Melina Bondy (they/them)
BFA, MPS, SEP
Hi!
I’m a Registered Psychotherapist, Meditation teacher and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, but first and foremost I’m a human just like you who has lived through hard times and has done a lot of my own therapy. So I know how scary, exciting and important this step can be. I’m glad you’re here.
My work is rooted in the deep presence and compassion I cultivated during six years of monastic life in the community of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh where learning to listen inwardly—to my own pride, fear, and tenderness—taught me how to listen deeply to others. I have also been shaped by the trauma and nervous system work of Peter Levine as well as the somatic abolitionism of Resmaa Menakem.
I trained in Psychotherapy and Spiritual Care at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, with clinical placements at the CAMH Gender Identity Clinic and Scarborough General Hospital, where I supported people undergoing gender transition, mental and physical illness, crisis, and burnout. Before founding Safe Haven Therapy, I worked in group practice and co-facilitated mindfulness and resilience programs at Sick Kids Hospital and the University of Toronto.
Outside of this practice, I teach mindfulness and meditation to people across North America and Europe, I study theology and neuroscience for fun, bike as much as possible, love to sing and dance, and my favourite vegetable is kale.
Extended Bio
I am a Registered Psychotherapist, meditation teacher, and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. My orientation as a therapist grows out of my life as a creative person. Journaling and dance improvisation were my first forms of therapy and I still sing myself through the hardest times. Queerness, gender fluidity, whiteness and late-diagnosed ADHD shape a lot of how I show up in the world while a passion for justice keeps me learning and grounded.
The skills I bring to therapy are also directly shaped by my years as a Buddhist monastic where for nine years, I helped to run massive retreats, lived in an intentional community and practiced a lot of meditation. Life in the monastery stripped away many distractions. I had to face the rawness of my own inner world—depression, doubt, shame, and longing. Facing my own fears, pride, grief, and tenderness taught me how to be present with others in their suffering. I also learned that even the most caring community, when it is based on separation from the outside world and the surrender of personal choices, can cause problems. I experienced both healing and harm in community which inspired me to learn about religious trauma and support others leaving high control groups.
When I left monastic life, I realized my favourite part of my former life was sitting with people through their hard times, offering my presence. This led me to train in Psychotherapy and Spiritual Care at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto. My clinical placements gave me the opportunity to walk alongside patients, families, physicians, and staff as they navigated illness, burnout, loss, and crisis. These experiences reinforced for me that therapy is less about providing answers and more about creating a steady, compassionate space where people feel safe enough to be real. Before founding Safe Haven Therapy, I worked in a group practice and co-facilitated the Mindful Awareness and Resilience Skills for Adolescents program at Sick Kids Hospital. In the past I have also done extensive work co-creating and facilitating courses weaving together Buddhism, racial justice, creativity and somatics.
I have also been shaped by advanced training in Somatic Experiencing, the body-based trauma therapy founded by Peter Levine. Over three years, I learned to help people notice the subtle ways their nervous system responds to stress, to gently release trauma, and to build new patterns of safety and vitality. While different from the mindfulness and compassion practices that I learned earlier, I experimented with myself to find how they can work together for even greater freedom, and fell in love with a fusion of mindfulness and somatics. A life-long learner, I am pursuing a second Masters Degree to deepen my work in religious trauma and the attachment system.