Therapy, Expressive Arts, Meditation and Community Wellbeing

Thomas Lai, RP (Qualifying), PGDip ExAT

Abstract watercolor painting with soft blending of pinks, blues, and purples, creating a serene and vibrant composition.

Sometimes it’s hard to describe what we know and feel with words alone. Our inner life often speaks in images, whispers of sensation and subtle movements that defy linear thinking. By following these currents, we can find new pathways to healing and transformation.

tom portrait

Meet Thomas (he/him)

Hi there, I’m Thomas (“Tom”) Lai. I’m a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), an expressive arts therapist, and a certified embodiment meditation teacher with a background in adult learning and development.

I'm passionate about helping people from diverse backgrounds move beyond surviving to feeling authentic, connected and alive. As a therapist, I work with adults exploring their identity who feel held back by fear, uncertainty, shame, or self-doubt. I also work with community mental health organizations to cultivate wellbeing and strengthen communities through learning and arts-based programs.

Learn more about Tom

My Credentials

Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) — Registration No. 22803

Post-Graduate Diploma in Expressive Arts Therapy, The CREATE Institute

Masters Certificate in Adult Training and Development, Schulich School of Management

Brief Coaching Certificate from OISE, University of Toronto

Fully Certified Realization Process Teacher

Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) – Level 1

Healing Trauma with Guided Drawing from Institute of Sensorimotor Art Therapy

Areas of Practice

  • I offer integrative psychotherapy to transitional age youth and adults, with a special interest in supporting people navigating questions of identity, culture, and belonging.

    My approach is trauma-informed and experiential: healing happens not just through talking about your life, but also by experiencing it unfold in the present moment. I draw on mindfulness, expressive arts therapy, AEDP, ego state therapy, and solution-focused therapy – making space for feelings, working with inner conflict, and discovering new possibilities.

    I welcome clients of all cultural backgrounds and offer LGBTQ+ affirming care.

    I currently see clients through The Growth and Wellness Therapy Centre in Toronto. Learn more and book a session.

  • Expressive arts workshops provide a safe and welcoming space to explore creativity through all your senses, fostering growth, connection, and healing in community. These sessions may incorporate visuals, sound, movement, written and spoken word, empowering you to express your truth, regain a sense of aliveness, and recover your agency to create meaningful change.

    Mindfulness is the art of being fully present, moment by moment, with openness and curiosity. These sessions invite you to explore gentle, body-centered practices that help you feel grounded, improve focus and clarity, cultivate self-compassion and navigate life with equanimity and resilience. The embodiment practices of the Realization Process offer a more subtle and deeper level of practice, fostering wholeness, steadiness, fluidity, depth, permeability and expressiveness.

  • Drawing on a background in learning design, coaching, and program development, I support community mental health organizations through direct client care, psychosocial support, program development, community engagement, knowledge translation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. I am passionate about strengthening the people, programs, and relationships that enable communities to thrive.

    Some of the organizations I've worked with include The Raft, Margaret’s Housing and Community Support Services and Hospice Toronto.

  • “Emotional distress, traumatic physical illness, and injury are often accompanied by a sense of meaning loss and existential emptiness. In the face of such emptiness, the arts and the therapeutic use of imagery can help clients restore a sense of purpose and connection to the world.”

    Bruce Moon, Ph.D., ATR-BC, HLM

  • “Your soul isn’t some deeper level to access, your soul is around you, with you, moving through you, surprising you – trees in their deep bows as processions of winds pass by, seas belching plastic bottles and carcasses embalmed in oil and fear, a South Indian woman making a kolam in the morning to invite ants and blessings to her household.”

    Dr. Bayo Akomolafe

  • “Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion.”

    bell hooks

Close-up of a person’s hand covered in white dust, holding a small sculpting tool and shaping clay or similar material.
Colorful abstract artwork with swirling colors including green, purple, blue, and orange. Handwritten text curves around the central design.
A man in a white T-shirt has one hand on his chest and another on his stomach, sitting on a couch.
A person is practicing ink brush painting, creating bold black strokes on rice paper with a traditional brush.
Close-up of several young boys in athletic clothes in a crouched starting position for a race on a gym floor.
Colorful string art on a wooden floor with various stones and small decorative objects.

Upcoming Events

Contact me

thomas@liftedbeing.ca
Toronto, ON