Guilaine Badawi is a PhD candidate in the Clinical and Research Psychology Program at Concordia University and a therapist at Connecte Montreal Psychology Group. She holds a Master’s degree in Psychiatry from McGill University and is currently completing her doctoral dissertation aiming to clarify social anxiety risk for problematic drinking in young adults. Through her research and clinical work, Guilaine has aimed to better understand diverse difficulties that people experience including anxiety, depression, substance use and disordered eating while providing treatment for adults experiencing various emotional and interpersonal difficulties. Guilaine has had diverse clinical experiences including working at the Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy Unit at the McGill University Health Centre and completing a predoctoral psychology internship at the Personality Disorders, Anxiety and Mood Programs at the Allan Memorial Institute. Her clinical interests include working with adults struggling with anxiety, depression, trauma, interpersonal difficulties, eating disorders, OCD and substance use. She also has experience treating adults experiencing emotional difficulties following traumatic brain injuries.

Guilaine’s approach to psychotherapy is integrative and collaborative. She works with clients to understand their needs, their experiences and guides clients towards change. She integrates dialectical, cognitive behavioural, acceptance-based, mindfulness and mentalization-based strategies throughout treatment and tailors interventions to the client’s needs. Guilaine has always been curious and interested in understanding how and why people do what they do. She helps clients better understand their difficulties, patterns of behavior, thoughts and related-emotions. She is passionate about helping them cultivate more helpful and adaptive coping strategies through psychotherapy in order to improve their overall wellbeing, quality of life and relationships.

In her spare time, Guilaine enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling and discovering different countries, cultures and cuisines and taking long walks (weather permitting!). She also enjoys spending time with her baby niece, taking care of her dog, cooking, sharing good meals with friends and watching movies and series.