About Jacqueline

Jacqueline Kaminski is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) and Expressive Arts Therapist at Newmarket Therapy Centre Downtown, working with adults navigating trauma, grief, anxiety, and life transitions. She brings a warm, compassionate presence to support clients through life's most difficult challenges — and to help them clarify and pursue the goals that reflect what matters most.

With a client-centred and holistic approach, Jacqueline integrates Mindfulness, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, somatic, and experiential methods to address concerns such as anxiety, depression, low self-worth, and relationship struggles. For those interested in exploring deeper patterns, she also draws on psychodynamic principles to help clients understand how early relationships and childhood experiences may be shaping their present life. Together, the work becomes one of healing old wounds and building new, healthier ways of relating to oneself and others.

Trauma-Informed Practice

Jacqueline supports adults impacted by trauma — including childhood and sexual abuse — drawing on trauma-informed methods grounded in the work of Janina Fisher. This approach helps stabilise the nervous system, make sense of how the brain and body adapted to survive trauma, and introduces safe, body-based interventions. It supports the recognition of inner strengths and the development of a more compassionate relationship with the inner child or parts of the self, with the goal of greater integration.

Jacqueline has applied these methods with care and sensitivity in both her private practice and her previous role as a counsellor at a Sexual Assault Centre.

Expressive Arts Therapy

Since 2016, Jacqueline has engaged in extensive training in Expressive Arts Therapy and is nearing completion of a three-year Master's-level program at the CREATE Institute. Expressive Arts Therapy incorporates a range of expressive modalities — writing, movement, sound, painting, collage, installations, storytelling, and role-play — in a sensory-based process that brings clients into the present moment, reveals inner blocks, and connects them to the resources within themselves needed to move forward.

This trauma-informed approach is especially helpful when words feel out of reach or difficult to express. It can soothe both body and mind, promote a sense of self-efficacy, and support clients in imagining new possibilities and narratives for their lives. Over the past two years, Jacqueline has facilitated several expressive arts therapy groups for survivors of violence and sexual abuse, helping participants strengthen skills in grounding, emotional regulation, boundaries, self-compassion, and community-building.

Education & Training