Emotional Regulation

Jan 7

Understanding Emotional Regulation

Emotional regulation refers to the ability to experience, understand, and respond to emotions without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down. It does not mean suppressing feelings or staying calm at all times. Instead, it involves developing enough internal stability to notice emotions, tolerate them, and choose how to respond.

Many people were never taught how to regulate emotions in a healthy way. Early experiences, trauma, chronic stress, neurodivergence, or emotionally invalidating environments can all impact how emotions are processed and expressed later in life.

At Lodestone Psychology, emotional regulation therapy focuses on skill-building, nervous system awareness, and self-understanding rather than control or avoidance.

When Emotional Regulation Is Difficult

Difficulties with emotional regulation can show up in many ways, including:

Intense emotional reactions that feel hard to contain
Emotional shutdown or numbness
Rapid mood shifts
Difficulty calming down after stress or conflict
Feeling flooded during conversations or decision-making
Regret after emotional reactions

These experiences are common in people living with anxiety, trauma, ADHD, chronic stress, or relationship challenges.

The Role of the Nervous System

Emotional regulation is closely tied to nervous system functioning. When the nervous system is overwhelmed, emotions can feel urgent, extreme, or unmanageable. Therapy helps clients understand their stress responses and learn how to return to a sense of safety and balance.

Developing regulation is not about willpower—it is about capacity.

Our Therapeutic Approach

Emotional regulation therapy at Lodestone Psychology is practical, compassionate, and paced to your needs. Therapy may include:

Building awareness of emotional and physical cues
Nervous system regulation and grounding skills
Mindfulness and present-moment practices
Identifying emotional triggers and patterns
Learning distress tolerance and self-soothing strategies
Strengthening emotional communication and boundaries

We integrate approaches from CBT, ACT, somatic therapies, and trauma-informed care, tailoring strategies to fit your life.

Emotional Regulation in Daily Life

Improved emotional regulation often leads to:

Greater emotional clarity
Improved relationships and communication
Reduced reactivity and overwhelm
Increased confidence in handling stress
A stronger sense of internal steadiness

These skills develop gradually through practice and support.

We support adults across Calgary and Alberta who want to feel more grounded, resilient, and emotionally confident. Both in-person and virtual sessions are available.

Learning to work with your emotions is a skill that can be developed at any stage of life. Therapy can help you build that capacity with care and support.

Featured

Tracy Firth, MA, CCC, Provisional Psychologist

For many of the people who find their way to Tracy, life looks fine on the surface but doesn’t feel that way inside. They’re holding it together at work, managing too many responsibilities, or trying to make sense of who they are after an ADHD diagnosis that explains a lot but also stirs up grief. What they want most is to feel like themselves again.

In therapy, Tracy offers a calm, grounded space to slow down and make sense of what’s been building up. Clients describe her as honest, curious, and quietly funny. Humour helps people relax, but she’s not afraid to name the hard things. Tracy isn’t one to gloss over the hard stuff; she believes in the kind of hope that grows from understanding yourself clearly, not from pretending everything is okay.

Jodey Sharman, BSc OT, MA, Registered Psychologist

Jodey, is a Registered Psychologist in Calgary with over 35 years of experience in healthcare and rehabilitation. She works with adults of all ages coping with Trauma, anxiety, depression, stress, grief, and relationship difficulties. Many of her clients are professionals, in high stress occupations, and are health care providers and therapists.

Jacqulynn Joy (Jake) Mulyk, MA, CCC

Jake’s approach is creative and deeply trauma-informed. She often integrates Internal Family Systems (IFS), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), trauma treatment, and expressive arts to help clients rebuild inner safety and emotional regulation. Before becoming a therapist, she spent two decades as a professional artist, and that creative lens continues to shape how she helps people explore meaning, story, and identity through their own healing process.

Rachel Clare, MSW, RSW

Rachel Clare, MSW, RSW, is a Calgary-based Registered Social Worker with more than 20 years of counselling experience. She works primarily with adults, often high-achieving Gen X and Millennial women, who are navigating anxiety, burnout, grief, or the lasting impacts of trauma. Her work often supports clients recovering from religious or relational wounds, managing chronic illness or ADHD, and rebuilding steadiness after prolonged stress.

Aaron Esler, MACP, CCC, RCC

Known for his calm steadiness and a quick sense of humor, Aaron helps clients feel at ease from their very first session. He approaches therapy as a collaborative process, using warmth and curiosity to help clients explore what’s been hard without judgment or pressure. His work blends Cognitive and Dialectical Behaviour Therapies (CBT and DBT) with mindfulness and psychoeducation, guiding people to recognize unhelpful patterns, reframe beliefs, and build practical tools for lasting change. He believes people already have what they need to heal — therapy simply creates the space and safety to rediscover it.

Mariah Hunt, BKin, MACP, CCC

Mariah believes that therapy begins with safety and connection. She creates a space where clients can exhale, feel seen, and start to come home to themselves, whether that means navigating the overwhelm of anxiety, finding steadiness in postpartum life, or exploring the questions of early adulthood. Her calm and compassionate presence helps people slow down enough to discover what truly matters to them.

Danica Heidebrecht, MEd, Registered Psychologist

Danica Heidebrecht is a Registered Psychologist (M.Ed.) who believes therapy is first and foremost about connection. For nearly two decades, she has supported adults navigating anxiety, shame, stress, trauma, and relationship challenges.

Danica’s presence is warm, steady, and collaborative. She draws from trauma-informed, somatic, mindfulness, and attachment-based approaches to help clients feel safer in their bodies, more at ease in their emotions, and more connected in their relationships.

Kristen Paliwoda, MACP, Registered Psychologist

Kristen Paliwoda offers a gentle, grounding presence that helps clients feel understood and supported from the moment they meet her. She works primarily with women navigating life transitions — from the growing pains of early adulthood to the changing identity that often accompanies motherhood. Her approach is warm, collaborative, and guided by curiosity. She integrates EMDR, CBT, and mindfulness-based practices, creating a process that feels both steady and flexible — never rushed, never one-size-fits-all.

Jennifer Straub, MSW, RCSW

Jennifer meets clients in the places where life feels heavy—grief that lingers, trauma that resurfaces, and transitions that leave people uncertain of their next step. Her work is grounded in the belief that healing begins when people feel safe enough to be seen, heard, and understood.

As a Registered Clinical Social Worker (RCSW) with more than 20 years of experience, she supports adults navigating complex and developmental trauma, anxiety, depression, and loss through a calm, collaborative, and relational approach.

Darren Wood

Emotional Regulation

Understanding Emotional Regulation

When Emotional Regulation Is Difficult

The Role of the Nervous System

Our Therapeutic Approach

Emotional Regulation in Daily Life

In-Person Locations

Availability

On-Line Appointments

Contact

Get Support

Emotional Regulation

Understanding Emotional Regulation

When Emotional Regulation Is Difficult

The Role of the Nervous System

Our Therapeutic Approach

Emotional Regulation in Daily Life

Grief, Loss & Bereavement

Disordered Eating

In-Person Locations

Availability

On-Line Appointments

Contact

Get Support