Justin the Therapist

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Justin the Therapist

Justin Michel, MA, MSc, RP. Individual/Couple/Family Therapy. Owner/manager of BBtherapy.ca

06/10/2026

Part two of answering this question from a student at and they asked me to keep it real, so here we are. 🫣

The industry right now is tough… I’ll just say it.

More people than ever are becoming therapists, which is genuinely a beautiful thing, but at the same time, the demand side of things is shifting in ways that are making it harder for therapists to build sustainable practices.

When therapists are struggling to make a living, that doesn’t just affect them, it affects the quality of care their clients receive too.

It’s not a comfortable conversation but it’s one worth having. If you’re a therapist navigating this right now, this conversation is for you. 🫶

Ontario Therapy | Psychotherapist | Mental Health | Therapist | AI In Therapy

06/08/2026

We live in a world where therapy language is everywhere. 👀

Trauma. Narcissist. Unmet needs. Intergenerational patterns. ADHD. OCD.

People come into session throwing around these terms all the time, and that's okay. Curiosity is a great starting point!!

But there's a difference between recognizing a word that resonates and actually understanding what it means for you, why it shows up in your life, and what to do with it.

Therapy isn't passive. You're not sitting in a chair while someone performs magic tricks on your mind… you're in the driver's seat. The therapist is just there to guide you, but you're the one doing the work.

So if you've been collecting labels but haven't yet gotten curious about what's underneath them, that's actually the perfect place to start. 👏👏👏

06/04/2026

The other week I had the honour of giving the keynote address at the Annual General Meeting. 💙

Compass is doing something really special. They're partnering with social workers, employment agencies, addiction counselors, and therapists like us at BB to not just feed people's bellies, but feed the whole person.

That vision aligns so deeply with what we're trying to build at BB! The idea that people deserve support in every area of their lives, not just one.

When I first visited Compass, I left genuinely moved. There was something about the way they show up for people, with so much warmth, dignity, and care, that felt deeply Christ-like to me. So learning later that Compass was originally founded by churches made a lot of sense. That spirit is still very much alive in everything they do!

Grateful for the invitation and for the reminder of why this work matters. 🙏

05/27/2026

Money should never be the reason someone doesn’t get support. 👏👏👏

So at we ask people “what can you afford?” and we work from there.

I started ATO because I genuinely believe that if you need therapy, there should always be a way to access it. The cost of living is real, and the last thing I want is for someone to sit with something heavy because the price tag got in the way.

So no matter what you can afford, we always do our very best to find you as great a match as possible.

If cost has been the thing standing between you and therapy, head to the link in my bio and take a look at what we offer at ATO. 💙

Affordable Therapy Ontario | Ontario Therapy | Psychotherapist | Mental Health Support | Accessible Therapy

05/24/2026

Every new therapist has had this moment. 😳

The room goes quiet, your client isn't giving you much, and suddenly every instinct is telling you to fill the silence, ask another question, say something… ANYTHING!!

I get it, I have also been there.

But the reality is, the more you put in, the more they pull back. You start doing all the work and without meaning to, you've become their radio.

If your client is pulling away, the counterintuitive move is to pull back too.

Let the silence sit.

This is their time, and if they're not getting what they need from it, that's worth exploring together.

💭 Sometimes it's shyness, and it just takes time to build safety.

💭 Sometimes it's that a client genuinely isn't sure they want to be there.

💭 Sometimes people just need a different entry point into the conversation altogether.

My simple advice? Ask your clients what their hobbies are.

Get someone talking about something they love and they will light up every time. Find what makes them tick, and suddenly you've got a way in.

bbtherapy.ca/services/clinical-supervision/

05/19/2026

Remember those 50+ questions from ? I told you I’d get to them. 😅

This one came from a student who asked me to keep it “real” about the industry… specifically the gap between studying therapy and actually doing it.

This was a big one for me when I was starting out.

You spend years studying therapy and then you sit across from your first real client and go… wait, this is nothing like what I read.

And that’s where the REAL learning begins. The stuff that actually shapes you as a therapist happens in those moments, not in a textbook.

This is such a good question and one I could talk about all day.

Stay tuned for part 2. 🙌

Ontario Therapy | Psychotherapist | New Therapists | Therapist Insight | York University

05/18/2026

Nine years of sitting across from people in all kinds of seasons of life teaches you a lot.

One pattern I keep seeing, no matter who walks through the door, is people who feel genuinely stuck in some area of their life.

And what I've noticed is that it usually comes down to one of four things… the tricky part is that most people can't see it clearly from the inside.

That's the thing about being stuck. It rarely feels like a problem you can solve in the moment. It just feels like…

“This is who I am.”
“This is how things are”.

But it isn't.

And once you start to identify what's actually keeping you where you are, something shifts. It doesn't always happen overnight, but it begins to move… and that's usually enough to start. 🙌

05/14/2026

Where are most people learning about relationships these days?? 👀👀

Social media.

And I get it… it's accessible, it's engaging, and it's designed to keep you coming back.

The problem is that the algorithm isn't pushing what's accurate, it's pushing what performs. And what performs is simple, catchy, one-sided takes that feel validating in the moment.

Real relationship advice is nuanced.

👉 It takes time to explain.
👉 It doesn't always feel satisfying.
👉 And it rarely fits in a 15 second video.

So what ends up spreading instead is the sensational stuff, the hot takes, and the phrases that make you feel seen but leave out half the picture.

And then people take that very narrow lens and hold it up to their very real, very complicated relationship, and wonder why nothing adds up.

Social media isn't going anywhere. But it's worth being a little more selective about where you're taking your relationship advice from.

Because you're not navigating TikTok. You're navigating a real person, with a real history, real needs, and a whole lot of context that no algorithm is ever going to capture. 💙

bbtherapy.ca/services/couple-therapy/

05/13/2026

I will never pass up a chance to give advice to a new therapist. 😎📝

The early years in this field can be a lot to navigate. You’re building your skills, finding your voice, and figuring out who you are as a therapist, ALL at the same time.

These three things have come up again and again in my own experience and in the work I do with therapists in supervision.

If you’re a new therapist looking for some extra support and guidance along the way, my DMs are open.

💌 Let’s talk about Clinical Supervision.

Ontario Therapy | Psychotherapist | New Therapists | Clinical Supervision | Therapist Tips

05/08/2026

AI transcription in therapy… part two. ✌️

And this one is alllll about reflection, arguably the most overlooked piece of this whole debate.

Reflection is something we ask our clients to do at the end of every session. So by letting AI write our notes, this means we’re not only skipping that step all together, but we’re holding our clients to a standard that we’re not holding ourselves to.

Writing session notes is not just about admin work, it is how we process, grow, and show up better next time!!

Agree? Disagree? I want to know what you think about having AI in the therapy room. 👀👀

Ontario Therapy | Psychotherapist | AI In Therapy | AI Transcriptions

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52 Village Centre Place
Mississauga, ON
L4Z1V9

Telephone

+13653005056

Website

http://justinthetherapist.com/

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