Summit Counselling Services — Specialty
Mood & Personality DisordersA diagnosis doesn't define you. But understanding it — and getting the right support — can change everything.
Personality and mood disorders can range from mild to severe, and even mild presentations affect daily functioning, relationships, and sense of self. Our registered psychologists specialize in helping you navigate what this means for you — with skill, without judgment.
About This Work
Therapy for mood and personality disorders — on your terms.
If you think you may have a personality or mood disorder — or if you've been diagnosed with one and are looking for support to navigate what that means for your life — our psychologists are here to explore tools to help you manage symptoms and build a life that feels more stable, more connected, and more your own.
It's important to be clear about what therapy can and can't do: there is no "cure" for personality or mood disorders. But with the right psychotherapy — and in some cases alongside medication — you can manage symptoms meaningfully, develop skills that improve daily functioning and relationships, and understand yourself at a depth that changes how you move through the world.
Our therapists bring specialized training in complex and chronic mental health conditions. They understand the nuance of these diagnoses — including how often they co-occur with trauma, anxiety, and depression — and they know that behind every diagnosis is a person whose experience is more than a label.
"Behind every diagnosis is a person whose experience is more than a label — and who deserves support that reflects that complexity."
Therapeutic modalities used
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) — the gold standard for BPD; builds distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal skills
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) — identifying and reshaping thought patterns that drive mood episodes and maladaptive behaviours
- EMDR — processing underlying trauma that frequently co-occurs with personality disorder presentations
- Attachment Therapy — addressing the relational patterns at the root of many personality disorder presentations
- Somatic Experiencing — working with the body's held responses to chronic dysregulation and trauma
- Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) — efficient trauma processing for co-occurring traumatic presentations
What We Support
Mood and personality disorders we work with
Our therapists work across the full range of mood and personality disorder presentations — often alongside co-occurring anxiety, trauma, and relationship concerns.
Mood Disorders
Mood disorders affect how we feel, think, and function — sometimes profoundly. Our therapists support symptom management, skill-building, and the relational and identity impacts of living with a mood condition.
- Major depressive disorder
- Dysthymia (persistent depressive disorder)
- Bipolar I and Bipolar II disorder
- Cyclothymic disorder
- Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)
- Perinatal mood disorders
- Emotional dysregulation
- Motivation and anhedonia
- Self-compassion and self-esteem
Personality Disorders
Personality disorders involve deeply ingrained patterns of thinking, feeling, and relating that can cause significant distress. Our therapists work with the full complexity of these presentations without stigma or oversimplification.
- Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
- Avoidant Personality Disorder
- Dependent Personality Disorder
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder
- Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)
- Co-occurring trauma and personality disorder presentations
- Relational impacts of personality disorders
- Abuse experiences connected to personality disorder dynamics
Our Approach
Therapy built around you, not your diagnosis
A diagnosis can be clarifying — finally having a name for something you've experienced your whole life. It can also be frightening, or feel like a ceiling. At Summit, we work from the person outward, not from the label inward. Your diagnosis is part of the picture, not the whole of it.
Our therapists bring specialized training in complex presentations and understand how mood and personality disorders interact with trauma, relationships, culture, and identity. They won't oversimplify, and they won't treat your diagnosis as the explanation for everything. They'll take time to understand what your experience actually looks like — and build an approach that fits.
Sessions are available in person at our Brewery District, St. Albert, and Windermere locations, and virtually for clients anywhere in Alberta.
Therapeutic Approaches
How our therapists work
Our therapists draw on a range of evidence-based approaches — matched to the individual presentation, not applied generically.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
The evidence-based gold standard for Borderline Personality Disorder — and highly effective across mood disorders. DBT builds four core skill sets: distress tolerance, emotional regulation, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness. Particularly valuable for people who experience intense emotional reactions and find relationships difficult to navigate.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT helps identify and challenge the thought patterns that maintain depression, mood episodes, and the rigid beliefs at the core of many personality disorder presentations. Structured, evidence-based, and practical — particularly useful for depressive and avoidant presentations.
EMDR
Trauma is extremely common in people with personality disorder diagnoses — often predating and contributing to the disorder's development. EMDR processes those underlying traumatic experiences efficiently and without requiring extensive verbal retelling, reducing their charge in the present.
Attachment Therapy
Many personality disorder presentations are fundamentally relational — rooted in early attachment experiences and showing up most powerfully in close relationships. Attachment-based work helps understand and shift these patterns, building more secure ways of relating over time.
Somatic Experiencing
Chronic dysregulation — the hallmark of many mood and personality disorder presentations — is held in the body as much as the mind. Somatic approaches work at the physiological level to help the nervous system develop more capacity for regulation and stability.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
ART offers efficient, meaningful relief from traumatic memories and distressing emotional patterns — often in far fewer sessions than traditional approaches. A strong complement to longer-term DBT or attachment work for clients dealing with co-occurring trauma.
Book a Session
Find us in Edmonton, St. Albert & Windermere
Mood and personality disorder therapy is available in person at all three Summit locations, with virtual sessions available across Alberta.
Wîhkwêntôwin ᐄᐧᐦᑫᐧᐣᑑᐃᐧᐣ (Oliver)
Grandin Plaza, 2nd Floor
Edmonton, AB
Common Questions
Mood & personality disorder therapy — your questions answered
Our Therapists
Therapists specializing in mood & personality disorders
Our therapists focus on different mood and personality disorder presentations. Use the Find Your Fit tool to explore, or contact our office and we'll suggest the best match for your goals. A free 15-minute consultation is always available before committing to a session.
Related Support
Other areas we work with
You are more than your diagnosis. Let's build from there.
Your first consultation is free — no commitment, no pressure. Just a conversation about where you are and whether we're the right fit.
We acknowledge that our practice is located in Treaty 6 territory, on the traditional lands of the Cree, Saulteaux, Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Métis, and Nakota Sioux Peoples, including our Brewery District office in Wîhkwêntôwin ᐄᐧᐦᑫᐧᐣᑑᐃᐧᐣ (Oliver). We recognize that healing and reconciliation is a responsibility shared by all.