Dr. Claire Barnes, Ph.D., R.Psych
Registered Psychologist (British Columbia)
Dr. Claire Barnes, Ph.D., R.Psych
Registered Psychologist (British Columbia)
Dr. Claire Barnes is a registered psychologist and core therapist within the Evolve Therapy Program, with particular expertise in trauma, cultural diversity, and the emotional patterns that can develop through difficult early and interpersonal experiences.
Claire approaches therapy with the understanding that many of the responses people struggle with in adulthood make more sense when we understand where they came from. Experiences of trauma, adversity, rejection, inequality, or difficult relationships can shape how people learn to protect themselves, how safe they feel with others, what they believe about themselves, and how they respond emotionally when something in the present touches an older wound.
Rather than treating these patterns as something inherently wrong with the person, Claire works collaboratively with members to understand how they developed and whether they are still serving them. Her therapeutic style is empathic, thoughtful, and relational. She places particular importance on creating the kind of therapeutic relationship in which people feel understood enough to explore experiences that may be painful, vulnerable, or difficult to put into words.
Claire has training in Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), which she draws upon flexibly according to each person's needs. Her clinical experience includes working with PTSD and complex trauma, depression, generalized and social anxiety, OCD, relationship difficulties, low self-esteem, work-related concerns, and low motivation. She has also worked extensively with first responders, including police officers, paramedics, 911 operators, and their families, giving her an appreciation for the particular psychological demands associated with professions involving repeated exposure to stress and trauma.
Within the Evolve Therapy Program, Claire is part of the psychology team delivering eFIT's core psychotherapy model and co-facilitating group therapy. She helps members understand how past experiences may continue to organize emotional responses, relationships, self-perception, and protective strategies in the present. Group therapy provides an especially meaningful setting for this work because patterns that were originally shaped within relationships can often become more visible, understandable, and ultimately changeable in connection with other people.
Claire earned her Ph.D. in Clinical and Counselling Psychology from the University of Toronto. Her research focused on the intersection of trauma and cultural diversity, with her doctoral dissertation examining how therapists navigate cultural differences in trauma treatment. Her clinical training has included work at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, Markham Stouffville Hospital, and CBT Associates in Toronto, where she worked with people across a wide range of backgrounds and psychological presentations.
That attention to culture remains central to how Claire understands psychotherapy. Every person enters therapy with a particular history, social context, identity, and way of understanding the world. Claire recognizes that psychological experiences cannot always be separated from experiences of culture, difference, belonging, inequality, or the environments in which people have lived. She strives to make room for these parts of a member's experience rather than assuming that one psychological framework explains everyone in the same way.
Claire brings this same perspective to the Evolve Therapy Program. Integrated care must begin with understanding the individual rather than requiring the individual to fit the treatment. For someone who has spent years adapting to adversity, meaningful change may begin by recognizing why certain emotional responses developed, approaching those responses with greater compassion, and gradually discovering that new ways of relating to themselves and others are possible.
Her role within the Evolve Therapy Program is to help members make sense of what they have lived through, understand what those experiences have taught them about themselves and relationships, and create the emotional conditions in which longstanding patterns can begin to change.