Throughout my 25-year journey in mental health providing counselling to individuals, couples, families and groups, I have developed a wide range of specialties that include marriage and family therapy, adolescent identity issues, PTSD, Bipolar management, and concurrent disorder treatment, to name a few.

My underlying philosophy is one of collaboration and teamwork where therapist and client work together to derive pragmatic solutions and lasting insight.
​I have also spent extensive time in an academic setting at the University of Lethbridge where I instructed every facet of the counselling process to undergraduate and graduate students. This experience has provided me with a passion for research and staying up to date and current with the latest therapeutic modalities and best practices.
My underlying mantra is that counselling and self-discovery can be a fun and inherently rewarding process full of imagination, curiosity and lasting change.
"Emancipate yourself from mental Slavery, none but our self can free our mind."

- Bob Marley

Top Specialties

Mood & Bipolar Disorders
Personality Disorders
​Phases of Life
​Spirituality
​Trauma & PTSD

Works With

Adults
Youth
Couples
Families
​Mental Health Assessments

Availability

Evenings
​Weekends​​​​​

Learn more about Dr. Trent Leighton, RPsych:

Additional Areas of Expertise
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
    • I have extensive experience working with adolescents and adults struggling with ADHD
  • Anxiety & Agoraphobia
    • I have found that in order to slow the mind down and address anxious symptoms, an emphasis on meditation/grounding for the somatic variables coupled with CBT/mindfulness to address thoughts and beliefs is a powerful therapeutic framework for addressing anxiety
  • Blending Families
  • Boundaries
  • Burnout
  • Bipolar Disorders
    • Bipolar disorder is my primary area of clinical and personal expertise. I work to combine somatic techniques with mindfulness, CBT, and ACT therapy tools to help clients develop a personalized plan of managing their bipolar disorder in all its complexities.
  • Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Trichotillomania, Excoriation & Medication Induced Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
    • Body Dysmorphic Disorder is a manifestation of OCD that I have had much experience working with in the treatment of eating disorders. When anxiety and ritualised behaviour become focused on a perceived bodily flaw the type of therapeutic approach must become flexible and creative
  • Co-Parenting
  • Creativity
  • Cross Cultural Issues
  • Delirium & Substance/Medication-Induced Neurocognitive Disorder
  • Depression
    • Most of my work with depression has been associated with Bipolar disorder. This has since expanded to include a wide range of depressive presentations. Somatic tools coupled with behavioural and mindfulness approaches is my go to when working with depression.
  • Divorce, Separation
  • Dissociative Disorders
  • Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa, Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), Binge Eating, Bulimia Nervosa & Pica
    • Helping to make conscious one's relationship with food and their body is my number one goal in working with eating disordered clients.
  • Ecological Grief
  • Economic Problems
  • Enuresis
  • Erectile Dysfunction
  • Exposure to Disaster, War
  • Gender Dysphoria
  • Grief & Loss
  • Identity, Sense of Self
  • Imposter Syndrome
  • Insomnia
    • The tools I use in working with sleep related issues come directly from my own life and decades long struggle finding consistent sleep.
  • Intergenerational Trauma
  • Intimate Partner Abuse or Neglect
  • Impulse-Control & Conduct Disorders
    • ​Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Intermittent Explosive Disorder
  • Loneliness
  • Life Transitions
  • Meaning or Purpose
  • Medication Induced Movement Disorders: Tardive Dyskenesia, Dystonia, Akathisia, Antidepressant Discontinuation Syndrome & Other Adverse Effects of Medication
    • ​I take great pride in maintaining the highest standard of medication awareness, especially side effects. This allows me to work with my clients by providing education and proactive awareness.
  • Men's Mental Health
  • Personality Disorders
    • If Bipolar Disorder is my primary area of clinical interest, personality disorders would be a close second. I am especially adept in working with Cluster "B" personality traits and have vast experience treating borderline personality disorder
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder & Adjustment Disorder
    • Over the years I have had the privilege of working with many first responders as well as military veterans. PTSD is an incredibly complex and challenging disorder to treat effectively. The intersection of body, mind and spirit must be taken into account and forms the foundation of my work with any client suffering from trauma.
  • Process/Behavioural Addiction
    • Internet Addiction
    • Pornography Addiction
  • Schizophrenia Disorders
    • Schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis have been a personal area of clinical interest since the early days of my career. I have experience applying a wide range of modalities working with the entire spectrum of psychosis, from substance induced to trauma based forms of perceptual disturbances.
  • Somatic Symptom Disorder, Illness Anxiety Disorder, Conversion Disorder (Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder) & Factitious Disorder
    • Somatic experiencing and other body based modalities are at the heart of any work I do, regardless of the disorder. When a client can begin to learn how to read their symptoms physically, a type of magic happens in which self-awareness expands dramatically.
  • Substance Related & Addictive Disorders
    • Since entering the field at age 24, I have worked in a variety of addiction treatment services focusing primarily on cannabis abuse and dependency.​
  • Occupational Problems
  • Perpetrators of Child Sexual Abuse
    • My Masters Degree practicum was spent working in a state prison with sexual offenders. It was hear I learned about the power of unconditional positive regard and empathy​
  • Relational Problems
  • Self Harm
  • Shame
  • Suicidality
  • Religion and Spirituality, Religious Trauma, or Leaving a Religion
    • ​The religious and spiritual problem area of focus is where my passion is both personally and professionally.
  • 2SLGBTQ2SIA+ Mental Health
Therapy Approaches
  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
  • Anti-Oppressive Therapy
  • Attachment Based Therapy
  • Client-Centered Therapy
  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
  • ​Culturally Sensitive Therapy
  • Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
  • Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
  • Existential Therapy
  • Gestalt Therapy
  • Hakomi Method
  • Harm Reduction Therapy
  • Jungian Therapy
  • Humanistic Therapy
  • Mindfulness Based Therapy
  • Motivational Interviewing
  • Nature Based or Eco Therapy
  • Narrative Therapy
  • Person Centered Therapy
  • Psychodynamic Therapy
  • Reality Therapy
  • Schema Therapy
  • Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SBFT)
  • ​Somatic Experiencing
  • Systems Therapy
  • Transpersonal Therapy
Communities
Languages
  • English​
Rates
  • $235 per 50 minute hour
  • Sliding-scale (reduced) rates are available on a case by case basis. Schedule a consultation for more information.
  • Rates may vary depending on fee schedules set by third-party direct-billing agencies (e.g. NIHB)
Direct-Billing
  • All participating insurance companies with Telus Health eClaims (e.g. Canada Life, Equitable Life, Manulife etc.)
  • Indigenous Services Canada (e.g. NIHB)
  • Alberta & Medavie Blue Cross (including VAC, RCMP, CAF, & Victims of Crime)
  • ​Green Shield
  • NexGen
  • SSQ
Education
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Depth Psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute (2008)
  • Master of Counselling Psychology, Southwestern College (1999)
  • Bachelor of Arts, Counselling Psychology, Portland State University (1995)
Fun facts
My spiritual life and the health of spirit in others is most important to me.
My hobbies include flying drones and aerial photography, hiking, and meditation.

Dr. Trent Leighton, RPsych offers Direct-Billing to most major insurance companies, including:

"There is a wall between you and me, between you and others. You must find that wall and demolish it."

​- Sai Baba

A little about me.

I am a seasoned counselor dedicated to fostering transformative therapeutic relationships grounded in a nondual worldview. ​I believe that both client and therapist share an intrinsic connection, rooted in the same fundamental substratum of existence. With extensive experience residing in Ashrams and spiritual communities, I possess a deep understanding of one’s true nature, which enables me to address a diverse array of existential concerns.

​In my practice, I see my role as a gentle reminder of the inherent wisdom and potential already present within you, often obscured by mistaken identity. I emphasize that suffering often arises from identification with a separate self, rather than recognizing oneself as the all-encompassing consciousness that we truly are.
I am committed to providing a safe and supportive space for exploration and discovery, where you can engage with the transcendent aspects of your being. My ultimate mission is to guide individuals toward the realization of their true selves and foster a deeper understanding of their existence. Through compassionate guidance and insightful dialogue, I invite you on a journey of self-discovery and healing.

Research Publications

No Separation: Community and Non-Dual Psychology

Reid, D., & Leighton, T. (2018) | Integrative & Interdisciplinary Practices, University of Guelph-Humber
This article looks at the importance of non-dual psychology and its integration into the community. The hypothesis of this paper states that addiction to a separate self-identity creates conflict in community. This type of dualism is first explored through modern history and then how it continues to impact society today. The authors discuss how addiction to a separate self can cause immense suffering by establishing a firm “I” and “Other” relationship. Secondly, the destructive impact of separateness is discussed, and is highlighted through the relationship between narcissism and the fear of death. Lastly, case studies of non-dual communities are explored to illustrate their importance in bringing about no-self or present-moment awareness. Each community expresses itself differently; however, their foundations are based on the understanding of a separate self-identity, and emphasizes the importance of non-dual awareness in each moment. They underline the significant themes of a psychological death, narcissistic patterns, and the importance of experiencing present-moment awareness in community. Read more...​

Piloting the Addition of Contingency Management to Best Practice Counselling as an Adjunct Treatment for Rural and Remote Disordered Gamblers: Study Protocol

Christensen, D., Witcher, C, Leighton, T., Hudson-Breen, R., & Ofori-Dei, S. (2018) | BMJ Open, Vol 8:No 4
Problematic gambling is a significant Canadian public health concern that causes harm to the gambler, their families, and society. However, a significant minority of gambling treatment seekers drop out prior to the issue being resolved; those with higher impulsivity scores have the highest drop-out rates. Consequently, retention is a major concern for treatment providers. The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and internet-delivered CBT and contingency management (CM+) as treatments for gambling disorder in rural Albertan populations. Contingency management (CM) is a successful treatment approach for substance dependence that uses small incentives to reinforce abstinence. This approach may be suitable for the treatment of gambling disorder. Furthermore, internet-delivered CM may hold particular promise in rural contexts, as these communities typically struggle to access traditional clinic-based counselling opportunities. Read more...​

Nondual Awareness and Counseling Curriculum: A Student Perspective

Leighton, T. (2017) | International Journal of Healing and Caring, Vol 17:No 2
Nonduality has been defined as a perennial thread running through wisdom traditions ranging from Buddhism to Advaita Vedanta. This thread offers various teachings and practices, such as meditation, transpersonal development, and contemplative self awareness. A growing body of data has demonstrated the therapeutic benefits that nonduality can have for mental health professionals and their patients. Counseling curricula, however, do little to impart nondual language or perspectives, impeding the impact nondual awareness can have on both faculty and students. I sought to address this deficiency through a case study of a counseling student’s experience of nonduality in a training program. My hypothesis is that for a nondual dialectic to become transformational for counseling students, specific allowances and adaptations must be made at the curricular level, to establish counseling of whatever approach to include the learning of a state of being and not exclusively counseling as doing. I conducted a one on-one semi-structured interview with focused questions designed to create a framework of nondual understanding and its expression in counseling labs, courses, and practicums. The findings support the hypothesis that nondual awareness can enhance the best outcomes of counseling students in a wide array of curricular programming. Recommendations extend these findings into a general framework that counseling programs could use to tailor their curricula to maximize the value of nonduality for students and faculty alike. Read more...​

Faith as a Therapeutic Companion: Instructing Counselling Students on the Import of Religion

Leighton, T. (2016) | Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, Vol 50:No 3
This article addresses the most efficacious means of teaching counselling students the import of religion when counselling faith-based clients. I present four fallacies that persist in counselling curricula: religious clients are hard to counsel, students must comprehend their clients’ religion before being able to comprehend clients’ therapeutic needs, existing courses cannot be used to deliver an effective religious education, and spiritual dialogue does not have a place in course content. Communicating a clinically salient religious understanding to students would enhance their curricular experience and therapeutic acumen, and can be taught concurrently within a counselling curriculum if faculty use existing programming. Read more...​

The Therapeutics of Counselling Religious Clients: Intake and Assessment

Leighton, T. (2014) | International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, Vol 12
This is the first of a series of articles exploring the unique interface between religion and psychotherapy. At issue is the paucity of clinical research and therapeutic application exploring not only effective methodologies for counselling clients of diverse religious backgrounds, but how to integrate religious beliefs with best practices. It is the premise of this author that religion has become a pariah, avoided by many mental health providers hiding behind “value neutrality,” unexplored transferential dynamics with religion as well as the belief that religious values are mutually exclusive with psychological principles. These misconceptions are especially present in the case of clients who present in counselling with extremely dogmatic and exclusive theological views that make the requisite quality of self-exploration necessary for progress difficult. Read more...​

Spiritus Contra Spiritum: The Body Addiction and Body Religion in Sandplay Therapy

Leighton, T. (2014) | Counselling and Spirituality, Vol 33:No 1
What happens when devoutly religious individuals find themselves not only consumed by faith, but alcohol and drugs as well? How is the bodily temple reconciled to host not only the higher expressions of spirituality, but also the temporal pleasures of addictive behavior? These questions form the backbone of this papers exploration of the relationship between addicted and religious physicality. The underlying hypothesis contends that sandtray therapy and its tactile therapeutic are ideally situated to heal the acrimonious chasm between embodied spirituality and embodied substance abuse. Illustrating this case will be a clinical vignette utilizing sandtray based on the theory and practices of Alfred Adler, Wilhelm Reich and Alexander Lowen. This will be done with in the context of a religious client struggling with an honest examination of authentic sobriety and authentic spirituality. The symbolic narrative of the sand and its mythical engagement with the unconscious provides a restorative reconciliation between the impulse toward faith and the impulse toward intoxication. This is a spiritual application of counselling that unfolds not from a technique, but from allowing the spiritual narrative of the body to inform the splits and fragmentations of personality freely and with innate intelligence. Read more...​

Existential Angst and the Therapeutics of Suspicion

Leighton, T. (2013) | International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, Vol 12
It is often noted that the health of any system is predicated upon a healthy dose of doubt and intrinsic scepticism. This is a requisite for identifying areas of improvement, blind spots and biases as well as culling out weak and diseased variables that might pose an eventual risk to the overall health of a system. Equally applicable to biological and natural systems as well as humanistic branches of epistemology, cosmology, sociology and other defining features of the human condition, suspicion ensures that the operational integrity and guiding principles of a collective are maintained, optimized and differentiated from other like bodies. This paper endeavours to resuscitate the forgotten historical lineage of doubt that constituted the early genesis of therapeutics in depth psychology and psychotherapy through the following question: “How can suspicion facilitate self-awareness and existential clarity within the therapeutic alliance?” Answering this question will be done primarily through a case-study that makes the point that suspicion is not something fabricated by psychology after the fact, but rather, that psyche itself is implicitly guided by contrarian ways that draw out the meaning and messages of symptoms, impulses and unconscious imagery leading people to seek therapy in the first place. Doubt, it is argued, is not something to be reductively paved over in counselling, but is the very therapeutic crucible of transcendence and self-awareness necessary for authentic, embodied transformation to unfold. Read more...​

Parables of a Recovering Self: Exploring the Assimilation and Psychological Consequences of Self

Leighton, T. (2008) | Doctoral Dissertation, Pacifica Graduate Institute
The author's lifetime of active engagement in the fundamental questions of his identity, most specifically the nature of the self, has been based on an impulse and deep curiosity that have taken him on a long and winding road through many of the teachings and practices of self-inquiry typically associated with the perennial philosophy, the thread that runs through the world's wisdom traditions, a core teaching that is referred to as "the metaphysic that recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds; the psychology that finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine reality" (Huxley, 1945, p. vii). These experiences, coupled with his current study of depth psychology, form the essence and primary source of data that looks at the historical belief in self from the premise of metanoesis, or nonduality.  ​Read more...​