Head to Heart Psychotherapy offers therapy seekers a safe space to journey from the busyness of the mind to the wisdom of the loving heart. Through a compassionate and integrative approach to psychotherapy in which clients learn to access the vast power of their inner resources. Whether you are struggling with a major life transition, a challenging relationship, significant loss, or the pain of trauma, you can begin to come to terms with your present reality and make meaningful changes to enhance your well-being and personal growth.

About Justin

Justin Appler

Justin is a cisgendered white gay man. He is a settler on this land, which has been cared for by the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Justin began his own therapeutic journey in 2016 when he came out as gay. At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, he began taking steps to become a registered psychotherapist. He’s passionate about journeying alongside people of all ages, races, sexual orientations, and gender identities and knows first-hand the healing potential of psychotherapy.

Justin takes a person-centered, humanistic, and intersectional approach to therapy, emphasizing each individual’s inner strength and healing potential. He adopts a non-pathologizing perspective and views clients as the experts on their own lives. With empathy and compassion, Justin supports clients navigating uncertainty, life transitions, and emotional challenges. He specializes in grief, trauma, anxiety, depression, life transitions, relationship difficulties, spirituality and religion, death and dying, health complications, and LGBTQ2A matters.

His therapeutic approach integrates mindfulness, Person Centered Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, helping clients align with their inner resources and core values. Justin creates a safe, grounded space where clients can explore their healing potential and uncover their essential goodness. Over time, clients will develop emotional resilience, clarify their deepest values, and learn to live more authentically and peacefully. Healing past traumas and emotional wounds leads to a greater sense of wholeness and improved relationships.

Justin’s clinical experience includes working with individuals, couples, and families through life transitions, health crises, and bereavement. As a spiritual care provider he has supported patients at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Toronto General Hospital. Since 2024, he’s also served as a spiritual care provider at SickKids, providing psychosocial support through therapy, rituals, and mindfulness practices.

Location

Therapy is offered online through an encrypted secure video platform and in person at Coloured Soul Yoga and Wellness - steps away from Royal York station in the Kingsway.

Therapy Methods

Meditation Workshops

Learn the basics of mindfulness meditation for your well-being! Justin is a trained meditation facilitator who has been practicing Buddhist insight meditation since 2020. These workshops are a great opportunity to explore mindfulness in a calm group setting with clear instructions from a guide who can answer your questions.

Spirituality

Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy blends traditional psychotherapy with spiritual principles, addressing your mind, body, heart, and spirit.

This holistic approach can help you resolve inner conflicts and enhance self-awareness. It can also enrich your sense of meaning and fulfillment in life by connecting to a higher purpose, consciousness, or spiritual being.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

In Internal Family Systems (IFS), the Self is defined by eight qualities: confidence, calmness, creativity, clarity, curiosity, courage, compassion, and connectedness. It is a compassionate, wise core within all individuals, unaffected by trauma.

IFS identifies two types of internal protectors: managers and firefighters. Managers help maintain function by keeping exiled parts (vulnerable, child-like aspects of the self) hidden from conscious awareness and often suppress emotions. Firefighters respond to emotional pain by numbing it, often through addictive behaviors.

IFS views "pathological" symptoms as protective measures, with the goal of therapy to help individuals reconnect with their Self. The therapist guides the client in “unblending,” allowing the Self to lead and enabling the exiled parts to heal through compassion and acceptance. The concept of Self is universally accessible, aligning with spiritual concepts across different traditions, such as chi, prana, or Christ consciousness, offering a flexible framework for healing.

Person Centered Therapy

In Becoming a Person, Carl Rogers explains that mental health symptoms arise from a disconnect between an individual's conscious experiences and their inner values. To achieve well-being, one must align with their authentic Self, which may differ from societal or familial expectations. Rogers describes therapy as a journey of uncovering the true Self by removing masks shaped by external pressures, allowing individuals to experience themselves more deeply.

With empathy and unconditional positive regard from the therapist, clients begin to embrace change, recognizing their symptoms as part of their evolving self, not a static condition. As clients integrate denied experiences, they shift from external validation to internal self-acceptance, resulting in a healthier sense of self and decreased symptoms.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Psychodynamic therapy is a therapeutic approach rooted in the belief that unconscious thoughts, feelings, and past experiences significantly influence current behavior and emotional functioning.

Developed from Freudian theory, it focuses on exploring unresolved conflicts, childhood experiences, and internalized patterns that shape one's psychological state. Psychodynamic therapy views the therapeutic relationship as a mirror for understanding patterns in relationships outside therapy.

During treatment, clients are encouraged to explore repressed memories, dreams, and feelings, often uncovering unresolved conflicts. The therapist's role is to guide the individual through this process. Through self-awareness and reflection, psychodynamic therapy aims to resolve internal conflicts, enhance emotional regulation, and foster healthier coping mechanisms. It can be especially helpful for those struggling with long-standing issues like depression, anxiety, and relationship difficulties.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness meditation and psychotherapy are increasingly being integrated as effective approaches to mental health treatment. Mindfulness meditation focuses on cultivating awareness and acceptance of the present moment and observing one's thoughts and emotions without judgment. This practice helps reduce stress, anxiety, and depression by promoting emotional regulation and fostering a calm, focused mind. In therapy sessions, mindfulness encourages openness and, improves self-awareness and emotional resilience.