- 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
Chronic Pain Therapy · Virtual · Ontario
Virtual Psychotherapy for Chronic Pain across Ontario
Chronic pain is real and treatable, even when tests find nothing. And there is a path to healing.
Sky Therapies offers compassionate, research-grounded psychotherapy for chronic pain, helping you retrain your nervous system and reclaim your life.
🛡️ Covered by many insurance plans💳 Direct billing available
Affordable Therapy Available
Save Time on Commute
No Waitlist
Evenings and Weekends Availability
Direct Insurance Billing
Therapists are also available in BC, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland & Labrador, Yukon, NWT, Nunavut, and PEI
Understanding Your Pain
What Is Psychotherapy for Chronic Pain, and Can It Actually Help?
01Your pain is real
Chronic pain rarely travels alone. Whether you’re managing fibromyalgia, persistent back pain, nerve pain, or pain that began with an injury but never fully resolved, the experience of living with ongoing pain reshapes how you think, feel, and relate to your body. Psychotherapy for chronic pain is not about telling you the pain is “in your head.” It is about understanding how the nervous system, the brain, and emotional experience interact, and using that understanding to reduce pain, restore function, and reclaim your life.
02How Sky Therapies helps
At Sky Therapies, we offer virtual chronic pain therapy across Ontario, grounded in some of the most research-supported mind-body approaches available: Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET), and somatic-based methods informed by decades of clinical research. Our therapists work with people experiencing pain conditions that standard medical treatment has not fully resolved. Not because those treatments failed, but because chronic pain often has neural and emotional dimensions that require a different kind of care.
The Neuroscience
How the Brain Maintains Chronic Pain, and What That Means for Treatment
01
A protective, not broken, nervous system
A protective, not broken, nervous system
Modern neuroscience has transformed how we understand persistent pain. Research published in JAMA Psychiatry demonstrates that in many chronic pain conditions, particularly those without clear structural damage, the nervous system has learned to produce pain as a protective response, even when the original tissue threat has passed. This is not a sign of weakness or imagination. It is the result of a sensitized nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do: protect you. The problem is that this protection persists long after it is needed.
02
Retraining the nervous system to feel safe
Retraining the nervous system to feel safe
This understanding, developed through the clinical and research work of Dr. Howard Schubiner, Dr. Alan Gordon, and the late Dr. John E. Sarno, forms the foundation of psychotherapy-based approaches to chronic pain. When the nervous system learns that it is safe, pain signals can diminish, sometimes dramatically. The goal of therapy is not to manage pain indefinitely but to change the neural pathways that are generating it.
OUR APPROACH TO CHRONIC PAIN
Different Training. One Individualized Plan.
Chronic pain is not one condition, and it does not respond to one technique.
So many of the people who come to us have already tried the single-approach version of care and found it did not hold.
This is not about convincing you that your pain is imagined. Your pain is real, and it is measurable physiology. What we look at with clients is how the nervous system, past experience, stress and protective patterns interact with a body that is still hurting, and what actually helps that system feel safe enough to change.
There is no single path through chronic pain. Some clients need help calming a nervous system that has been on high alert for a long time. Others need to work through trauma connected to how the pain started, or the medical experiences that came after it. Some benefit from approaches that work directly with the fear and threat responses that build up around pain itself.
Our therapists bring different training to this work: EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), clinical hypnosis, somatic approaches, nervous-system regulation, trauma-focused psychotherapy, and, for clients and therapists for whom it fits, Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT). You do not need to arrive already knowing which one you need. That is something we can help you figure out.
When a symptom is taken seriously, treatment can start from the right place. When the person delivering it is matched to how you actually experience pain, it has a much better chance of helping.
EMDR Therapy
EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) can help when trauma, distressing medical experiences, or fear responses are tangled up with chronic pain itself, reprocessing the memories and nervous system responses that keep pain signals switched on.
Clinical Hypnosis
Clinical hypnosis for pain works with attention, imagery, and the internal patterns connected to persistent pain, when a therapist has trained in it, helping calm the nervous system’s threat response.
Somatic Mind-Body Therapy
Somatic mind-body therapy works with the relationship between body sensation, emotion, and the protective responses a nervous system builds over time, helping clients reconnect with physical signals rather than bracing against them.
Nervous-System-Informed Therapy
Nervous-system-informed therapy helps a client understand and work with the hypervigilance, fear, and dysregulation that often accompany chronic pain, building the felt sense of safety lasting relief depends on.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)
Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is a structured, evidence-based approach developed specifically for neuroplastic pain, available with the therapists on our team who have completed training in it. If PRT is what you’re looking for, our full Pain Reprocessing Therapy page covers what it involves and what the research shows.
Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET)
Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET) was developed by Dr. Mark Lumley and colleagues to address the role suppressed or unprocessed emotion plays in chronic pain and medically unexplained symptoms. Clinical trials of EAET have shown significant pain reduction in fibromyalgia, headache disorders, and other chronic pain conditions, particularly for people whose pain is worsened by stress, relationship conflict, or trauma history.
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR)
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) works with the brain’s earliest, most automatic responses to shock and danger, the reactions that happen before you even have a chance to think. This can be especially helpful when chronic pain is tied to an old shock or trauma the body has not fully let go of.
Your Journey
What to Expect from Chronic Pain Therapy at Sky Therapies
01
A thorough assessment first
A thorough assessment first
Therapy for chronic pain at Sky Therapies begins with a thorough clinical assessment of your pain history, medical background, emotional and relational context, and previous treatment experience. This allows us to identify which approach, whether PRT, EAET, somatic methods, or a combination, is best suited to your specific presentation.
02
Weekly virtual sessions
Weekly virtual sessions
Sessions are conducted virtually via a secure video platform, making them accessible across Ontario without the added burden of travel when you are managing a pain condition. Most clients engage in weekly sessions over a period of three to six months, though this varies based on individual circumstances.
03
No referral required
No referral required
You do not need a referral to begin. You do need a willingness to approach your pain from a new angle, one that takes the full complexity of your nervous system, your history, and your emotional life into account.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions about Chronic Pain Therapy
What is psychotherapy for chronic pain?+
Psychotherapy for chronic pain addresses the neural and emotional dimensions of persistent pain using approaches like Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) and Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET). Rather than managing symptoms, these approaches help the nervous system reduce its sensitized pain response. Sky Therapies offers virtual chronic pain psychotherapy across Ontario.
What is Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)?+
Pain Reprocessing Therapy is a structured, evidence-based approach for chronic primary pain. It helps the brain reinterpret pain signals as safe rather than threatening through somatic tracking and cognitive reappraisal. A 2021 randomized controlled trial in JAMA Psychiatry found two-thirds of PRT participants were pain-free or nearly pain-free at one-year follow-up.
What is Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET)?+
EAET was developed by Dr. Mark Lumley to address the role of suppressed or unprocessed emotion in chronic pain. Clinical trials have demonstrated significant pain reduction in fibromyalgia, headache disorders, and other chronic pain conditions. EAET helps identify and process emotional experiences the nervous system has learned to convert into physical symptoms.
How is psychotherapy for chronic pain different from physiotherapy or pain medication?+
Physiotherapy addresses physical structure, movement, and muscle function. Pain medication manages pain signal intensity pharmacologically. Psychotherapy approaches like PRT and EAET target the sensitized nervous system itself, addressing the neural and emotional patterns that maintain pain after tissue healing. These approaches are complementary, not mutually exclusive.
Do I need a referral to start chronic pain therapy at Sky Therapies?+
No referral is needed to begin psychotherapy for chronic pain at Sky Therapies. You can book a free consultation directly through our website. We recommend maintaining your relationship with your medical team alongside psychotherapy.
How many sessions does chronic pain therapy typically take?+
Most clients engage in weekly sessions over a period of three to six months, though this varies based on individual circumstances. Therapy begins with a thorough assessment of your pain history, medical background, and emotional context to determine the best approach for your situation.
Is virtual therapy effective for chronic pain?+
Yes. Pain Reprocessing Therapy and EAET are delivered effectively through secure virtual sessions. The therapeutic relationship, somatic tracking exercises, and cognitive reappraisal techniques all translate well to virtual format. Virtual delivery also removes the burden of travel, which is especially important when managing a chronic pain condition.
What conditions does chronic pain therapy at Sky Therapies help with?+
We work with people experiencing fibromyalgia, persistent back or neck pain, headache disorders, pelvic pain, nerve pain, and other chronic pain conditions where stress, anxiety, trauma, or relationship conflict worsens symptoms. Our approaches are particularly suited for pain without clear structural explanation or pain that has not responded to standard medical treatments.
Who developed Pain Reprocessing Therapy?+
Pain Reprocessing Therapy was developed by Alan Gordon, building on the foundational work of Dr. John E. Sarno and Dr. Howard Schubiner. The approach was validated in a 2021 randomized controlled trial published in JAMA Psychiatry, demonstrating significant and lasting pain reduction.
What does chronic pain therapy cost, and is it covered by insurance in Ontario?+
Sessions with a Registered Social Worker or Registered Psychotherapist may be partially covered by extended health benefits that include psychotherapy or social work services. Coverage varies by plan. Sky Therapies can bill select insurance providers directly. Contact us for current session rates and to verify your coverage.
What areas does Sky Therapies serve?+
Sky Therapies serves clients across all of Ontario through secure virtual sessions. Our clients are located in Toronto, North York, Markham, Ottawa, Vaughan, Guelph, Brampton, Windsor, St. Catharines, Oshawa, Kingston, Scarborough, Oakville, Peterborough, Richmond Hill, Whitby, and throughout the province.
How do I know if my chronic pain is neuroplastic?+
Neuroplastic pain occurs when the nervous system has learned to produce pain as a protective response even after tissue healing. Common indicators include pain that moves locations, pain that worsens with stress but not activity, normal medical imaging despite ongoing pain, and pain that began during a stressful life period. A thorough clinical assessment at Sky Therapies can help determine whether this profile applies to your situation.
About Sky Therapies
At Sky Therapies, healing begins when both body and mind are heard. This Ontario-wide online therapy practice offers specialized support for trauma, chronic pain, anxiety, PTSD, IBS, and other mind-body symptoms that often leave people feeling unheard or dismissed. Through evidence-based therapies including EMDR, Pain Reprocessing Therapy, and somatic approaches, their warm and skilled team helps you regulate your nervous system, reduce persistent symptoms, and rediscover a sense of safety within yourself.
Meet one of our clinicians
Olga Kotlyar
Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) · CRPO #23195
Olga spent nearly twenty years in cancer care as a radiation therapist before training as a psychotherapist. She worked alongside patients and families through frightening treatment, uncertain results and the long stretches in between. She also served as a Wellness Ambassador on her team, supporting colleagues through stress and burnout.
That background matters here. She has seen what sustained pain and uncertainty do to a person, and she does not need it explained to her. Olga works with adults living with chronic pain, chronic illness, medical trauma and burnout, under the clinical supervision of a senior registered clinician.
Ready to Talk?
Sky Therapies offers virtual psychotherapy for chronic pain across Ontario. We do not provide medical diagnosis or prescribe medication. If you are managing a pain condition, we recommend maintaining your relationship with your medical team alongside psychotherapy.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please contact the Canada Suicide Prevention Service at 988, or go to your nearest emergency room. Sky Therapies does not provide emergency or crisis services.
The sky is not the limit. It’s the beginning of healing.
🇷🇺
Russian Speaking
Russian Speaking
🏳️🌈
LGBTQ+ Affirming
LGBTQ+ Affirming
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
ADDRESS
865 York Mills Rd #20,
Toronto, ON M3B 1Y6
09:00 am - 08:00 pm