Hey, I'm Nancy.
I'm so glad you're here.
I believe that beneath the anxiety, the trauma, and the noise of modern life, there is a quiet, steady current within you that knows the way.
My journey to this work wasn't linear. Before becoming a therapist, I spent years in high-stress corporate environments, feeling successful on paper but hollow inside. I knew the profound ache of being disconnected from my own life. It was through my own intensive therapy that I learned to drop the armour I'd built and reconnect with my authentic self.
That transformation changed everything. It led me to earn my Master of Social Work, dive deep into clinical training, and dedicate my life to holding space for others navigating their own dark waters.
My Approach
I don't believe in a sterile, clinical approach to human suffering. When you sit with me, you are sitting with a real person. I bring warmth, humour, gentle directness, and deep curiosity into the room.
I view our work as a collaboration. You are the expert on your life; I bring the clinical tools, the map, and the flashlight. Together, we look at the places that hurt, untangle the knots, and chart a path toward a life that feels genuinely yours.
Training & Credentials
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Master of Social Work (MSW), Smith College
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Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)
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Certified Professional Life Coach (CPLC)
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Trained in EMDR for trauma processing
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Advanced training in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
Nancy Brownsberger
Registered Social Service Worker
Certified Trauma Therapist
Certified Life Coach
Dare to Lead / Daring Teams Member
Group Facilitator & Trainer
Hi, I'm Nancy.
Welcome home to YOU.
Here’s a little bit about ME.
I’m the counsellor, coach, facilitator, trainer, and heart behind Grow Optimism Therapy — a soft landing place for hard feelings, big questions, and the small, brave steps that move you toward healing.
I believe that beneath the anxiety, the trauma, the grief, and the noise of modern life, there is a quiet, steady current within you that knows the way forward.
Here, therapy is not about fixing who you are. It is about meeting you with compassion exactly where you are, honouring the story you carry, and walking alongside you as you reconnect with yourself and move toward the life you want to create.
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At Grow Optimism, my work is rooted in helping people feel supported, understood, encouraged, and gently guided as they find their way back to themselves — one conversation, one session, one brave step at a time.
The Current That Led Me Here
My journey to this work wasn’t linear.
Before Grow Optimism Therapy, I lived a whole other life. I built a meaningful career in community service, with work centred on communication, connection, and care.
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From the outside, I looked capable and successful. Beneath the surface, I was struggling.
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Grow Optimism began in 2014, after a catastrophic house fire, diagnoses of PTSD and CPTSD, and a season of my life that asked me to face myself in ways I never expected.
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Even as someone trained in counselling and support work, entering therapy myself was one of the bravest things I had ever done.
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Through my own intensive therapeutic work, I began to understand how childhood adoption trauma, abuse, painful life experiences, and the stories I had carried for years shaped my relationship with safety, trust, love, worthiness, and self.
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Therapy helped me begin to loosen those stories. It helped me drop some of the armour I had built. It helped me reconnect with my authentic self, soften toward my own humanity, and understand the life-changing power of being truly seen, heard, and held with compassion.
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That transformation changed everything.
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As I began to reconnect with myself, I also began to see what had always mattered most in my work: supporting people, holding space for hard truths, and helping others move toward who they wanted to become.
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That became the foundation for Grow Optimism: a space where others can feel supported as they begin their own process of healing, self-understanding, and reconnection.
My Approach
I don’t believe in a cold, clinical approach to human suffering.
When you sit with me, you are sitting with a real person.
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I bring warmth, humour, compassion, gentle directness, transparency, and deep curiosity into the room. I believe therapy, counselling, and coaching should feel safe and professional — but also human.
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My approach is person-centred, personalized, compassionate, non-judgemental, and trauma-informed.
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I see therapy as collaborative work. You are the expert on your life. I bring support, reflection, structure, clinical tools, gentle guardrails, and a steady presence beside you.
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Together, we build strategies that fit your life, your nervous system, your background, your needs, and your goals. We look at the places that hurt, untangle what feels overwhelming, and begin to chart a path toward a life that feels more grounded, open-hearted, and genuinely yours.
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You are not defined by your anxiety.
You are not defined by your trauma.
You are not defined by your grief.
You are not defined by the hardest thing you have lived through.
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Being brave enough to face fear, shame, loss, emotional overwhelm, or what I sometimes call emotional tsunamis is no small thing.
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It is courageous work.
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And you do not have to do it alone.
Areas I Support
You may come to therapy with a clear concern, a diagnosis, a life transition, a relationship wound, or simply the sense that something inside you feels heavy, stuck, or ready to be understood.
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My work supports individuals navigating a wide range of emotional, relational, behavioural, and life challenges.
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Anxiety
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Depression
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Stress and burnout
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PTSD / CPTSD
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Trauma
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Emotional dysregulation and overwhelm
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Nervous system regulation
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Grief, loss, and complex grief
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Health challenges
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Panic attacks
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Life coaching
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Career guidance
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Life transitions
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Self-worth and confidence
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Identity development
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Self-esteem
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Body positivity
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Women’s wellness through life transitions
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Values, purpose, and personal direction
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Relationship challenges
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Communication struggles
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Family conflict
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Recovery from abuse
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Recovery from emotionally unavailable or abusive parents
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Codependency
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Infidelity
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Divorce
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Loss of a loved one
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Peer relationships
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Anger management
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ADHD and autism-related support
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OCD
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Addiction-related challenges
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Borderline Personality Disorder
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Bipolar I and II
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Dissociative Identity Disorder
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Anxiety and panic-related concerns
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What It’s Like to Work With Me
Human to human, we begin there.
I do not believe healing is linear, and I do not believe you are broken or in need of fixing.
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Personal growth, in my experience, is something we return to throughout life. I show up as a real and imperfect human in the therapy room. I answer questions honestly, I use humour, and I bring warmth, transparency, and grounded care to the work we do together.
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Working with me means working with someone who understands what it can feel like to look like you are holding it together while feeling messy, exhausted, or disconnected on the inside.
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That is the level of empathy, realness, and respect I bring into the room.
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Together, we build a therapeutic relationship guided by your hopes, your fears, your pace, and the parts of you that are ready to be seen with care.
Training, Credentials &
Tools I Draw From
My work is grounded in professional training, lived experience, and ongoing learning.
I am a Registered Social Service Worker, Certified Trauma Therapist, Certified Life Coach, Dare to Lead / Daring Teams Member, Group Facilitator, and Trainer.
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I hold a Women’s Studies and Sociology degree from the University of Guelph and a Social Services Honours diploma from Seneca College.
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I became a certified Life Coach, completed two years of training to become certified as a Trauma Therapist, and continue to learn, grow, and deepen my practice through ongoing studies at Wilfrid Laurier University’s School of Social Work.
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Over the past 30 years, my professional background has included work in:
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Youth justice and mental health
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Child protection and risk assessment
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Developmental services
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Vocational rehabilitation
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Community health services
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Poverty alleviation
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Food security
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Counselling, coaching, group facilitation, and workplace wellness
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As a member in good standing with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, I remain committed to ongoing professional development and education so I can continue to support my clients with care, integrity, and respect.
“You are not defined by the hardest thing you have lived through.”
“So often when we feel lost, adrift in our lives, our first instinct is to look out into the distance to find the nearest shore. But that shore, that solid ground is within us. The anchor we are searching for is connection and it is internal. To form meaningful connection with others, we must first connect with ourselves. But to do either we must first establish a common understanding of the language of emotion and our human experience” ~ Brene Brown
HOW I WORK
Therapeutic Approaches & Areas of Training
I use an integrative, trauma-informed approach.
In our sessions, I may incorporate mindfulness, body awareness, nervous system regulation, Internal Family Systems-informed exploration, CBT, ACT, DBT, EFIT, Felt Sense Polyvagal work, self-compassion practices, grounding tools, and solution-focused strategies.
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We use what feels supportive and relevant for you — helping you notice patterns, build practical coping skills, reconnect with your body and emotions, and move toward a steadier relationship with yourself.
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My training and areas of focus include:
Polyvagal Interventions
Working with the nervous system as a portal for understanding yourself — helping you make sense to you.
Trauma-Informed Support
Supporting clients with compassion, safety, pacing, and respect for the ways trauma can shape the mind, body, relationships, and sense of self.
CBT, DBT, ACT & Solution-Focused Strategies
Practical approaches that can support emotional regulation, thought patterns, coping skills, acceptance, values, and meaningful change.
EFIT, IFS-Informed, Attachment & Relational Approaches
Frameworks that support deeper self-understanding, emotional healing, relationship patterns, and compassion for the parts of you that have been trying to protect you.
Self-Compassion Work
Helping clients soften self-judgment, build inner kindness, and relate to themselves with more care.
Grounding & Mindfulness-Based Interventions
Using practical tools to help clients return to the present moment, regulate the nervous system, and feel more steady in daily life.
A Little More About Me
The person behind the practice.
Aside from running Grow Optimism, I am a mother of two grown boys, a daughter, sister, aunt, friend, and wife to my high school sweetheart and life partner of more than 35 years.
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I am also a self-proclaimed love warrior, a seeker of social and mental health justice, a Brené Brown superfan, an eternal optimist, and a middle-aged cheerleader.
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At the heart of it all, I believe deeply in the life-changing power of encouragement, compassion, courage, affection, and love.
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My hope is to help people understand, feel, and know their own potential more deeply — especially when life has made that hard to remember.
The Values That Guide My Work
My work is rooted in loving kindness.
The values I bring into my work are simple, but deeply important to me:
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Honesty. Integrity. Professionalism. Respect. Transparency. Compassion. Encouragement. Loving kindness.
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I believe every person carries light, even when life has made that light hard to see.
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Much of my work is about helping people reconnect with that light — not by forcing positivity, but by creating space for truth, tenderness, courage, and healing.
Living a Life of Service
This work has always lived somewhere in me.
Through my work in youth justice, vocational rehabilitation, developmental services, community health, and marginalized communities, I learned that compassion is strongest when it is paired with integrity.
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Over time, I came to understand that being of service to others has been one of my core values since childhood.
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Some of the stories that shaped me are small. Some are painful. Some are profound. But all of them taught me something about the importance of seeing another person clearly, listening deeply, and showing up with an open heart.
Stories That Shaped My Work
These are a few of the moments and experiences that helped shape my path toward counselling, coaching, training, facilitation, and a life of service.
One of my earliest memories of service is about Simon, a primary school classmate whose presence had a lasting impact on my life.
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Simon was in a class for children with complex special needs. He was a tiny, wheelchair-bound boy with bright blue eyes, physical limitations, and limited verbal communication.
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I helped feed him lunch, and every time I came into the room, Simon responded with overwhelming joy.
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That experience filled my heart in a way I never forgot.
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Even at that young age, I understood something important: helping others feel cared for, included, and seen would be part of my life’s work.
At the age of 16, I experienced a simple moment of acknowledgment that profoundly shifted my life.
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A Toronto School Board social worker helped me understand the life-changing impact of being truly seen and heard by someone with an open and compassionate heart.
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I had shown kindness to others throughout my life, but in that moment, I became the recipient of compassion in a way that changed me.
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That experience encouraged me to pursue work that would allow me to help, nurture, encourage, and gently guide others toward a fuller and more open-hearted life.
After a catastrophic house fire consumed my family’s home in 2014, I experienced severe PTSD, relentless anxiety, and a profound mental health crisis.
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Healing was not instant, and it was not linear. But through counselling, self-reflection, meditation, journaling, conversation, laughter, and love, I began to find my way through.
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That lived experience deepened my commitment to this work.
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Today, I bring both professional training and personal understanding into my counselling, coaching, facilitation, and training. My trauma-informed approach is grounded in education, compassion, and the belief that healing becomes possible when we are supported with care.
Nancy Brownsberger
Registered Social Service Worker
Certified Trauma Therapist
Certified Life Coach
Dare to Lead / Daring Teams Member
Group Facilitator & Trainer
Meet Joon,
The therapy cat who spreads love & comfort wherever she goes!
For those who've had the pleasure of hanging out with me riverside or in the office, you know how special Joon is (shout out to photographer Danielle Clements, for capturing her beauty)! Six years ago, when I started practicing full-time, Joon surprised me by tapping into her inner empath. This once aloof but deeply loving creature began to sense the emotional needs of those around her. Now, she intuitively knows when someone needs a comforting presence. If a client is feeling distressed, Joon will appear out of nowhere to offer solace.
She's a beacon of hope and compassion, and I'm so grateful to have her by my side riverside (unless you're allergic, of course ). She's a shining example that we all have the power to uplift and support one another.
Looking for support?
You do not need to have the perfect words.
You do not need to have everything figured out.
You do not need to carry it all alone.
Whether you are navigating anxiety, grief, life transitions, relationship challenges, trauma, or a desire to reconnect with yourself, I would be honoured to support you.