Aviva Zeldman-Shore Psychotherapist in Hamilton, Ontario
We are more real in our simple want to find a way than any destination we could reach.
David Whyte
Modalities & Specialties
I draw from a wide range of therapeutic approaches, tailoring them to each person’s needs and story. My work includes:
- Narrative Therapy – exploring the stories that shape identity and making space for new ones to emerge
- Mindfulness and Compassion – cultivating awareness and kindness toward one’s inner experience
- Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy – addressing questions of meaning, faith, and existential growth
- Attachment-Focused Therapy – deepening awareness of relationship patterns and the longing for safety and connection
- Parts Work / IFS-Inspired Therapy – helping clients understand and care for the many “selves” within
- Somatic & Mindfulness Practices – using the body as a compass for healing and regulation
- Guided Meditation & Storytelling – creative tools for grounding, reflection, and insight
- My approach is strength-based, emphasizing resilience, self-compassion, and growth.
Areas of focus and experience
Trauma & Complex PTSD · Religious Trauma · Grief & Loss · Anxiety & Depression · Psychedelic Integration · Adverse Meditation Experiences · Relational & Here-and-Now Work
About Me
I’m a psychotherapist (qualifying) who believes that healing is something we already know how to do—sometimes we just need the right conditions for it to unfold. In my sessions, I aim to offer those conditions: presence, safety, and genuine curiosity.
My work blends clinical training with a deep grounding in contemplative practice. After spending over a decade studying and teaching meditation, I approach therapy as both an art and an act of reverence for what it means to be human.
I work in English and Hebrew and welcome people from all walks of life, offering care that is culturally aware, trauma-informed, and attuned to each person’s lived experience.
When I’m not working, I enjoy exploring ideas through books, podcasts, and conversations with friends. I love dancing and hiking, going on silent meditation retreats, watching romcoms, and growing an ever-expanding collection of mugs, plants, and silly novelty socks.
Training
- Master of Counselling Psychology, City University
- Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies (Religious Studies Focus)
- College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (Qualifying)
- Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA)
Thoughts & Musings
My Favorite Poems About Therapy (And Life)
These are quotes, bits of writing, and poetry that I have collected over the years. In alphabetic order. Poetry at the bottom. "I'd rather be whole than good."— Carl Jung “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily,...
Vision & Values
My practice is guided by a simple truth: being human is hard, and being alone in it is harder. Life’s upheavals—loss, illness, endings, identity shifts—can leave us wondering who we are now and how to begin again.
Therapy, for me, is a space to slow down, listen inward, and discover what still lives beneath the ache. My intention is to help people reconnect with meaning, dignity, and vitality, even when life feels unrecognizable.
My work is shaped by these guiding values:
- Gentleness: Change grows best in the soil of compassion.
- Presence: Real healing happens in the here and now.
- Integrity: Honest, transparent, and grounded care.
- Curiosity: Every part of us has a reason for being.
- Wholeness: We move toward integration when we’re no longer fighting ourselves.