Lisa Bellstedt, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)

Education and Credentials:

Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #19118

CTP Dipl., The Centre for Training in Psychotherapy, 2025

Member, CAPT

M.A. Latin American and Caribbean Studies, University of Guelph, 2012

B.A., University of Guelph, 2010

View my profile on Psychology Today

Prior to becoming a psychotherapist, my career path had many twists and turns. In my mid-twenties, I found myself working in a career that was about as far away as I could get from what I had imagined my ideal to be. My day-to-day reality filled me with enough dread and discomfort to finally get me into a therapist’s office (a treat I had desired, but denied myself for many years).

Emboldened by my ongoing self-discovery and by the support of my therapist, I attempted a return to my abandoned career in academia (I had completed a Master of Arts in Latin American and Caribbean Studies in my early twenties, focusing on Latin American literature). I had not completed my first semester of a PhD in Spanish before it became deeply, existentially clear to me that I needed to drop out. I had long romanticized a career in academia and was surprised by this seemingly abrupt realization.

After many weeks of processing this decision and attempting to recalibrate, my therapist asked me something to the effect of: what would I imagine for myself in my wildest dreams? Without hesitating, I answered that I wanted to build a life around the pursuit of art, beauty and love. Once I uttered this prayer, the path towards such a life was illuminated, one step at a time.

I chose to study at The Centre for Training in Psychotherapy (CTP) for its intensive and rigorous academic and experiential training. In my early years at CTP, I fell in love with the work of C.G. Jung. My therapy practice is deeply guided by his teachings. My work is also influenced by the writings of D.W. Winnicott, Galit Atlas, Lisa Miller, and many others.

I am privileged to have benefitted from psychodynamic psychotherapy as a client for more than a decade. As someone who has gratefully made use of sliding scale therapy during my long academic career, I believe it is my duty and privilege to pay this forward to students and creatives.

My work as a psychotherapist is informed by spiritual curiosity and a deep respect for the unconscious. I believe that there is a world inside each of us, waiting to be explored. I have both witnessed and experienced reality-altering transformations through psychodynamic work. With trust and dedication to the process, we can begin to understand ourselves and our truest needs. Over time, this can reveal a map to a life that is beautiful, meaningful, and most importantly, ours.