Rey T. Singh MSW, RCS, C.Hyp, RSW

Social Worker, Psychotherapist

Clinical Counselling Hypnotherapist

Indigenous Trauma Specialist

 

Introduction:

• Extensive culturally-immersed experience working with First Nations across Canada since 1999.

• Registered Social Worker with the Ontario College of Social Workers in the Province of Ontario since 2011 and prior registrant in Alberta College of Social Workers.

• Registered with the Ontario Association of Social Workers

• Registered with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association

• Board Certified Addictions Counsellor

• Board Certified Clinical Supervisor

• Aboriginal Trauma Certified through the Justice Institute of British Columbia

• Master of Social Work with the University of Northern British Columbia: MSW project focused on Aboriginal Healing Methods and Community Healing working with mixed urban Aboriginal Communities in Toronto and Scarborough, Ontario.

• Former Lead Social Worker for Child and Parent Resource Insititute across General Clinical Services, Dual Diagnosis, and Aboriginal Services province-wide across Ontario.

• Cultural Safety Certified for Indigenous People through OPS.

• Prior experience as Itinerant Aboriginal Counsellor in Northern Alberta to Cree, Blackfoot, and Dene communities for Keyano College.

• Former Community Outreach Worker with Native Child and Family Services of Toronto working with Urban First Nations people and the healing of mixed ancestry Urban Aboriginal People.

• Assisted in the establishment of the Child and Family Life Centre in Scarborough: Prevention Services with NCFST in 2005

• Former Shelter attendant at Tumivut Aboriginal Youth Shelter in Toronto.

• Former Treatment Coordinator at Nimkee NupiGawagan Healing Centre: Culture-Based Treatment Centre for Aboriginal youth from across Canada

• Health Canada approved therapist for the FNIHB Short-term Mental health Crisis Program and Residential School Health Support Program for First Nations and Inuit Persons.

• Volunteer and working experience with Ojibway, Oneida, Mohawk, Iroquois, Dene, Carrier, Cree, Oji-Cree, Inuit, Metis, and mixed-blood Aboriginal persons.

• Identifies Aboriginal Spirituality and Worldview.

• Strengths-based Resiliency Focus, Trauma-Informed, Specialized Cultural Support-Consultation, Assessment, Treatment, and Planning.

• Elders: Robert Cree of Ft. McMurray First Nations; various in Ontario.

 

 

*Note to clients on culture

• *I am not a First Nations person and do not have any ancestry. (For those seeking support from counsellor with First Nations ancestry please contact me and I have FN practitioners I may refer you to). You may also be able to find them on Google or through First Nation service provider (Friendship or Aboriginal Health Access Center) in your area.

• Ethnically, I identify as a Global Indigenous Person from mixed South Pacific tribal cultures Hiligaynon (Filipino) and Fijian (Ancestry from Northern India). I was born in Prince Rupert, B.C. Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

 

 

   

Pictured with my extended family in Barotac, Viejo Philippines 1990 (2nd from left in the back row).

 

• I also have deep cultural connections to the broader First Nations community. I grew up in a community that is a hub of five BC First Nations communities.

• I was raised in a First Nations community church in Prince Rupert, BC. Also, I am also the proud father of two sons within the First Nations community in Ontario.

• My work is based on both my professional and lived experience in First Nation communities.

 

I am described as a highly intuitive counsellor with a strong ability to provide emotional support to clients while assisting them in a variety of evidence-based treatment modalities. These also include social interventions, cultural methods, planning for change, and skills to manage anxiety, depression, and complex post-traumatic stress. I utilize a number of treatment modalities such as  Solution-focused therapy and Brief-Narrative therapy, Indigenous healing methods, as well as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy to treat mental health diagnoses and addiction.  My exposure to both Western and Eastern Healing practices with insider experience and understanding of how spirituality assists the healing process further deepens the effectiveness of my approaches to healing and recovery.

 

My professional experiences include working in places such as Northern Ireland, British Columbia, Alberta, and more recently Ontario, both in rural and urban settings. My primary focus in treatment is on the development of a client-centered therapeutic relationship. The therapeutic relationship is one of trust and opens the doorway to explore, collaborate, co-create, and take steps towards meaningful change. This process often leads to new discoveries, realizations, and the opportunity to re-frame and co-create new meaning and understanding for the people he works with.

 

As well, my clinical understanding of trauma and resiliency aids my approach to practice. This includes a strong understanding of the brain science of trauma and addiction and harnessing the mind to heal means utilizing therapies that encourages balancing and integration practices. By assisting children, youth and adults alike I am able to teach skills to calm the anxieties, and methods to encourage the mind to process, order, and integrate new information resulting in excellent health outcomes. I also teach skills to increase tolerance to stress and help regulate emotions using such techniques as guided imagery and meditation as well as other mindfulness-based practices to support those in need. As well, I am well versed in different culture-based treatment modalities to improve health and healing outcomes.  I am deeply committed to working with individuals and families alike and I am a strong believer in integrating community and family involvement in individual therapy when possible.