E V E N T S & C O M M U N I T Y
Where community and healing meet
Growth also happens when we gather in community, in conversation, and in spaces where people can learn from and connect with one another.
See what’s coming.
W H Y W E G A T H E R
Connection can be part of how we grow.
Therapy is one place where meaningful conversations happen, but it isn't the only one. We value opportunities to bring conversations about mental health, culture, identity, relationships, and wellbeing into the communities where people already belong.
Learn
Making psychological ideas more accessible and useful in everyday life.
Connect
Creating spaces where people can feel less alone in what they carry.
Contribute
Sharing knowledge and showing up for the communities we're part of.
W H E R E W E ’ V E G A T H E R E D
RISE UP: TAHANAN
The Combine · July 19, 2026
Growth Psychotherapy joined Rise Tribe's 10th anniversary celebration as part of RISE UP: TAHANAN, a gathering centred on Filipino identity, belonging, mentorship, and community.
Through meaningful conversations, we explored what it can mean to create a sense of tahanan (Tagalog for home) not only as a place, but through the relationships, communities, and parts of ourselves where we feel we belong.
KitaKits sa Park
G Lord Ross Park · June 27, 2026
KitaKits headed outdoors for a smaller summer gathering of Filipino-Canadian therapists. A laid-back afternoon at the park with good food, camping chairs, and nowhere we needed to rush off to.
About eight of us gathered for a potluck, bringing fried chicken, chips, drinks, cassava cake, Jollibee spaghetti, and plenty to share. There was no agenda for the afternoon. We talked, ate, enjoyed being outside, and caught up on life and work in the easy way conversations tend to unfold when we're simply spending time together.
For Gelica and Elda, KitaKits continues to be about making room for connection among Filipino mental health professionals beyond our clinical roles. Sometimes kapwa looks like meaningful professional conversations, and sometimes it looks like sitting in a circle of camping chairs at the park, sharing food and enjoying a little time outside the therapy room.
SINAG: Rise & Reclaim
Filipino Centre Toronto · April 26, 2026
SINAG: Rise & Reclaim brought together Filipino caregivers, helping professionals, and changemakers for an afternoon of pausing, reconnecting, and reflecting on what it means to care for others without losing ourselves in the process.
Through a multidisciplinary, trauma-informed lens spanning psychotherapy, coaching, somatic practice, and movement, we explored how stress and burnout live in the nervous system, the patterns of over-functioning and people-pleasing that can accompany caring for others, and simple body-based practices for regulation and recovery.
At the heart of SINAG was something many of us know well: being the strong one can be both a source of strength and something that asks a great deal of us. The afternoon created space to honour that capacity while also asking what it might look like to make room for our own care, needs, and humanity.
KitaKits: Filipino-Canadian Therapists Gathering
Tinuno · March 14, 2026
KitaKits brought together 20 Filipino-Canadian therapists and social workers from Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, and beyond the GTA for an afternoon of food, kwentuhan, laughter, and connection outside of our professional roles.
What began as a simple catch-up between Gelica and fellow therapist Elda grew into a much larger gathering. Born from a shared recognition that helping work, particularly in private practice and from home, can sometimes feel surprisingly isolating. KitaKits created space for Filipino mental health professionals to meet one another not just as clinicians, but as people and community.
Over kamayan at Tinuno, introductions quickly turned into stories, shared experiences, plenty of laughter, and new connections. There was no workshop and no clinical agenda. Just an opportunity to gather around the table, be together, and make our professional community feel a little smaller and more connected.
Nurturing the Nurturers: Perinatal Mental Health for Healthcare Providers & First Responders
Instagram Live with Mumello · August 26, 2025
In partnership with Mumello, Gelica joined a live conversation exploring the often-unseen experience of becoming a parent while also being someone who is accustomed to caring for others.
Drawing from her work with healthcare providers and first responders, alongside her own experience of becoming a first-time mother during COVID, Gelica explored how the helper role can follow us into pregnancy and parenthood through identity shifts, guilt, hypervigilance, birth experiences, relationship changes, and the mental load that can come with caring for a new baby.
The conversation also made space for an important tension: being capable of caring for others doesn't always make it easier to receive care ourselves. Together, we reflected on the value of trauma-informed support that recognizes both the strengths helpers carry and the particular pressures they may experience during the transition into parenthood.
Out, Proud, and Still on Shift
Yorkdale · July 19, 2025
Out, Proud, and Still on Shift brought LGBTQ+ healthcare providers together for a trauma-informed, community-rooted conversation about what it can mean to care for others while navigating workplaces that may not always feel affirming, inclusive, or safe.
Co-facilitated by Gelica Tatarenko and Christopher Edd Galeno, the workshop explored burnout, identity-based stress, judgment, and the experience of feeling unseen while continuing to show up in demanding helping roles. Through nervous system education, reflection, practical regulation tools, and shared conversation, participants were invited to consider both the personal and systemic dimensions of what they carry at work.
At its heart, the gathering was about creating space to be seen beyond the role of healthcare provider to connect with peers who understand, breathe a little more freely, and be reminded that these experiences do not have to be carried alone.
Have something in mind?
We welcome opportunities to collaborate with community organizations, healthcare teams, professional groups, and spaces interested in thoughtful conversations about mental health and wellbeing.
Workshops · Speaking · Panels · Community events · Professional education
Grow with us
We’re looking for a Tagalog-speaking therapist to join our team.
Growth Psychotherapy is growing, and we’re looking for a Tagalog-speaking Registered Psychotherapist or Registered Social Worker in Ontario who is interested in gradually building a part-time caseload with our practice.
We’re especially interested in clinicians who understand the intersections of culture, migration, family, identity and mental health, and who want to help us expand access to culturally responsive care for Filipino and Filipino-Canadian communities.
We’re looking for someone who brings their own clinical perspective while sharing our commitment to thoughtful, ethical and culturally responsive care.
Vaughan + Virtual Across Ontario · Part-Time Psychotherapist Position · Independent Contractor · Tagalog-speaking