Niagara is “a bit of a desert” when it comes to specialized services for men’s mental health, says Joshua Berg, a psychotherapist and registered social worker who grew up in Fonthill, and has opened a practice in downtown St. Catharines with a particular focus on men affected by trauma, anxiety, depression, and difficulties with workplace issues and relationships.
Berg has deep roots in the local area. His great-grandfather founded Berg Equipment in Wainfleet, which is still family-run. Many other ancestors were local farmers, and his grandparents, parents, and siblings still reside in Pelham.
“Growing up in Fonthill, my first job was delivering newspapers for The Voice of Pelham,” recalled Berg. “I loved talking and interacting with my customers. I have always been interested in people. I remember once taking the bus home in Grade 8 and my friend said, ‘I think you are going to be a counsellor someday.’ In my early 20s, I left Niagara and travelled extensively overseas where I was exposed to many cultures, which really opened my eyes to life outside of a small town.”
Berg attended Notre Dame in Welland during his high school years, followed up with university undergrad and Masters degrees at Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier. He began his career in social services some 15 years ago at Bethesda in Niagara (which offers programs for children, youth, and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities) before running the Salvation Army street outreach truck in St. Catharines, working with marginalized youth and the homeless.
“My first experience with counselling therapy was when I was attending the former Fonthill Public School, and met with a male therapist who helped me work through the loss of my grandfather,” said Berg. “I remember it being incredibly affirming, emotionally. During an internship as part of my Masters degree, I provided therapy to children and adults. It was during this time that I began to notice how children’s issues paralleled what I was seeing in my adult clients, who hadn't processed and worked through their childhood experiences that were often traumatic in nature.”
Since then, said Berg, he has shifted his focus to working solely with adults who are experiencing trauma, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, and difficulties as first responders, using “science-based therapies.”
Berg opened an online counselling practice in 2019, but after moving back to Niagara, decided to open a physical location in downtown St. Catharines to meet with clients.
“My wife and I ended up buying a house in Grimsby, just at the beginning of the pandemic, and then moved to St. Catharines,” he said. “We find this area to be really beautiful. My wife’s parents were in church ministry, and they moved around a lot before settling in Grimsby, so we both have family close by.”
Though he treats both male and female clients, it is mostly males that are reaching out to him in his practice.
“I think males — Millennials and Gen Z in particular — are becoming much more comfortable talking with a therapist. Most of my clients are fairly well-educated and established in their fields. Some are married with families, trying to figure out where they want to take their career.”
Berg said that he has clients who are first-responders — paramedics, firefighters, police, nurses — who have suffered a traumatic event and have been diagnosed with PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. He said that there remains a stigma within the ranks of first-responders going off work due to a trauma, because they are high-achievers, and feel they need to be strong for others, and not show weakness or vulnerability.
“Therapy sessions involve educating people on the time and space they need to process, because we don't want them lost long term if they're burnt out,” said Berg. “I try to give them practical skills that allow them to return to work in a much healthier place.”
