How CAYAC Came to Be

When your child is struggling with anxiety, finding a therapist can feel surprisingly difficult. Families are often faced with long waitlists, confusing choices and an important question: How do I know this is the right person to help my child?

CAYAC grew out of a desire to offer families an answer.

I came to Canada more than 20 years ago to complete a fellowship in childhood anxiety at SickKids and was fortunate to build my career within the University of Toronto’s academic community. My clinical passion has always been helping children and adolescents overcome anxiety (the reasons for that in our next post.)

At Michael Garron Hospital, I created and led a specialized Child and Adolescent Anxiety Clinic. Over the years, I saw how much children could change when therapy was evidence-based, developmentally informed and delivered by someone who genuinely understood both anxiety and young people.

I also saw the challenge facing families across Toronto and the GTA: many children needed specialized therapy, but access was limited.

Finding exceptional therapists

The beginnings of CAYAC came through an internship program for internationally educated mental health professionals who sought to bring their expertise into the Canadian workplace.

Many of the clinicians who joined our internship program had already completed master’s or doctoral-level training in psychology abroad. They had also navigated immigration, Canadian professional requirements, examinations and the considerable work of adapting to a new healthcare system and culture.

It is easy to assume that the most familiar path is the best one. My experience taught me otherwise.

These clinicians brought maturity, perseverance and valuable perspectives to their work. Most importantly, I had the opportunity to supervise them closely and to see, over time, how they worked with children and families, not just what appeared on their résumés.

Some were truly exceptional.

They combined clinical skill with warmth, curiosity and the ability to connect with young people. They understood that effective therapy is not simply about knowing the right techniques. Children need to feel understood, parents need to feel included, and treatment needs to be carefully tailored to the individual child.

Putting the right pieces together

Eventually, the pieces were all there: a group of excellent therapists who wanted to continue working together, families looking for specialized anxiety treatment, and a shared belief in what good care should look like.

CAYAC - the Child & Youth Anxiety Clinic - grew from that foundation.

Our current team is well seasoned and have been working together for years, we provide specialized assessment and therapy for children and adolescents experiencing anxiety, OCD, trauma-related difficulties and more. Our therapists draw on established, evidence-based approaches while adapting treatment to each child’s developmental needs, personality and family circumstances.

Our clinicians also meet regularly for consultation. That means families benefit not only from the therapist in the room, but from the experience and perspective of a closely connected clinical team.

For me, this is one of the most important parts of CAYAC. It is a clinic built around therapists whose work I know and trust because I have had the privilege of watching them grow, working alongside them and seeing the difference they make in the lives of young people.

That is how CAYAC began: with trusted relationships, shared clinical values and the belief that families in Toronto and the GTA deserve thoughtful, specialized care for childhood anxiety.