experienced outside perspective is useful. I can help you unravel your core patterns, by identifying your unmet needs and getting you back in touch with your body.
What it’s like to work together
My approach to care is direct, collaborative and intuitive. I believe that my role as a therapist goes beyond just equipping you with information or helping you identify feelings. I strive to model the approaches that I teach, and to help you practice healthy relationship skills in real time, including setting boundaries, dealing with conflict, and addressing maladaptive relationship patterns in ways that maintain connection and emotional safety.
As a practitioner, I offer authenticity, care, humour, and a nervous system that is highly attuned to internal defenses and barriers to connection. I will call you on your sh*t and help you work through your feelings around it.
approach to therapy
I approach therapy from a combination of attachment work, IFS-informed parts work, somatic and relational therapy. Here is what each of those things means in my practice!
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Attachment-based means that I help you understand your own reactions from a biological standpoint. At the end of the day, we are animals, and our brains and bodies are oriented towards survival. When we can see our thoughts, feelings and actions through this lens, it can help clear up confusion and shame around them, and help us work with our nervous system, not against it.
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IFS-informed means that I work with some of the ideas derived from internal family systems (IFS). In particular, I work with the idea that we have many different parts of us (which is why we can feel different, and often conflicting ways about the same situation), and these parts are often in conflict with each other. By learning to differentiate these parts and learn what needs they are trying to get met, we can resolve these conflicts and move forward in line with our values.
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Somatic therapy focuses on getting us back in touch with our bodies and their intuitive wisdom. As a society, we are taught to rely on “logic” to solve problems, and by doing so, we are taught to ignore the information our bodies give us via signals of pain, pleasure and emotion. When we can approach problems with logic and emotion, we are able to see more options, and more easily and accurately figure out what we need to move forward.
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Relational and experiential means that we won’t just talk about issues, we will work through them in real time as they come up in session. Even though therapy in a “professional service”, at the end of the day, it’s still a relationship between humans. This means that the patterns you have “out there” will also come up in the therapy space. This gives us a chance to not just talk about working through your patterns, but to actually recognize and interrupt them in session.
about me
I took a rather winding path to become a therapist, trying out several educational paths before settling on this one. I have always felt drawn towards psychology, fueled by my own mental health struggles as a sensitive and undiagnosed neurodivergent child.
When I started working one-on-one with people, things just started clicking, and it became clear that this is what I was meant to be doing. I find therapy incredibly fulfilling and endlessly interesting, and I am so grateful for the ways I get to grow, both personally and professionally, alongside my clients.
educational background
bachelor of science
Max received their Bachelor of Science from the University of Guelph, with a major in Marine & Freshwater Biology and a minor in Neuroscience. This science-focused background gives them a unique interdisciplinary perspective on mental health struggles that they bring to their work.
MASTER OF ARTS
Max obtained their Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology (MACP) from Yorkville University. Their studies included theory on understanding mental health and practical approaches to working with various mental health related issues, as well as a counselling internship done under supervision of a Registered Psychotherapist.
continued education
Max continues to seek learning to further their therapeutic skills and understanding, including Gottman Couples Therapy Level 1 Certificate (The Gottman Institute), ADHD Clinical Services Provider Certification (Evergreen Certifications; on-going) and Certificate in Somatic Embodiment and Regulation (Linda Thai; on-going)
Finding a therapist that works for you can be difficult, because your experience of therapy is so dependent on the individual therapist. If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about therapy with Max, we encourage you to book a consultation.
We provide secure virtual psychotherapy appointments throughout Ontario and within Simcoe County — Orillia, Gravenhurst, Barrie, Midland, Bracebridge, Collingwood, Coldwater, Washago, Oro-Medonte.