Healing the soul, realizing wholeness

Integrative Therapy, Expressive Arts and Embodied Mindfulness

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.

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Meet Thomas

Hi, I’m Thomas Lai (he/him). I’m a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) in Ontario, an expressive arts therapist and a certified Realization Process meditation teacher. I bring an integrative approach that weaves together psychological insight, somatic awareness, and creative exploration — grounded in the belief that healing unfolds through presence, connection, and the body’s innate wisdom.

Having lived between cultures as a queer Chinese Canadian with Indian heritage, I'm deeply attuned to both the richness and complexity of navigating intersecting identities, cultures, and lived experiences. This lived experience shapes how I show up for clients who come from diverse cultural backgrounds. Many struggle with anxiety, depression, grief, life transitions and acculturation stress. Others —such as emerging adults and children of immigrants — are exploring questions of identity and belonging. And those who are sensitive or introspective may seek support for spiritual or existential struggles. Whatever brings you here, you don’t have to face it alone.

In our work together, we’ll explore how your emotional experience, patterns of sensing and relating, personal narratives and environment shape the way you connect with yourself and the world. We’ll discover new embodied possibilities that can help you move from merely surviving to living with more authenticity, agency, and soulfulness.

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

Brief Coaching Certificate from OISE, University of Toronto

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

Fully Certified Realization Process Teacher

Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) – Level 1

Ego State Therapy

Polyvagal Theory for Communities of Colour

Healing Trauma with Guided Drawing from Institute of Sensorimotor Art Therapy

Areas of Practice

  • Integrative, experiential and arts-based psychotherapy supports individuals in self-discovery, change, and healing through the transformative potential of mindfulness, sensory awareness, and creative imagination. I take a relational, trauma-informed, culturally sensitive and transpersonal approach, which means we look at your experience holistically — mind, body, emotions, and the larger context of your life.

    I currently provide therapy services to clients through Hospice Toronto.

  • 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.

  • “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

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Upcoming Events

  • A Photo of a Buddha Statue

    Mindfulness for Coping with Chronic Pain and Illness

    May 28 7:00-8:00PM ET

    A virtual mindfulness drop-in group to help reduce stress-induced physical pain, calm the nervous system, and reclaim your body. Offered at The Growth and Wellness Therapy Centre.

    Register

Contact me

thomas@liftedbeing.ca
Toronto, ON