Bright Raven Psychotherapy and Consulting

Meet Brooke Bertrand, the Registered Psychotherapist Behind Bright Raven in North Bay

When you book a session at Bright Raven Psychotherapy and Consulting, the person across from you is Brooke Bertrand, a Registered Psychotherapist with more than twenty years in the field and the owner of the practice. She works from an office in downtown North Bay and online with clients across Ontario.

Brooke grew up in North Dakota and did her master's degree in forensic psychology in Chicago. She met her husband, a Sudbury native, online back when nobody did that, and in 2008 she immigrated to Canada and they made their home in North Bay. They have two teenagers, so when Brooke says she understands the pull of a busy family, she means it.

Why the Raven, and Why the Wheat

In March 2021, working from home, Brooke walked out to get the mail and the whole street went quiet. A raven was sitting in her yard, staring at her. She asked her friend Darren Renaud, whose spirit animal was the raven, what it meant, and he told her. It was one of the last conversations they had. Darren died that May in a motorcycle accident, and that year turned out to be the hardest of her career.

In 2022, driving home along the north shore of Lake Superior after her grandparents' funeral, she told her husband it was now or never for a private practice. Throwing out names on the drive, they discovered that her own surname, Bertrand, means bright raven. Back home she asked Tyler Dokis, her best friend and colleague and one of the first people she worked with in Canada, what he would call the business, without telling him a thing. He said Bright Raven, and he shared his Indigenous teachings about ravens and why they fit her work. The logo was created by Darren's wife, Nicky Poulin. The raven carries wheat because Brooke's grandfather was a wheat farmer and both of her grandfathers ran their own businesses, a connection to her roots and to the entrepreneurial spirit they had.

From Addictions Work to Couples Therapy in North Bay

Brooke's first job in Canada was as an addictions therapist at a North Bay non profit, working with people on probation and parole and going into the jail to bridge people into treatment. Since then she has worked in hospital, university, and community mental health, and she has taught. All of it, she says, is how a therapist becomes a therapist.

What she learned is that therapy is about relationships. Either she helps you with the relationship you have with yourself, or she helps you reconnect with the people who matter most. She also saw a gap. There are not many couples therapists in North Bay, and she decided to fill it.

Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, Trained Well Beyond the Basics

Brooke's couples work is Emotionally Focused Therapy, or EFT, developed by Dr. Sue Johnson and built on decades of attachment science. She has completed the base training and is at the pre certification stage, bringing recorded sessions to a consultation group and submitting tapes for review. She has gone well past the required coursework, with more than two hundred hours of additional couples training, including affairs, high conflict couples, and sexual intimacy.

What makes EFT different, in her words, is that there are three in the room, not two. The relationship itself is the third one, with its whole history and its children wrapped up in it. Most couples arrive stuck in a cycle. The work is helping you see that the relationship is not the problem, the cycle in between you is, and then changing it. She is also a trained facilitator of Hold Me Tight, the EFT couples workshop, and is working to bring the first retreat to Northern Ontario in 2027.

Therapy for Nurses, Frontline Workers, and Men Who Have Never Talked About This

One of Brooke's specialties is the people who do the caring: nurses, physicians, teachers, social service workers, emergency responders, and other therapists. She has worked inside healthcare for a long time and understands the pressure of the institution, the system, and the care itself. Her message is simple. In her office you get to be the one who is taken care of. Her clients in these jobs almost always want to keep doing them, and the work is helping you recover and go back.

Brooke will also tell you that men are some of her favourite clients. Come in with your work boots or your suit and tie. You do not have to perform, and she has no agenda. If you come in tough, she can be a little tough too, in a way that says she can withstand whatever this is and stay in it with you. She also works with women moving through midlife, a season she is in herself and one she believes gets overlooked, along with anxiety, addiction and recovery, grief, relational trauma, and burnout.

What to Know Before You Book a Therapist in North Bay

Ask Brooke what someone should know before they walk into her office and the answer is not what you expect. "I'm not there to fix you. That's not what therapy does. I don't have a magic wand." Her job is to help you find out what you already know about yourself. The room becomes a safe place to practice whatever you want to practice in your real relationships, including the one with yourself. As her website puts it, what you seek is within, and you find it together.

Every new client starts with a free fifteen minute consultation. Fifty minute individual sessions are $170 and couples sessions are $190. Most extended health plans cover a Registered Psychotherapist, and Brooke provides the receipts to claim. Evening sessions are available, and sliding scale fees are offered for financial hardship, so ask.

Walk and Talk Therapy at the North Bay Waterfront

From May to October, Brooke offers Walk and Talk therapy on Friday mornings along the waterfront. People open up differently when their bodies are moving. You are more relaxed, you are breathing fresh air, and what you notice in your body connects to what you are sharing. Deep work still happens in the office, for privacy, and every Walk and Talk client starts with at least one office or video session first.

NIHB Provider, Clinical Supervisor, and Part of the North Bay Community

Brooke is an approved mental health provider through the Non Insured Health Benefits program of Indigenous Services Canada. She provides clinical supervision to Registered Psychotherapists and Registered Social Workers. Her practice is trauma informed, anti oppressive, and guided by harm reduction and recovery.

She was a founding committee member of North Bay's Overdose Awareness Day about ten years ago, and she went back this year to see it still growing. She supports Chat for Chad and its work for local mental health programs. Social justice runs through her practice, and she wants you to know she is paying attention to what is happening in the community, not only in the room.

What to Expect When You Reach Out to Bright Raven

Call, email, or book through the online client portal, where you can see Brooke's schedule in real time. After the free consultation she sends an electronic intake package, and your first session is about getting comfortable and setting goals together. In person sessions are in downtown North Bay, with clients coming from Callander, Sturgeon Falls and West Nipissing, Powassan, Mattawa and the Parry Sound area, and secure video sessions are available anywhere in Ontario.

Outside the office you will find Brooke at the rink with two teenagers, a stack of books on the go, a playlist running, and a board game table in the family room. She keeps the practice to four days a week with August off, so she comes back ready for her clients. Ask Brooke for the words that describe how she works and she gives you five: curious, compassionate, humble, down to earth, and a straight shooter. In her words, come in as you are. You get to just be.