Meet Karen
OFFERING COUNSELLING, ASSESSMENT & SPECIALITY ADDICTIONS SERVICES
Karen Gaudin
Registered Psychologist R. Psych. (she/her)
Karen is a Registered Psychologist and the founder of Authentic You. She works with individual adults and older adults who are navigating complex mental health concerns and who want therapy that is safe, real, and clinically sound. Her work is grounded in a core belief. Healing happens when you feel understood, respected, and able to show up as your whole self.
With over 15 years of mental health experience, Karen supports clients with addictions, trauma, sex, gender, and a wide range of mental health conditions. Many people come to counselling feeling emotionally overwhelmed, burned out, or disconnected from who they truly are. Their lives have often been shaped around survival, coping, or meeting expectations of others, rather than living in alignment with their values and identity. Karen brings depth, presence, and emotional attunement to her work. Nothing needs to be hidden, minimized, or justified.
Authenticity sits at the centre of Karen’s practice, both professionally and personally. She believes that many psychological struggles develop when people cannot safely be who they are. Over time, this disconnection can show up as anxiety, depression, addictions, trauma responses, or chronic stress. Your therapeutic journey focuses on helping you reconnect with yourself beneath roles, coping strategies, and long held patterns. The work is not about fixing you. It is about supporting your identity, agency, and self trust.
Karen’s approach is evidence based, relational, and integrational. Her therapy style is eclectic in nature, using a blend of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), exposure based therapies, and somatic approaches. This work can help you understand the connections between your thoughts, emotions, behaviours, your body and nervous system, while staying focused on meaningful and practical changes. Sessions are collaborative and are shaped around your goals and readiness.
Karen also provides formal psychological assessments for adults. These assessments offer clarity around diagnoses, emotional and personality functioning, trauma related symptoms, and treatment direction. The process is thorough and collaborative, using validated assessment tools, diagnostic interviews, and clinical expertise. She also conducts forensic risk assessments when psychological opinions are required for legal or third party purposes. These services are clearly distinct from counselling.
Karen’s commitment to addictions work spans her entire career. Her published undergraduate honours thesis focused on addictions and alcohol screening, reflecting an early and enduring dedication to this area. She spent over a decade at Homewood Health supporting individuals with addictions and co occurring mental health concerns, progressing from Addictions Case Manager to Addictions Program Manager. She later served as the Addiction Clinical Lead at Insight Psychological Inc. before founding Authentic You.
Karen holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from MacEwan University and a Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology from City University of Seattle. Her work is grounded in evidence informed practice, ethical care, and deep respect for the human experience.
Karen works exclusively with individual adults through counselling, assessment, and specialized addictions services. Her approach is passionate, direct, and deeply attuned. Sessions are available Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Accepting LIMITED Adult Clients for Counselling,
Assessment, and Specialized Addictions Services
Areas of Competence & Clinical
Focus/ Presenting Concerns:
Karen works with adults presenting with a broad range of mental health and life concerns that often overlap and evolve over time. Clients may come in feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or unsure how to name what they are experiencing. She brings extensive clinical experience and strong diagnostic skills to help clients understand their concerns in context, address root drivers, and work toward meaningful change. The areas below reflect the common presenting concerns Karen supports through counselling and therapeutic care.
★ Addictions and Out of Control Behaviours
★ Adjustment Disorder
★ Alcohol Use Disorder
★ Anxiety Disorders
★ Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
★ Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
★ Avoidant Personality Disorder (AvPD)
★ Behavioural Addictions
★ Behavioural Compulsions
★ Bipolar I Disorder
★ Bipolar II Disorder
★ Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
★ Burnout
★ Chronic Relapse and Recovery Challenges
★ Compassion Fatigue
★ Coping Skills Development
★ Cyclothymic Disorder
★ Depressive Disorders
★ Dissociative Symptoms
★ Drug Use Disorder
★ Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating
★ Emotional Regulation Difficulties
★ Existential Concerns
★ Gambling Disorder
★ Gender Expression
★ Gender Identity
★ Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
★ Grief, Loss, and Bereavement
★ Internet Addiction
★ Interpersonal Struggles
★ Kink Aware Therapy
★ LGBTQ2+ Affirming Care
★ Lifestyle Transitions
★ Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
★ Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
★ Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)
★ Panic Disorder
★ Panic Attacks
★ Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD) / Dysthymia
★ Pornography Addiction
★ Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
★ Relationship Difficulties
★ Self Care Development
★ Self Compassion
★ Self Esteem
★ Sex Addiction and Out of Control Sexual Behaviours
★ Sex Therapy
★ Sexual Dysfunction
★ Shame and Identity Related Distress
★ Social Anxiety Disorder
★ Social Media and Phone Addiction
★ Stress Related Concerns
★ Substance Use Disorders
★ Trauma
★ Video Game Addiction
★ Workplace Related Stress and Injuries
Therapeutic Modalities &
Counselling Interventions Used:
Karen draws from a variety of evidence-based approaches and tailors her therapeutic approach and interventions to meet each client’s unique needs. Some of the primary modalities she integrates into work with her clients includes, but are not limited to:
★ Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Helping clients identify and shift unhelpful thought patterns, behaviours, and emotional responses.
★ Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
Building skills in distress tolerance, emotion regulation, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness.
★ Exposure & Response Prevention Therapy (ERP)
A gold-standard treatment for OCD and anxiety, supporting clients to face fears and reduce avoidance behaviours.
★ Gestalt / Humanistic Therapy
Fostering self-awareness, integration, and personal responsibility in the here-and-now experience.
★ Motivational Interviewing (MI)
A collaborative and client-centered approach to exploring ambivalence and enhancing motivation for change.
★ Positive Psychology & Strengths-Based Intervention
Highlighting resilience, values, and internal strengths to foster growth and well-being.
★ Rogerian / Client-Centered Therapy
Providing unconditional positive regard and a safe, empathic space for clients to explore and grow.
★ Somatic and Mind-Body Therapy
Supporting healing by reconnecting with the body and using practices that honors the nervous system and felt sense.
★ Addictions Work – Biopsychosocial Model
Exploring the interplay between biological, psychological, and social influences in substance use and recovery.
★ Addictions Work – Harm Reduction Approach
Supporting safer choices and meeting clients where they are, while promoting wellbeing and long-term change.
★ Addictions Work – Medical Model / Abstinence-Based Approach
Offering structure and support for clients pursuing abstinence, including relapse prevention and post-detox care.
★ Addictions Work – Transtheoretical Model of Change
Recognizing that readiness for change exists on a spectrum and aligning treatment with the client’s current stage.
Formal Assessments:
Karen provides comprehensive assessments that support diagnostic clarity, treatment planning, and professional recommendations. Assessments are tailored to the referral question and may be used in clinical, occupational, or legal contexts. Services include:
★ Addictions Assessments
Conducted for return-to-work or stay-at-work services, as well as other clinical or occupational purposes.
★ Forensic Risk Assessments
Specialized evaluations to assess the risk of criminal, violent, or sexual recidivism for legal and correctional contexts.
★ Psychological Assessments
Comprehensive evaluations for the purpose of diagnosis, clinical formulation, and treatment recommendations.
Continuing Education:
Certifications
Being an Ethical Psychologist - Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Certification (received February 2025); Dialectical Behavioural Therapy Certification Training (received in 2023); Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Training Certification (received in 2023); Intensive Trauma Treatment Certification: Dr. Bessel van der Kolk on How the Body Keeps the Score (received in 2023); Mastering DSM-5® Differential Diagnosis, Mental Health Documentation & Medical Necessity (received in 2023); ‘The Canadian Model Alcohol and Drug Policy Certification’ (received in 2015); Mental Health First Aid Canada Certification (received 2014)
Courses
Foundations of Somatic Therapy for Trauma (received December 2025); Personality Disorders Course: Advanced Diagnosis, Treatment & Management (received February 2025); Treating Personality Disorders: Advances from Brain Science and Traumatology (received February 2025); Ethical, Legal, and Professional Issues for the Advanced Practice Clinician: Strategies for Reducing Risk in Clinical Practice (received February 2025)
Trainings
‘EPIC Master Clinician Supervision Retreat’ (completed 2022); ‘EPIC Master Clinician - Practicum Ethics and Practical Knowledge’ (completed 2022); ‘EPIC Master Clinician - Building a Treatment Plan/Successful Sessions’ (completed 2022); ‘EPIC Master Clinician - Introduction to Family Therapy’ (completed 2022); ‘EPIC Master Clinician - Introduction to Couples Work - Part 1’ (completed 2022); ‘EPIC Master Clinician - Introduction to Couples Work - Part 2’ (completed 2022); ‘EPIC Master Clinician - Treating Trauma - Successful Interventions’ (completed 2022); ‘EPIC Master Clinician - Working with Children Through Play’ (completed 2022); ‘EPIC Master Clinician – Therapist Question & Answer’(completed 2022); ‘EPIC Master Clinician - Specialized Assessments’ (completed 2022); ‘EPIC Master Clinician - Nature and Animal Assisted Interventions’ (completed 2022); ‘Preventing Workplace Bullying, Harassment and Violence Training (received in 2017); ‘AODA Customer Service Training’ (received in 2017); ‘WHMIS Refresher Training’ (received in 2017); ‘Occupational Health and Safety Awareness Training for Supervisors’ (received in 2017); Diversity in the Workplace Training (received in 2017); Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training Program (ASIST) (received 2015);
Personal Insights:
What inspired you to become a psychologist?
My mom has been my greatest inspiration! Living alongside her experiences with chronic illness and trauma my entire life has shaped my understanding of strength, resilience, and compassion at a very young age. I saw how profoundly people are affected when their pain is not fully seen or held, and how transformative it can be when support is steady, safe, and genuine. That early exposure, alongside my own life experiences, sparked a deep and lasting commitment to the field of psychology. This work continues to matter more to me every passing year. I feel energized by it and deeply connected to the people I serve.
What is your therapy superpower?
My strength lies in relational depth paired with strong clinical structure. I connect deeply with clients while also bringing clarity, diagnosis, and direction into the work. I am comfortable holding complexity leaning into what present in a way that feels grounding, rather than overwhelming. Therapy is both human and purposeful and I believe genuine care and clinical rigor can exist together in the therapeutic relationship.
What values guide your clinical work?
My work is guided by openness, transparency, and non judgment. I believe healing happens when people feel respected and understood without having to perform or protect parts of themselves. I am committed to creating a space that is inclusive, real, and grounded in curiosity.
What can clients expect when working with you?
Clients can expect a relationship that feels warm, attuned and genuine. Clients often share that they feel comfortable early on which makes it effective for doing hard and difficult work together. Sessions are thoughtful and at each clients pace, while still moving toward meaningful change. You are not expected to perform, be articulate, or have clarity when you arrive. We work together to build it over time, in a way that will hopefully feel grounded and contained.
How do you define authenticity?
Authenticity is living in alignment with your values and your inner truth. In healing work, it means having the safety to face all parts of yourself with compassion rather than shame. Growth becomes possible when you no longer need to hide or fragment who you are to survive.
Favourite quotes?
“What we don’t need in the midst of struggle is shame for being human.” Brené Brown
“Life really begins at 40. Up until then, you’re just doing research.” Carl Jung
Karen's Clinical Areas of Specialization
Addictions and Out of Control Behaviours
Karen has extensive experience working with substance use and behavioural addictions, including alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography, gambling, gaming, and other compulsive patterns. Her work is informed by well over a decade in intensive addictions settings and leadership roles. Karen understands addiction as a meaningful response to pain, trauma, and unmet needs, while also holding responsibility, accountability, and behaviour change. Treatment is direct, compassionate, and grounded in long term recovery rather than symptom cycling.
Trauma, Complex Trauma, and Emotional Wounding
Karen works extensively with developmental trauma, complex trauma, relational violations, including abuse/ neglect, and chronic invalidation. These experiences often shape identity, nervous system functioning, relationships, and coping strategies across the lifespan. Karen brings depth, precision, and emotional attunement to trauma work, helping clients understand how their history has shaped their present while building regulation, stability, and coherence.
Burnout, Boundaries, and Chronic Overfunctioning
Karen specializes in working with high achievers, professionals, caregivers, and helpers who are burned out from years of over responsibility, people pleasing, perfectionism, or emotional labour. Many clients appear capable and successful while feeling depleted or disconnected internally. Karen’s work focuses on boundary development, values clarification, and undoing patterns of self abandonment that lead to exhaustion and resentment.
Sex, Gender, and Relationship Work
Karen provides experienced, sex positive, and affirming therapy for concerns related to sexuality, intimacy, desire, sexual functioning, shame, and out of control sexual behaviours. Her work includes LGBTQ2+ affirming care, gender and sexuality exploration, kink aware therapy, and support for non traditional and consensually non monogamous relationships. Karen approaches this work with clinical confidence, depth, and respect for complexity.
Complex Mental Health, Diagnosis, and Formal Psychological Assessment
Karen specializes in working with complex and overlapping mental health presentations, including multiple diagnoses, chronic symptoms, and conditions that do not fit neatly into a single category. She is highly skilled in formal psychological assessment and diagnostic formulation and believes that accurate diagnosis can be containing, validating, and empowering when done well. Karen works collaboratively to help clients understand their diagnoses, how symptoms developed, and how to move forward with clarity and direction.
Identity, Authenticity, and Self Integration
A core focus of Karen’s work is helping clients reconnect with who they are beneath adaptation, performance, and survival strategies. She works with clients who feel fragmented, lost, or unsure of their identity due to trauma, chronic stress, addiction, or long standing relational patterns. This work supports authenticity, self trust, self acceptance, self compassion, and integrated identity rather than coping driven living.
Karen Our Founder
an Authentic Snapshot🌿
Karen feels most grounded in and around water. Whether she is paddleboarding across Summerside Lake, drifting down a quiet river, or taking in the vastness of the ocean, water is where she reconnects with herself. These moments are not about escape. They are about presence. Slowing down. Listening inward. Remembering what it feels like to breathe fully and let the nervous system settle. This rhythm of returning to self is something Karen deeply values and carries into her work.
Travel, for Karen, is about immersion rather than destinations. She is drawn to culture, food, movement, and music as ways of understanding the world and herself more deeply. Music has long been a source of grounding and energy for her. Movement and rhythm are forms of regulation, expression, and connection. This belief in the healing power of the body and lived experience subtly informs how she works, inviting people back into themselves with care and respect.
Karen’s lived experience with adult ADHD, trauma, addiction and being queer has shaped her into the psychologist she is today. She brings an understanding that goes beyond theory. Her own healing has taught her the importance of compassion, humour, resilience, and self acceptance. It has also reinforced her belief that growth does not require perfection. These lessons inform how she shows up with clients and colleagues alike, with depth, courage, and humanity.
At her core, Karen is deeply committed to authenticity. She challenges systems and assumptions that ask people to shrink, hide, or conform to be accepted. She is passionate about creating spaces that are inclusive, affirming, and genuinely safe for all people, across culture, identity, relationship structures, sexual orientation, and gender expression. Her work is grounded in the belief that healing becomes possible when people are truly seen and allowed to exist as they are.
Karen’s presence is both strong and compassionate. In living her life with honesty and intention, she hopes to encourage others to do the same. Her mission is simple and deeply held. To help people come home to themselves.