Dr. Annette Lorenz, C. PSYCH
Dr. Annette Lorenz is a Clinical Psychologist who is qualified to practice psychology in the areas of clinical, forensic, health-rehabilitation, and criminal psychology. She has practiced in these scopes of her profession for over 20 years, since she was registered for Independent Practice. She has subsequently worked in many settings, including the Environmental Health Clinic at Women’s College Hospital for over 6 years, where she designed a research project for a closed group treatment program for chronically ill patients to facilitate coping and recovery.
Dr. Lorenz has 29 years of experience in evidence-based approaches to treatment. She is familiar with best practices options when helping individuals deal with and survive stress, illness, grief, trauma, PTSD, and many other psychological challenges.
Dr. Lorenz has recently trained extensively in the newest applications of hypnosis with Dr. Michael Yapko, and has found that that has profoundly enhanced treatment outcome in a number of areas, such as treatment resistant depression and chronic complex PTSD. She will be applying these new treatment approaches using hypnosis in structured formats such as group programs and individual treatment programs designed specifically to achieve more efficient recovery options.
Dr. Lorenz has worked with many populations, including paramedics, firefighters, police officers, clergy, nurses and physicians, and with those who are facing serious medical illness.
In 2014, she completed one year on staff at the 32 Canadian Forces Health Services Centre in Toronto where she was treating and assessing military personnel. She worked with Halton, Peel and Hamilton Police Services from 2016 until early 2020, in developing a program which enabled these police departments to screen their officers for the development of potential occupational stress disorders and resulting mental health issues. The program worked well, and police officers who required intervention were able to access early treatment.
Following the commencement of the pandemic, Dr. Lorenz provided assessment and treatment via specific virtual platforms which allowed privacy compliant treatment in all the necessary modalities. In addition, assessment and group therapy was made possible through the application of the chosen platforms. Dr. Lorenz has worked in forensic (both criminal and medical legal) settings for over twenty years. She has trained in criminal risk evaluations in both federal and provincial settings. In the medical legal arena, she has prepared evaluation reports to help either defence or plaintiff in presenting their cases at trial; she has appeared as an expert witness in court, both in criminal and personal injury cases.
She was president of CAPDA, (the Canadian Academy of Psychologists in Disability Assessment) an association of senior psychologists who practice primarily in areas of psychological disability, impairment, and treatment evaluations, from 2014 until 2016 and received the Founders’ Award for her work with that organization, having served on the board of directors for over 7 years. She has currently returned as Education Chair. She also served as the education chair of the Canadian Society of Clinical Hypnosis - Ontario Division who awarded her Fellow of the CSCH-OD. She is one of four founding and currently serving directors consisting of health and other professional disciplines, for the Environmental Health Institute of Canada, an incorporated charitable foundation with a vision to enhance and coordinate efforts to understand, prevent and manage environmentally-associated illnesses.
Dr. Lorenz is planning to provide continued treatment through virtual platforms and will begin in-person and hybrid treatment options once a reduction in health issues caused by the pandemic have been determined.
INTAKE AND FIRST MEETING
Depending on the need and purpose of any help that you might be seeking, a first meeting should usually be one hour, where it can also be determined if testing would be helpful. In cases where an individual is asking for a shorter meeting to determine comfort or suitability, a half-hour session can be arranged. A full hour is recommended to give everyone a better chance of understanding the options and give the psychologist the opportunity to assess the problems or needs experienced by the client and give the client a chance to establish comfort level and future planning.
PRIOR TO FIRST MEETING
An assistant will set up a brief telephone call to collect primary information as needed and schedule the first meeting with the psychologist.
Moving forward, in-person meetings will be considered on a case-by-case basis; remote platforms will continue to be made available.