- Online Therapy For Toronto And Throughout Ontario
- 865 York Mills Rd #20, Toronto, ON M3B 1Y6
- Online Therapy For Toronto And Throughout Ontario
- 865 York Mills Rd #20, Toronto, ON M3B 1Y6
Online across Ontario
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) Therapy in Ontario
A neuroscience-based trauma therapy that reaches the brainstem-level shock beneath PTSD, attachment wounds, and complex trauma, often without reliving the event. Online across Ontario.
Covered by many insurance plansDirect billing available
Last updated: June 2026
Wondering if Deep Brain Reorienting is right for you? Let’s talk — no pressure, no obligation.
How We Help
How Sky Therapies can help with trauma that feels stuck
Some trauma sits deeper than thoughts or memories, in the brainstem’s split-second shock response, where talk therapy and insight can struggle to reach. If that is where you feel stuck, DBR offers a different doorway: slow, precise work with the body’s earliest orienting response, at a pace that never overwhelms your nervous system.
Works at the brainstem orienting response, the deep shock layer beneath PTSD and attachment wounds
Tracks subtle physical cues, tension in the eyes, head, and neck, instead of retelling the trauma story
A slow, gentle, titrated process designed to minimize emotional flooding and overwhelm
Especially suited to early, preverbal, and attachment trauma that talk therapy can struggle to reach
Delivered one-on-one online by a DBR-trained Registered Social Worker or Psychotherapist
How It Works
Your path through DBR at Sky Therapies
1
Step 01
Free Consultation
A short, confidential call to understand your history and confirm DBR is a good fit. No commitment, no cost.
2
Step 02
DBR Sessions Online
Gentle, brainstem-level sessions guided by your therapist. The published protocol runs around 8 sessions by secure video.
3
Step 03
Integration and Relief
As the nervous system settles, clients commonly report less reactivity, more calm, and trauma that no longer feels stuck in the body.
What It Is
Curious whether DBR could help where other therapies haven’t? Start with a free, no-pressure conversation.
What is Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR)?
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is a neuroscience-based trauma therapy, developed by psychiatrist Dr. Frank Corrigan, that works at the brainstem level. It targets the brain’s orienting and attachment-shock response, the split-second physical reaction that fires just before an overwhelming experience, so trauma can be processed at its root.
Unlike approaches that focus mainly on thoughts or memories, DBR gently follows the body’s earliest shock sequence in the midbrain. Many people find it less overwhelming than other trauma therapies, with little emotional flooding and often no need to retell the story. We offer DBR online across Ontario.
The Evidence
Is Deep Brain Reorienting backed by research?
DBR is an emerging trauma treatment, and early controlled research is promising.
36.6%
reduction in PTSD symptoms after just 8 sessions of DBR in a randomized controlled trial.
Corrigan et al., European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 2023
48.6%
improvement in PTSD symptoms by the 3-month follow-up, continuing to deepen after treatment ended.
Corrigan et al., 2023 (RCT, 54 participants)
Up to 50%
of people with PTSD do not respond fully to current talk-based therapies, fuelling the need for brain-based approaches like DBR.
PTSD treatment-response research
How It Works
How Deep Brain Reorienting works
Works at the brainstem level
DBR reaches the deep midbrain, where the body’s orienting response to threat begins, beneath thought and emotion.
Targets the shock before the emotion
It follows the split-second physical “shock” that fires just before an overwhelming experience, the true root of trauma.
Often no need to relive the trauma
Many people find DBR gentler than other trauma work, with less emotional flooding and no pressure to retell the story.
Slow, gentle, body-aware
Sessions move at the pace your nervous system can handle, tracking subtle physical sensations rather than forcing catharsis.
Reaches attachment and developmental trauma
DBR is especially suited to early, relational, and complex trauma that talk therapy can struggle to resolve.
Online across Ontario
Delivered by secure video by a Registered Social Worker or Psychotherapist, the same format used in the published research.
What We Help With
What Deep Brain Reorienting can help with
DBR is especially helpful for deep, early, or treatment-resistant trauma, including:
Post-traumatic stress (PTSD)
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD)
Attachment trauma
Childhood and developmental trauma
Shame and self-criticism
Emotional dysregulation
Dissociation
Trauma-related anxiety
Traumatic grief
Trauma that has not resolved with talk therapy
DBR works alongside your medical care and does not replace medical or psychiatric treatment. We will always assess whether it is the right fit for you first.
Research and References
The research behind Deep Brain Reorienting
DBR is grounded in the trauma neuroscience of Dr. Ruth Lanius (Western University, London, Ontario) and Dr. Frank Corrigan, whose work shows that trauma is first registered in the brainstem orienting response, the superior colliculus, locus coeruleus, and periaqueductal grey, before thought or emotion.
- Kearney BE, Corrigan FM, Frewen PA, McKinnon MC, Lanius RA, et al. (2023). A randomized controlled trial of Deep Brain Reorienting: a neuroscientifically guided treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 14(2). View study
- Lanius RA, Rabellino D, Boyd JE, Harricharan S, Frewen PA, McKinnon MC (2017). The innate alarm system in PTSD: conscious and subconscious processing of threat. Current Opinion in Psychology, 14, 109-115.
- Corrigan FM, Christie-Sands J (2020). An innate brainstem self-other system involving orienting, affective responding, and relational seeking: clinical implications for a Deep Brain Reorienting trauma psychotherapy approach. Medical Hypotheses.
Ready to work with trauma at its root?
Book a free 20-minute consultation to find out if Deep Brain Reorienting is right for you. Online across Ontario.
Ready to see if Deep Brain Reorienting is right for you?
Serving the following areas: Toronto, Ontario, North York, Ontario, Markham, Ontario, Ottawa, Ontario, Vaughan, Ontario, Guelph, Ontario, Brampton, Ontario, Windsor, Ontario, St. Catharines, Ontario, Oshawa, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario, Timmins, Ontario, Scarborough, Ontario, Oakville, Ontario, Peterborough, Ontario, RIchmond Hill, Ontario, Whitby, Ontario, and all of Ontario online
