1-855-777-1999

Here to help you

make positive, meaningful and effective
changes in your life

Committed to
the North

Serving the Northwest Territories
and its communities for over 20 years
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Welcome to Northstar

We are a specialized group of mental health professionals who have been helping people for over 20 years. We have all made the north our home, with each one of us living in Yellowknife. Our travels and work in various communities within the NWT has given us a good understanding of the north, its people, and the different cultures.  We are committed to helping people be emotionally and mentally fit.

Our Specialties

EFAP

Your employer may have an Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP), which provides for assessments, short-term counselling, referrals to specialists, mediation, and follow-up services to employees and their families.  Northstar is a contracted provider with many employers in the NWT, and is available to assist employees dealing with mental health issues and develop more adaptive coping mechanisms, both at work and at home.  Contact us, or speak to your employer, to find out if EFAP is available to you.

Trauma

Trauma is the result of extraordinarily stressful events that shatter your sense of security and leave you feeling overwhelmed and helpless. Common symptoms include struggling with frightening memories, feeling numb and disconnected from others, issues with trust and confidence in others, as well as feelings of anger, irritability, mood swings, guilt, shame, and self-blame.  Managing trauma means making sense of the stressful events in your life, and to overcome the tendency to supress the experiences.  Northstar is specialized in helping you speed up that recovery process.

Residential Schools

Many NWT residents endured and survived the government sponsored, church run Residential School system that was established to assimilate Aboriginal children into Euro-Canadian culture. Most often, the horrific experience included neglect, alienation from family, and emotional, physical and sexual abuse.  The Federal Government has committed to providing counselling to all survivors and their families. Members, and Northstar is contracted to provide that support. Find out if you or your family are eligible for the government-funded program by calling 1-800- 464-8106. Once your eligibility is established, contact us anytime to set up counselling

Relationships

Love is powerful. Whether it’s the love of family and friends or a romantic relationship, love and relationships of all types enrich and fulfill your life and provide support and a sense of belonging. Relationships can also cause a hurt, pain, self-doubt, and mistrust when they are not going well.  You are certainly not alone when this happens. We can help you and your loved ones reconnect and feel more secure in your relationship. We assist couples and families with identifying how they are negatively interacting with each other, and why, and finding paths to more meaningful and healthy connections within the relationship.

Anxiety

Anxiety can be an excessive worry about the future events or about unexplainable fears, and can result in personal tension and even physical aches and pains throughout your body. You may also experience rapid heart rates, shortness of breath, dizziness, sleep disturbance and episodes of panic.  Northstar helps you process events and conditions that may be linked to anxiety, challenge negative or irrational thoughts with more realistic thoughts, and lifestyle changes related to exercise, sleep, hygiene, and diet.

Depression

Depression is often related to conditions and events happening in your life, but sometimes the reason for its presence is less clear.  Symptoms of depression include poor concentration, excessive or limited sleep, changes in appetite, low mood, and negative and/or irrational thoughts. Northstar can help assess the type or source depression you are experiencing, and guide you through a number of well-established systems for managing and overcoming depression.  This includes support and validation for difficult situations, and replacing unhealthy patterns associated with behaviour, thoughts and feelings.  Sometimes medication is involved; however, this is not part of our practice, and it involves consultation with your family doctor.

Self-Esteem

Good self-esteem provides comfort and satisfaction as we conduct our daily lives. However, low self-esteem may cause anxious and sensitive feelings. If not managed properly, you may use coping tactics such as avoidance, over-analysing or trying too hard, or adopting a destructive lifestyle. You may find that achieving goals and skills is only a temporary boost to your esteem.  Northstar can assist you in addressing the negative early childhood and adolescent experiences, or experiences in adult life, that result in low self-esteem and being overly self-critical.  We can also help you explore realistic and supportive beliefs and behaviours about yourself to challenge your current beliefs and low self-esteem.

Assessments

Northstar can provide a wide range of assessment services with the goal of making appropriate intervention plans or strategies in your life. Through these assessments, we can identify specific issues and provide referrals to specific disciplines or specialists in order to receive proper care.  Our services include psychological assessments, pycho-educational assessments, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) assessments, as well as screening & assessment procedures for a wide variety of mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), adjustment disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and personality disorders.

Meet Our Team

Bryan Austin

Bryan Austin

Bryan Austin completed a master’s degree in School and Counseling Psychology, and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Psychology. In May of 2015 Bryan became a Registered Psychologist with the Saskatchewan College of Psychologists and registered as a psychologist in the NWT in October of 2015. Bryan has called Yellowknife home since. Bryan is a member of the Canadian Psychological Association and the Association of Psychologists of the Northwest Territories.

Bryan’s approach to counselling is grounded in client centered principals of warmth, genuineness, non-judgment, and unconditional positive regard. Bryan also utilizes a trauma informed approach to his work, giving attention to what happened to a person, in order to understand current functioning and challenges. Bryan takes an integrative approach to counselling and treatment. Approaches include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).

Through formal assessment Bryan specializes in the diagnoses and treatment of Intellectual Disabilities, Specific Learning Disorders, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders. He has extensive experience working with adolescents. Bryan is trained in the use of the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT). NMT is a developmentally sensitive, neurobiology-informed approach to clinical problem solving. It is an approach that integrates core principles of neurodevelopment and traumatology to inform work with children, families and the communities in which they live.

Bryan is excited to utilize and expand upon his experiences by offering psychological services to the NWT as a resident of the NWT. He looks forward to helping clients address their concerns, overcome their struggles, help them to grow, and to reach their individual goals.

Online Booking

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Bryan Austin

Psychologist
Alan Bowerman

Alan Bowerman

(867) 445-2135
al@northstarnwt.ca

Al has been practicing Psychology in the North since 1997, and specializes in Trauma, Attachment and Relationship issues with adults as well as children and adolescents. Trained in the use of Client Centred Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR),  the key component of his approach has been to assist people with living more effective, healthier lifestyles and achieving more satisfaction from their relationships, careers and personal pursuits.

As a Counselling Psychologist and member of both the Canadian Psychologist’s Association and the Association of Psychologists of the Northwest Territories, Al utilizes High Standards of Ethical Practice and Evidenced-Based Therapies to assist clients in effecting meaningful changes in their lives.  His practice includes treatment of DSM-V diagnosed disorders such as Anxiety and Mood Disorders and he has been trained in an array of Psychological Assessment practices including Psycho-educational Assessment of Children and Adolescents.

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Alan Bowerman

Psychologist
Jodi Kapicki

Jodi Kapicki

(867) 446-6440
jodi@northstarnwt.ca

Jodi was born and raised in the North, and is committed to helping people feel more secure within themselves and within their relationships.  A licenced psychologist since 2001, she specializes in trauma, relationship issues, as well as anxiety and mood disorders.  She works with individuals of all ages, couples, and families.

Jodi's therapeutic methods are based in Attachment Theory with a client-centred approach.  Believing the client is the expert in their own life, she assists the client in discovering what is working and what isn’t working by examining past and present day relationships/connections and experiences and their impact on current day functioning.  She helps identify emotions and the things that trigger those emotions, and teaches the client on how to take ownership of their reactions and interactions.

Jodi is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Emotionally Focussed Therapy (EFT), and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and aims to assist people with achieving personal growth and a greater sense of self worth.

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Jodi Kapicki

Psychologist
Bruce Stewart

Bruce Stewart

(867) 445-7101
bruce@northstarnwt.ca

Bruce has been a counsellor in Yellowknife for many years and has serviced several communities in the NWT, Nunavut and abroad.  His focus is on support, relationship building and assessment while the counselling responds to individual needs based on CBT, Narrative, EMDR.  He currently specializes in crisis, relationship conflict, personal stress, low self-esteem, trauma, and mood difficulties such as anxiety and depression.

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Bruce Stewart

Therapist

Why Choose Us

Over 30 Years of
Experience

1

Work with Most Insurance Plans

2

Flexible Payment Options

3

Group, Corporate & Government Contracts Accepted

4

Industry standard rates

5

Appointments by Phone and Email

6

Contact Us

480 Range Lake Road, Unit 3-A
Yellowknife, NT
X1A 3R9
1-855-777-1999