About Me

Before discovering that psychology was not, as my mother feared, "about as useful as basket weaving'" I worked in a number of sectors, including fast food, sales, secretarial, and child care. Although my academic studies have been invaluable, the best training I received for doing therapy started in 1994 at my first real job as a therapist. I worked in a Not for Profit Agency with a very gifted team of therapists providing counselling for a diverse population that included all age groups, numerous cultural backgrounds, and a wide variety of presenting issues. While themes have emerged over the years I continue to be impressed at the differences in each person's psychological constellation.

Something I noticed over time in my work with clients is how poor humans are at judging the impact of both their own and others’ communications. For instance I would often be pleased when a client told me that something I said had really resonated with them, and then surprised to find out what that something was. Sometimes, for me, it was of so little consequence I didn’t even remember saying it, whereas the brilliant thing that I believed I said was something the client didn’t remember. Recent advances in neurobiology have confirmed that we humans are not good at really knowing how our communications are being received, or at knowing what others are intending to communicate to us.

Around the turn of the century I began to focus more on how to manage these communication complexities with couples. I took training in all the main schools of marital therapy (systems, short-term, emotionally-focused, feminist, imago, behavioral) and while there were useful take-aways from all these trainings, it still felt to me that something was missing. In 2012 I signed up for Relational Life Therapy training with Terry Real, and all the pieces came together.

Relational Life Therapy (RLT) incorporates the best aspects of other models of therapy within a strong theoretical framework and provides specific powerful interventions, some of which fly in the face of traditional therapeutic ways of thinking. In Relational Life Therapy we work both with the individual (often in the presence of the partner) and with the couple, because the hallmark of a mature relationship is the ability of each individual to hold themselves accountable and integrated. We also, when appropriate, take sides. Some behaviors and attitudes are simply not compatible with a mature, gratifying, intimate relationship, and RLT therapists will call out these behaviors and attitudes (with compassion, sensitivity, and, where appropriate, humor).

I have trained extensively with Terry Real, the founder of Relational Life Therapy, and in 2020 developed and co-led an advanced training program with him. I am currently involved in designing research to provide evidence for the efficacy of RLT.

Credentials:

Ph.D. Simon Fraser University 2007

M.A. York University 1987

B.A. York University 1985

Registered Psychologist - College of Psychologists of BC (nbr 1609)

Member BC Psychological Association

Board Member Relational Life Foundation

Cathy Hill, PhD, R Psych

About Me

Credentials

Recent Conferences and Trainings