Judith Wiens, RSW, MSW

Registered Social Worker

She/her/hers

Accepting new clients for in-person and virtual appointments

You love each other, but lately it feels harder to connect.

Maybe you and your partner keep having the same argument, even though you've both promised to communicate differently. A conversation can begin with the best intentions and somehow end with frustration, defensiveness, anger, or someone shutting down. You may find yourself walking on eggshells, carefully choosing your words, avoiding certain topics, or wondering how someone you love so much can also feel so difficult to reach.

Or perhaps your family is going through a difficult season. You may be struggling to communicate with your teenager, feeling caught between family members, or finding that stress and frustration are affecting the way everyone relates to one another. You want to set boundaries without creating more conflict. You want to be heard without hurting someone you love. You want your family to feel connected again, but you're not sure how to get there.

Sometimes, relationship difficulties are also connected to what you're carrying individually. Anxiety, overthinking, burnout, depression, past experiences, or feeling overwhelmed can shape how we communicate, respond to conflict, and show up in the relationships that matter most. You may understand that something needs to change but still find yourself falling into the same patterns.

I believe therapy can be a place to slow those patterns down and understand what is happening beneath them. Together, we'll explore the ways you and the people around you communicate, respond to one another, and make sense of difficult experiences. Rather than focusing only on what's going wrong, we'll look at the stories and patterns that have developed within your relationships and consider whether they still fit who you are and how you want to relate to one another.

I help clients step back from the problem and examine the relationship stories, expectations, roles, and patterns that may be contributing to their pain or disconnection. This can create space to see one another differently, recognize strengths and moments when things have gone well, and begin developing new ways of communicating and relating. I draw from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and mindfulness, tailoring our work to the people in the room and the changes you want to make.

My goal is to help you move from feeling stuck in cycles of conflict, frustration, and disconnection toward greater understanding, confidence, and connection. For couples, that might mean being able to have difficult conversations without every disagreement becoming a fight. For families, it might mean finding healthier ways to communicate, establish boundaries, and navigate change together. And when individual struggles are affecting your relationships, therapy can help you better understand yourself, manage what you're carrying, and feel more confident in how you respond.

You don't have to wait until things feel impossible to reach out. Therapy can be a place to say the things that have been difficult to say, understand the patterns that keep repeating, and begin creating a different story for yourself and your relationships.

One reminder that reflects how I think about communication is: “Say what you mean, mean what you say, and don’t say it mean.” I believe that honest and respectful communication can create meaningful change not only in our relationships with others, but also in the way we understand and relate to ourselves.

Experience

Judith Wiens is a Registered Social Worker with a Master of Social Work from the University of Manitoba and 20 years of experience supporting individuals, adolescents, couples, and families through a wide range of mental health and life challenges.

Before entering private practice, Judith worked for more than a decade with Rehab First Inc., where she supported and assessed individuals, adolescents, couples, and families experiencing depression, anxiety, trauma, and psychotic disorders. Her broader social work experience includes working within child welfare and government systems, as well as a variety of human services settings.