In immediate danger, call 911. For suicide crisis support in Canada, call or text 988.
In immediate danger, call 911. For suicide crisis support in Canada, call or text 988.
SaskADHD · STG Health
Individual psychotherapy for adults experiencing emotional intensity, rejection sensitivity, shame or sensory overload.
At a glance
Sensory & Emotional Alignment Therapy begins with emotional and sensory regulation when those reactions are the main reason you are seeking help. This can include people-pleasing, reassurance-seeking, difficulty setting boundaries, or shutdown after pushing beyond capacity.
Therapy examines the event, its meaning, body sensations, action urges, sensory load and relationship context. The focus is on making room for a more deliberate response, while respecting the needs underneath the reaction.
Emotion-first psychotherapy
This pathway is designed for adults who already understand a lot about their ADHD but still feel overtaken by the speed, intensity, or physical force of an emotional response.
Notice
Separate the event from the interpretation, body sensations, action urges, memories, sensory load and relationship context that arrive with it.
Regulate
Practise DBT-informed distress-tolerance, paced breathing, grounding, movement, affect labelling and sensory strategies that help the nervous system settle enough for deliberate choice.
Repair
Work with shame, reassurance-seeking, people-pleasing, withdrawal and conflict so repair can be clear and proportionate rather than driven by panic.
The treatment toolkit
The goal is not to stop feeling deeply. It is to notice earlier, regulate more effectively, recover faster, and make choices that fit your values when emotions are intense.
01
Use deliberate delay, paced breathing, grounding, movement and affect labelling to interrupt the automatic spiral and give the thinking brain more time to re-engage.
02
Map emotions into thoughts, sensations, urges and actions; then practise checking the facts, opposite action and distress-tolerance skills when the urge would pull you away from your goals.
03
Use compassionate, IFS-informed language when it fits to understand inner-critic, thinking-manager or vigilant-protector patterns without treating any one internal model as the only explanation for your experience.
04
Build interoceptive awareness, reduce avoidable sensory load, communicate needs directly, and replace chronic fawning or overfunctioning with boundaries that protect relationships and capacity.
What you keep
Insight matters, but the work is designed to leave you with language, regulation tools and environmental changes you can use outside the therapy room.
Pause plan
Know what to do when the emotional wave first arrives: notice, regulate, delay impulsive action, and decide what actually needs a response.
Language
Replace “too sensitive,” “dramatic” or “out of control” with a specific map of trigger, nervous-system response, meaning, urge and recovery.
Accommodations
Identify sensory, communication and pacing changes that reduce unnecessary overload without asking you to mask your needs or perform wellness.
Bring one recent situation you would like to understand. You do not need to arrive with the right explanation: the clinician can help map what happened before, during and after the reaction.
Between-session work can focus on one part of the response plan, such as noticing an early cue, practising a regulation tool, or making a communication or sensory adjustment. Review includes what was difficult to use, not only whether you completed a task.
Individual psychotherapy is $150–$225 per session. An income-based range is available; confirm the agreed rate, frequency and clinician-specific insurance or funding eligibility. Intake reviews suitability even when a formal ADHD diagnosis is not yet established.
No. RSD is a descriptive term some people use for intense distress around perceived rejection or failure; it is not a standalone DSM-5-TR diagnosis. We focus on the actual pattern—emotional dysregulation, rejection sensitivity, shame, anxiety, trauma history, relationship context and other contributors—rather than requiring an RSD label.
Standard ADHD therapy may begin with planning, activation and executive-function systems. Sensory & Emotional Alignment starts with emotional and sensory regulation when those reactions are the main barrier, then adds practical ADHD strategies as the nervous system becomes more workable.
Not always. The clinician-reviewed intake considers diagnosis status, current symptoms, differential factors and your goals. If diagnostic clarification should come first, we will recommend assessment rather than treating uncertainty as settled ADHD.
Medication can be an important part of ADHD care for some people, but psychotherapy does not prescribe or recommend a specific medication for RSD. Medication questions are coordinated with an appropriate medical clinician when indicated, while therapy focuses on regulation, behaviour, relationships and sustainable accommodations.
If the main uncertainty is diagnosis or overlapping conditions, explore assessment. If your priority is structured practice with other adults, compare the Signal Group. Your goals and clinical needs guide the choice.
The clinician-reviewed intake helps identify whether this emotion-focused pathway, broader ADHD therapy or another service fits your needs.
