Thomas Benowicz, MEd, Registered Provisional Psychologist (P7898)

Thomas is a Registered Provisional Psychologist. He has been providing therapeutic services and psychological assessment for several years at both local community and university mental health clinics.

Over the course of his career, Thomas has worked with individuals living with anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), trauma, grief and loss, stress, burnout, workplace and relationship conflicts. Thomas’ work as a clinical assessor has given him further insight when working with clients dealing with neurocogitive challenges, academic difficulties, and learning impairments. Thomas’ work as an assessor has also helped him to understand that challenges his clients face are very often not only due to “one thing”. Most often emotional distress, psychological challenges, and communication breakdowns happen due to a series of factors. Sometimes one or two tweaks can create a significant shift. Other times it takes time to unravel how things got to the place they are, and then time to put the pieces back together in a way that allow his clients to feel capable, valued, and connected.

Thomas helps his clients by combining evidence based counselling approaches with compassion and humour.

Anxiety and Depression
Anxiety and depression are two of the most commonly experienced psychological concerns. They can be overwhelming and challenging to deal with, but decades of research demonstrate that counselling can help with managing symptoms and improving quality of life. Thomas combines evidence-based interventions such as Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with a personalized, compassionate approach to help his clients explore and build tools to manage these concerns. Sessions may involve uncovering and understanding unhelpful beliefs, thought patterns, and behaviours that fuel anxiety and depression and exploring strategies to reduce their influence, recognizing triggers, and collaboratively developing a plan for handling these concerns in the “real world” outside of therapy.

Trauma and PTSD

Thomas understands the damaging impact that a traumatic experience can have across numerous domains of life. Intrusive thoughts, negative changes in mood and cognition, constantly feeling “on edge” or unsafe, feeling unable to unwind or have fun, and avoidance of certain thoughts, places, and people are just some of the symptoms that can arise as a result of trauma. Trying to manage these concerns in addition to handling work, school, relationships, and other responsibilities can quickly become frustrating and overwhelming. Thomas provides a safe environment for clients to process and understand their trauma and the resulting changes in their lives. Moving at whatever pace each client prefers, Thomas supports them with evidence-based techniques designed to foster resilience, manage unhelpful symptoms, rebuild a sense of safety, and collaboratively develop a path forward.

ADHD Counselling

In addition to offering assessments to confirm the presence of ADHD, Thomas offers counselling aimed at managing the various challenges that ADHD can pose. Using approaches such as Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, Thomas works with clients to develop strategies to improve organization, time management, academic skills, attention, and other areas of concern. By helping clients understand their unique strengths and areas of difficulty and developing personalized techniques based on this information, Thomas supports his clients in pursuing their academic, professional, and personal goals while living with ADHD. He is also happy to assist clients with navigating the process of receiving academic or other accommodations following an ADHD diagnosis.

 Grief and Loss

Thomas understands firsthand how grieving the loss of a loved one can be an extremely overwhelming, painful, and seemingly never-ending experience. Whether a client has suffered a recent loss of a family member, friend, pet, relationship, health status, or something/someone else that was a valuable part of their life, or if they’ve been dealing with the pain of a loss for many years, therapy can be helpful in processing grief, reshaping relationships with lost loved ones, finding meaningful ways to honour their memories, and developing methods of managing the aspects of grief that make it difficult to move forward in life. Everyone’s journey with grief is different and there is no “one size fits all approach,” and Thomas aims to create a supportive, empathetic environment using a therapeutic approach that follows each client’s unique pace and preferences to ensure they are supported and better equipped to handle the challenges associated with grieving.

Academic/Student Concerns

We’re often told from a young age that doing well in school is important. However, we’re less often told how to do well. Stress, anxiety, trauma, burnout, family and relationship issues, and lacking the right study strategies are just some of the possible contributors to reduced academic performance. In addition to providing psychological assessments to help uncover concerns that may be harming grades (e.g., ADHD, specific learning disability), Thomas also provides counselling relating to academic concerns. This may include addressing factors outside of school that are making it difficult to pay attention in class or complete homework. It could also involve building a learning/studying plan based on a combination of scientific research and each client’s learning style and preferences. Thomas has worked with university and high school students and understands the difficulties they face, both from a professional standpoint and the personal experience that comes with completing the degrees required to enter the profession of psychology.

 Psychological Assessment

Thomas provides formal psychological (psychometric) assessments for children, adolescents, and adults. Psychological assessments can be critically important tools in helping people identify their strengths and areas of difficulty, developing effective and personally customized treatment plans, and, where appropriate, providing diagnoses that can help explain symptoms and open the door to receiving various supports. They generally involve the use of objective, standardized measures that are designed to determine how an individual is functioning in an area of interest (e.g., learning, memory) when compared to their peers.

Thomas conducts various assessments to answer his clients’ questions and to help develop individually tailored strategies they can apply to make their daily academic, professional, and personal lives easier. Questions that Thomas routinely answers in assessments are around “Do I have: ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Gifted IQ, Dyslexia, Addictions, Mood Disorder, Personality Disorder, Memory Issues” and so on. Prior to completing an assessment, Thomas always meets with clients for an interview to develop a strong understanding of their goals and concerns and to answer questions about the process. In doing so, he also works to create relationships with his clients to help ensure they are comfortable and at their best on the day of their assessment.

While he provides assessment services to just about all ages, Thomas only provides counselling services to adults. 

Professional Background

Thomas completed both his Master of Education in Counselling Psychology and his Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Psychology at the University of Alberta. He is a Registered Provisional Psychologist with the College of Alberta Psychologists and a member of the Psychologists’ Association of Alberta.

Thomas completed practicums in both psychological assessment and counselling at the University of Alberta Educational Psychology Clinical Services. Prior to beginning his Master’s degree, Thomas provided assessments (primarily ADHD assessments) and neurofeedback/biofeedback therapy under the supervision of Registered Psychologists in the Edmonton area for several years.

While he provides assessment services to just about all ages, Thomas only provides counselling services to adults.