ABOUT ANDREA

An Effective Psychotherapist Can Help Your Family

 
 

I’m Andrea Ramsay Speers, and I am no longer a child.

But I remember what it felt like to be a child, and to feel there was no possible way my parents could understand the angst and drama of my life.

As a parent myself, I now understand how easy it is for the message of love to get lost in everything I need to teach and share with my own children. As a wife and partner, I know how challenging it can be to communicate well and work as a team in a long-term relationship. And being both a wife and a mom, I realize how important it is to take care of not only my family, but also my own mental health.

Using my Master’s Degree and my experience as a psychotherapist with a focus on family issues, I work with my clients to design a plan to improve their families, marriages, and daily lives. Communication tools, problems solving skills, empathy and understanding are the cornerstones of overcoming family challenges; I teach my clients how to use these approaches and when. Knowing how to take care of yourself is a critical skill, whether that’s learning stress or anxiety coping skills, improving our moods, or managing relationships in and out of the home. I teach my clients how to communicate effectively with their families, without alienating them or pushing them away, empowering them as parents and spouses, and allowing them to feel confident in handling even the stickiest challenges, in and outside of the family.

Andrea Ramsey Speers White Coat

How Did I Get Into This Kind of Work?

Why Am I So Passionate About Working With Parents?

 
 

On Sept. 11/01, I was on a bus tour of Europe with my husband, a number of New Yorkers were also on that trip. It was a shocking and terrifying thing to see the world change in front of you…while you’re on vacation, no less. When we got home, I happened to catch an Oprah show about how to talk with your kids about what had happened, because so many of the kids interviewed were so distressed and so upset, and their parents just didn’t know how to help them. I realized in that moment that what I wanted to do was to become a mental health professional and work with parents who wanted to do right by their kids, but sometimes just didn’t know what that was.

 

Where Else Might You Have Seen Me?

 
 

  • Quoted in major media sources, including The Globe and Mail, Today’s Parent magazine, Women’s World Weekly magazine, Oakville Today, FoxBusiness.com, MSNBC.com, iVillage.com
  • Former parenting expert for “Your Family” segment on TVCogeco‘s show Your Lifestyle
  • Former author of a monthly article on parenting issues called “Family Life,” for the web site Life With Kids.
  • Formerly the parenting expert for Oak Park Moms and Tots, hosting a Q&A forum for parenting questions, serving parents of children up to age six.
  • The Parenting Partnership, a comprehensive parenting program designed for first time parents, from prenatal through to their child’s second year.
  • Host of workshops for groups ranging from PTA’s to churches to local service groups.

I love my work because I firmly believe that parenting matters — kids really do want and need parental guidance and support, even when it seems like they don’t.
It’s never too late to have a happy family.

 

At my office in Oakville, I serve the following Southern Ontario communities: Oakville, Mississauga, Burlington, Milton, Halton, Georgetown, Halton Hills, Waterdown, Peel, Oak Park, Glen Abbey, West Oak Trails, River Oaks, North Oakville, College Park.

As a psychotherapist, counsellor, parent coach, and parenting expert, I provide individual counselling, marriage counselling, couples counselling, relationship counselling, relationship advice, parenting advice, parent counselling, and parent coaching for parental challenges such as discipline, communication, low self esteem, sibling rivalry, mental health concerns, symptoms of anxiety, symptoms of depression, burnout and stress, for parents with children and teenagers between the ages of 6 and 18. I also work with teens who are 13 and older.