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Dr. Vanessa Scarapicchia, C.Psych.

Dr. Scarapicchia provides assessment and treatment services to adolescents, adults, and seniors, including psychotherapy, neuropsychological assessments, and psychodiagnostic assessments. As a scientist-practitioner by training, Dr. Scarapicchia relies on evidence-based practices and treatments to meet each client’s individual needs. Whether it be for assessment or treatment, Dr. Scarapicchia works collaboratively with clients to identify their goals and offer recommendations and strategies that are tailored to their personal values, unique history, and life stage. Dr. Scarapicchia’s therapeutic approach is integrative in nature, and combines elements of cognitive-behavioural, interpersonal, schema-focused, and trauma-focused approaches.


Dr. Scarapicchia completed her B.Sc. in Neuroscience from McGill University and went on to complete her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, with a focus in Neuropsychology, from the University of Victoria.


Dr. Scarapicchia completed her predoctoral residency at The Ottawa Hospital’s General Campus and Rehabilitation Centre, where she worked with populations with a wide range of medical, psychiatric, and neurological presentations. Throughout the years, Dr. Scarapicchia has provided psychological services across a variety of hospital and community-based settings and has experience working with individuals with a variety of presentations, including depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, epilepsy, neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., dementia), brain injury (e.g., concussion), trauma-related conditions, intellectual disability, learning disorders, and functional neurological disorders (e.g., non-epileptic seizures). In addition to assessments and therapy, Dr. Scarapicchia also has experience providing evidence-based cognitive rehabilitation services to individuals with difficulties following a brain injury.


As a scientist-practitioner by training, Dr. Scarapicchia has published several articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals in the areas of cognitive neuroscience and brain imaging. She is also a current member of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) and the American Psychological Association’s Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (SCN), which are associations that promote scientific rigor and clinical best practices in the areas of psychology and neuropsychology. 

Psychologist Expertise

Areas of specific interest to Dr. Scarapicchia include:

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Anxiety

29 Jul, 2022
Anxiety has been frequently described as feelings of fright, flight or freeze. This means that people experiencing anxiety have both the mental and the physical, visceral feelings of wanting to escape the situation, fight what is challenging or simply cannot move in any direction to deal with what is troubling them.
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Depression

03 Jul, 2022
Depression is a state of low mood in which people feel helpless, hopeless, worthless, lethargic and unable to enjoy the things that used to give them pleasure. People who are depressed are often irritable or pessimistic. Their low mood goes beyond having “the blues” or being sad. Even people who are grieving usually do not sink into depression. People diagnosed with a Major Depressive Disorder cannot just “pull up their socks” to get better. They require professional help. Psychologists use a variety of scientifically based psychotherapeutic approaches to help people recover from depression.

Geriatric Issues

19 Jun, 2022
As individuals age, their physical and mental capacity gradually decrease and the risk of disease and death increases. Aging individuals often face significant physical changes such as reduction in vision and hearing, chronic pain, and other illnesses. As well, aging also brings other significant transitions in life such as retirement, moving into housing with more assistance, and the death of peers.
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Health, Migraines & Chronic Illness

15 Jun, 2022
Chronic pain and mental health disorders often occur together. In fact, research suggests that chronic pain and mental health problems can contribute to and exacerbate each other.

Learning Disabilities

05 Jun, 2022
Learning disabilities cause a child to experience difficulty achieving academically to the level that would be expected given the child’s general intellectual ability. There are different types of learning disabilities which affect achievement in different ways and which require different forms of intervention.Psychologists can assist parents in planning for their child’s education by providing a psychoeducational assessment. These assessments provide clarification as to the nature of the child’s disability and provide recommendations for interventions which can help the child to achieve their academic potential. Such assessments also help parents to be aware of the type of post-secondary educational programs in which their child is likely to achieve success in future.

Life Transitions

03 Jun, 2022
A life transition can be any change or adjustment that impacts your life in a significant way. We all experience transitions throughout our lives — big and small, planned and unplanned, easy and difficult.

Neuropsychology

24 May, 2022
Neuropsychology is the study of the relationship between the brain and behaviour. The evaluations are comprehensive and address both cognitive and character-related aspects of an individual. Assessments provide a diagnosis regarding the individual’s level of cognitive and emotional function and a medical-legal opinion regarding SABS (Statutory Accident Benefits), long-term disability and specific legal questions.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

16 May, 2022
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can follow the experiencing or witnessing of a severe trauma involving the actual or threat of death or serious injury to the self or others. The traumatized person has typically reacted to the trauma with intense fear, helplessness or horror. Alternatively, an accumulation of less intensely damaging situations (‘small ‘t’ traumas’) can over time also lead to PTSD.

Contact

To reach Dr. Scarapicchia directly, please phone 613-230-4709, ext. 191, at 430 Gilmour St..

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