Regulate intense emotions
Understand emotions, tolerate difficult moments and respond without making an already painful situation worse.
Virtual psychotherapy from Ottawa across Ontario
Floyd Kelly
Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) · CRPO #20881 · he/him
Therapy for patterns you understand but still cannot change.
I work with individuals 16+ and couples 18+ who feel caught in recurring conflict, intense emotions, family mental-health strain or relentless responsibility. I offer a warm, direct and structured space to slow the pattern down, understand what keeps it going and practise a different response.
Individuals 16+ and couples 18+Based in Ottawa, virtual across OntarioDaytime and evening availability
Couples Therapy
“We love each other, but we keep having the same argument.”
- Is your partner logical, defensive, silent or distant?
- Is one of you highly sensitive?
- Does your partner seem overly emotional?
Therapy for high sensitivity and BPD
“My emotions are so big I do things I regret.”
- Conflict, rejection or being hurt crashes my world.
- It's hard to do what I know I need to do.
- I push people away, then desperately want them back.
Therapy for family members
“I love them, but I don't know how much more I can carry.”
- Their mental health has reorganized my life.
- I feel guilty setting limits or taking care of myself.
- I'm scared of what might happen next.
Therapy for work stress and burnout
“Everyone thinks I am coping, but work has taken over my life.”
- I can't switch off or get enough rest.
- I feel responsible for things I can't control.
- I have a toxic boss or co-worker.
About Floyd
Analytical clarity with relational warmth.
The model matters, but the person inside it matters more.
My route to psychotherapy began long before graduate school. More than twenty years leading global software teams taught me to look for patterns, understand systems and remain curious when the first explanation does not fit. That work also gave me first-hand experience with responsibility, ambiguity and the human consequences of decisions made under pressure.
I was drawn to psychotherapy as a second career through lived family experience with anxiety, ADHD, autism and BPD. I serve as President of the Ottawa Network for Borderline Personality Disorder and have co-led skills programs for family members. At The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, I serve in family, research and ethics advisory roles. These roles are separate from my psychotherapy practice.
I completed a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology in 2026 and am registered with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario as a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying). I am also a member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association.
How I help
Move from understanding the problem to practising a different response.
I consider the individual and the system around them rather than treating every problem as a personal deficit.
- 01
Slow the pattern down and follow what happened from the first trigger through the meaning you made, the way you protected yourself and what happened next.
- 02
Make your response understandable without allowing the protective response to become the whole story.
- 03
Move beneath anger, certainty, problem-solving or withdrawal to the more vulnerable emotion, meaning or need underneath.
- 04
Clarify the values and needs that matter when every available choice feels costly.
- 05
Practise ways to stay present, regulate emotion, communicate clearly and set sustainable boundaries.
Approaches that inform my work
Client-led first. Structure where it helps.
I draw inspiration from several established approaches rather than asking every problem to fit one model.
Build psychological flexibility
Stay in contact with difficult thoughts and feelings without letting them dictate every choice, then act toward what matters most.
Meet protective parts with compassion
Explore why a thought carries so much energy and become curious about the big emotion beneath it.
Work with the live relationship
Slow a couple interaction, uncover the more vulnerable emotion and need, and practise a different response together.
Restructure recurring thoughts
Examine the assumptions holding a thought in place and develop interpretations that are more balanced and useful.
Insights by Floyd
Ideas shaped by Floyd's work and perspective.
Practical perspectives grounded in experience, evidence and psychotherapy.
Porcupine energy: why do we keep hurting each other?
Two people can love each other deeply and still leave each other hurt. Often neither is trying to cause harm - each is protecting something, and the protection is what lands as the injury.
Read articleBurnt out as an engineering manager: do I need to quit?
When every option feels like failure, the decision is probably carrying more than a job title. The useful question is not only whether to quit, but where the mismatch actually sits and what would need to change for each available path to become workable.
Read articleThe gift of conflict in intimate relationships
Conflict is not automatically healthy, and pain is not a gift. But when both partners feel safe and free to express themselves openly, conflict can reveal what the relationship most needs to understand.
Read articleWhen loving someone with mental illness affects your own mental health
You can care deeply about someone and still be changed by the strain of supporting them. Attending to your own mental health is not abandonment. It is part of making care sustainable.
Read articleWhen pressure at work feels unbearable
Feeling unable to keep carrying the pressure does not necessarily mean you are weak or incapable. It may mean that chronic stress has narrowed what you can see, and that something in you, your work or both needs attention.
Read articleHow to validate someone with BPD without agreeing with them
If you love someone with borderline personality disorder, or someone with intense emotions, you have probably been told to validate more. Validation is not agreement.
Read articlePractical questions
Fees, insurance and registration.
How much does therapy with Floyd Kelly cost?
Individual sessions with Floyd are $150 for 50 minutes, and couples sessions are $170 for 50 minutes. Sliding-scale spaces are available. A 15-minute consultation is free.
Can I submit Floyd's therapy fees to insurance?
Receipts are provided for insurance submission. Coverage varies by plan, so check whether your benefits cover services from a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying).
What does Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) mean in Ontario?
A Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) is registered with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario and practises with clinical supervision while completing the remaining requirements to move to the Registered Psychotherapist class.
A place to begin
See whether working with Floyd feels right.
A free 15-minute consultation gives you room to ask questions, share what is bringing you to therapy and decide what you would like to do next.
Talk to Floyd →