HERMIEN HOGEWONING, M. DIV, RP
Hermien Hogewoning, RP
Registered Psychotherapist | M.Div. (Clinical Counselling)
Serving Hastings County in person | Virtual across Ontario
Registering Body: College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO)
Registration Number: 007581 — CRPO Public Register — Hermien Hogewoning
Are You Carrying More Than You Can Hold?
Maybe it started gradually. The exhaustion that sleep doesn't fix. A quiet sadness you can't quite name, or an anxiety that hums in the background of everything you do. Perhaps you're standing at a crossroads — a career shift, a relationship that feels stuck, a season of life that no longer fits the way it once did — and you're not sure how to find your footing again.
Or maybe the struggle isn't just inside you. It's in the spaces between you and the people you love most. The same arguments circle back. The distance that grows even when you're in the same room. The feeling of being deeply known by someone — and somehow still find yourself deeply alone.
And sometimes, it's not even that clear. Sometimes you don't have the words to name what's shifted or what you need. You want something to be different in your relationships, but the fear of rejection — or of asking for too much — keeps you silent. Maybe you've never been entirely sure what you're even allowed to ask for. Maybe you grew up in an environment where it was never truly safe to not be okay, where there was no one to show you that your struggles were acceptable, that you were still worthy of love even in your hardest moments. And so you learned to manage. To cope. To keep going.
That kind of loneliness runs deep. And it deserves more than just more managing.
If any part of this sounds familiar — even a little — I want you to know something: the fact that you're here, reading this, is already a form of courage. You don't have to have it figured out. You don't need the right words or a clear explanation. You just need one small step toward something different.
And I would be honoured to take that step with you.
What We'll Do Together
From the very first conversation, my goal is simple: I want you to feel in control. Not pressured, not evaluated, not rushed — in control — of what we explore, how deep we go, and the pace at which we move. This is your space, your process, and your life. I am here to walk alongside you, not ahead of you.
I work with adults 19 and older who are ready — or even just curious about being ready — to understand themselves more deeply and live more fully. Whether you're dealing with anxiety, depression, a life transition, career uncertainty, or relationship pain, I believe that what you're experiencing makes sense in the context of your story. My job is to help you find that context, and to walk with you as you work through it.
Part of that work is simply creating a space where it is finally okay to not be okay. Where you don't have to have the right words, the right explanation, or the right amount of self-awareness before you walk in. You can come as you are — uncertain, exhausted, unsure of what you even need — and we will figure it out together, at a pace that feels right for you.
My approach is warm, honest, and collaborative. I don't believe therapy should feel clinical or cold. I believe it should feel like a space where you can finally exhale — where you're met with compassion, curiosity, and the kind of care that doesn't rush you toward easy answers.
I am a person of Christian faith, and those values — dignity, compassion, hope, and the profound worth of every person — are woven into how I show up in the room. I am not a Christian therapist in the formal sense, and I warmly welcome people of all backgrounds, beliefs, and worldviews. What my faith gives me is a deep conviction that every person who sits across from me matters, and that healing and growth are always possible.
Here is what I know to be true after eight years of clinical work and a lifetime of relationships: we are not meant to do this alone. We need people in our corner. We need someone who will hold space for us while we do the hard, humbling, sometimes painful work of growing. I want to be that for each of my clients — someone who has your back while you find your way.
What Becomes Possible
I want therapy to be the place where something actually shifts. Where you no longer have to manage alone in silence. Where the anxiety loses its grip. Where the fog of depression begins to lift. Where you and your partner find your way back to each other. Where you stop second-guessing yourself and begin to trust your own voice again.
I want you to discover what it feels like to have reparative experiences — moments where it truly is okay to not be okay, where your needs are heard without judgment, where you are seen and valued not in spite of your struggles but through them. Where something that has always felt unsafe begins to feel possible. Where you find yourself breathing differently, responding differently, trusting differently — not because life got easier, but because you found something solid inside yourself that wasn't there before.
We will figure it out together. I won't always have every answer — but I will always go looking for one. You will never sit across from someone who has stopped being curious about how to help you.
And sometimes, the work is not about changing what is in front of you. Sometimes it is about finding a way to acceptance — not the kind that asks you to shrink or pretend or simply endure, but the kind that honours who you are and what you have carried. An acceptance that holds both the grief of what cannot be changed and the quiet dignity of choosing how you live alongside it.
I want you to leave our work together feeling more like yourself — more grounded, more connected, and more capable of facing whatever comes next.
About Hermien
Hermien Hogewoning a Registered Psychotherapist with eight years of clinical experience supporting adults through anxiety, depression, grief, life transitions, career challenges, and relationship difficulties. She holds a Master of Divinity in Clinical Counselling from Tyndale University in Toronto and brings a rich blend of clinical training and lived wisdom to her work.
Hermien is trained in Family Systems Therapy, certified in EMDR (EMDR Canada Find a Therapist Directory , and EMDRIA) and fully trained in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFCT) ICEEFT Therapist Directory
Peer Endorsement:
Ways I Can Help
Individuals (19+)
Anxiety & Worry
Depression & Low Mood
Life Transitions
Career Stress & Uncertainty
Grief & Loss
Self-Esteem & Identity
Burnout
Single Event Trauma
Developmental Trauma
PTSD
Couples
Communication Breakdown
Emotional Disconnection
Rebuilding Trust & Intimacy
Strengthening Your Partnership
Betrayal Trauma
Therapeutic Approaches
The family you grew up in shaped you in ways you may not even realize. The roles you played, the rules that were spoken — and unspoken — the ways love and conflict were expressed, the patterns you watched and absorbed: all of it lives inside you and shows up in your relationships, your work, and the way you see yourself. For many people, those early environments never offered the safety of being truly known — a place where it was okay to struggle, to need, to not have it all together. Family Systems Therapy helps you understand those patterns with compassion rather than blame. It's not about pointing fingers at your family — it's about understanding your story so you're no longer unconsciously living it on repeat. Common struggles we explore together include:
Feeling responsible for everyone else's emotions
Difficulty setting limits with family members
Repeating relationship patterns you didn't choose
Not knowing how to ask for what you need — or feeling you have no right to ask
Estrangement, family conflict, or complicated family dynamics
The long shadow of growing up in a home marked by addiction, mental illness, or emotional unavailability
Struggling to feel "enough" no matter what you achieve
Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFCT)
EFT is one of the most well-researched approaches to couples therapy available today. It's designed for couples who love each other but keep getting stuck in the same painful cycles — one pursues, one withdraws; one shuts down, one escalates. Often, underneath those patterns, are needs that have never found words — a longing to feel safe, chosen, and truly valued by the person who matters most. EFT helps you and your partner slow down those cycles, find language for what has gone unspoken, and rebuild the emotional bond that brought you together. I work with couples who are motivated, willing to do the hard work, and genuinely committed to growing — not just surviving.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
EMDR is a powerful, evidence-based therapy for healing the wounds that talk therapy alone sometimes can't reach. If you've experienced trauma — whether a single overwhelming event or years of living in an environment where it was never safe to be vulnerable — EMDR helps your brain process those memories so they no longer hold the same pain, charge, or disruption in your daily life.
Certifications & Advanced Training
M.Div. in Clinical Counselling, Tyndale University, Toronto
Certified EMDR Therapist
Fully Trained in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT) and Attachment Injury Repair Model (AIRM)
Trained in Family Systems Therapy and Attachment Theor
Profesional Memberships
College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) — Registration #007581
EMDR Canada
EMDRIA — Registration #100278051
The Canadian Association for Couple and Family Therapy
Directory Profile
A Little More About Me
I've been married for 42 years, and I am the proud mother of three remarkable adult children and the grandmother of five. My family has been — and continues to be — one of my greatest teachers. They have taught me what it truly means to attune, to respond, and to engage in ways that strengthen a relationship rather than erode it. That doesn't happen by being perfect. It happens by being present. By making people feel seen, heard, and genuinely valued — even in the moments when that takes a great deal of humility
I have not always had the words either. I have sat with my own uncertainty, my own fear of asking for too much, my own need to learn — again and again — that growth requires both the courage to be honest and the grace to accept what cannot be changed. Relationships are not static. We change — through our experiences, our losses, our choices, our seasons of life — and the people we love change too. That means relationships require ongoing tending. Growth is almost never comfortable. It can be painful and disorienting. But it is also one of the most rewarding journeys a person can take.
And no one should have to take it without support.
That is something I believe in my bones: we all need a tribe. We need people who have our back. I want to be that for each person who walks into my practice — someone who shows up for you with consistency, compassion, and a genuine investment in your growth.
That conviction lives in how I practice, and it also lives in how I have chosen to live. It has taken me to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and along the La Cloche Silhouette Trail in Killarney Provincial Park — experiences that taught me about endurance, humility, and what becomes possible when you keep going even when the path is steep.
I love to cook, and I've become genuinely fascinated by the connection between nutrition and mental wellbeing — an area of growing research I continue to explore. When I'm not in the kitchen or on a trail, I'm reading. Right now I'm immersed in The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky and The End of an Affair by Graham Greene — two novels that remind me why the inner life is always worth examining carefully.