Life Transitions

Jan 9

Navigating Change and Uncertainty

Life transitions are periods of change that disrupt familiar routines, roles, and expectations. Some transitions are anticipated and chosen, while others arrive unexpectedly. Even positive changes can create stress, grief, or self-doubt as you adjust to a new version of your life.

At Lodestone Psychology, life transitions therapy offers support during these in-between periods—when what was familiar no longer fits and what comes next is still unclear. Therapy provides space to slow down, reflect, and find steadiness while navigating uncertainty.

Common Life Transitions People Seek Therapy For

Life transitions take many forms. Clients often seek support during or after:

Career changes, job loss, or retirement
Moving, relocation, or immigration
Relationship beginnings, endings, or changes
Becoming a parent or caregiver
Children leaving home
Health changes or new diagnoses
Identity shifts or personal growth milestones
Aging and changes in independence
Major losses or disruptions to future plans

Transitions often involve both gain and loss, which can feel confusing or emotionally complex.

The Emotional Impact of Transitions

Life transitions can stir a wide range of emotions, including excitement, grief, anxiety, relief, and fear—sometimes all at once. Many people feel pressure to “be grateful” or to move through change quickly, which can lead to suppressed emotions or self-judgment.

Therapy helps normalize these reactions and provides a place to process what is being left behind as well as what is emerging.

Identity, Meaning, and Direction

Transitions often challenge identity. Roles, routines, and self-concepts that once provided structure may no longer apply. This can raise questions about purpose, values, and direction.

Life transitions therapy often focuses on:

Clarifying values and priorities
Exploring identity shifts
Rebuilding a sense of meaning and agency
Integrating past experiences with future goals
Developing self-trust during uncertainty

Our Therapeutic Approach

Life transitions therapy at Lodestone Psychology is collaborative, reflective, and practical. Therapy may include:

Emotional processing and grief work
Stress and emotional regulation skills
Values-based decision-making
Boundary setting and communication support
Reframing expectations and self-compassion

We draw from ACT, CBT, relational therapy, and trauma-informed care, adapting approaches to your unique transition.

Summary

We support adults across Calgary and Alberta navigating change at many stages of life. Therapy is available in person and virtually, providing flexibility during periods of adjustment.

You don’t have to have everything figured out to move forward. Therapy can offer support, perspective, and steadiness as you navigate life’s transitions.

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

Life Transitions

Navigating Change and Uncertainty

Common Life Transitions People Seek Therapy For

The Emotional Impact of Transitions

Identity, Meaning, and Direction

Our Therapeutic Approach

Summary

In-Person Locations

Availability

On-Line Appointments

Contact

Get Support

Life Transitions

Navigating Change and Uncertainty

Common Life Transitions People Seek Therapy For

The Emotional Impact of Transitions

Identity, Meaning, and Direction

Our Therapeutic Approach

Summary

Loneliness

Grief, Loss & Bereavement

In-Person Locations

Availability

On-Line Appointments

Contact

Get Support