For me, spiritual health is about being able to explore experiences that are challenging, don't make sense, or that are unwanted—from a place of honesty, vulnerability, and humility.
Online sessions for privacy and convenience
serving clients in Ontario, across Canada, and worldwide.
Navigating Illness, Loss, and End-of-Life Decisions
There are moments—especially near the end of life, when truth asks to be seen and felt in all its depth.
I support adults, families, and professionals facing illness, death and dying, grief, or end-of-life decision making—including MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying) and VSED (Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking). My background as a multi-faith provider means I welcome diverse spiritual, religious, and secular perspectives. Every session is about making space for uncertainty, hope, and meaning—never forcing ritual or prescribing answers.
I do not promote any specific end-of-life choice. My role is to hold space for thoughtful exploration, clarity, and dignity, whether you're considering natural dying, palliative care, MAID, or VSED.
Support is available not only for individuals considering MAID or VSED, but also for families and loved ones before, during, and after these choice, including compassionate bereavement and meaning-making conversations.
Sessions are virtual, to support comfort, privacy, and accessibility at every stage.
My Approach
Spiritual health, for me, is deeply relational. It means being honest and attentive to whatever is most real, whether that's grief, mystery, or the ordinary moments of daily life. While spiritual health is closely connected to emotional and mental well-being, it also invites us to consider purpose, values, and connection, whether to others, to nature, or to something greater.
This work is not about offering perfect answers, but about staying connected to what matters for you, and, when helpful, for your loved ones or community.
Collaboration and Professional Consultation
I collaborate with therapists, doctors, care teams, teachers, and palliative professionals seeking trauma-sensitive, ethically sound support around end-of-life situations. Consultation is available for topics like consent, trauma awareness, meditation injury, and best practice in spiritually-informed care.
Mindfulness in the Therapeutic Process
Mindfulness runs quietly through my approach—not as a technique to master, but as a way of being with experience. In therapy, mindfulness might mean noticing how emotion lives in the body, or pausing long enough to sense what feels tender or true.
While some clients come with an established practice, many do not. There is no expectation to meditate or "be mindful." The spirit of mindfulness—curiosity, presence, and gentleness—often arises naturally through conversation itself.
For others already drawn to mindfulness, psychotherapy can deepen the work: tending to what surfaces between sessions, exploring life off‑the‑cushion, or bringing care to experiences that feel too complex or painful to meet alone. Each process informs the other, weaving spacious awareness into the very heart of relationship.
How I Work
I value presence, curiosity, and whole‑person attention. Each conversation is a collaboration, meeting whatever arises with steadiness and care. My years in hospital spiritual health and long engagement with contemplative practice have shaped a grounded, attuned way of working, rooted in respect for each individual's pace and wisdom.
This is therapy as a shared space: thoughtful, humane, and alive to what unfolds in real time.
Trauma Sensitivity and Ethical Care
Privacy, consent, and trauma awareness are integral to every session. I'm attentive to how personal and collective histories intersect, and how care can honor context—supporting both individual and community wellbeing.
This same steadiness extends to my end‑of‑life and spiritual health work, where similar principles of presence, trust, and care guide conversations about meaning, loss, and transition.
Professional consultation is available for colleagues wishing to offer mindfulness or end‑of‑life support safely and responsibly, always separate from clinical psychotherapy.
Offering Psychotherapy in Ontario
Psychotherapy is available to residents of Ontario, Canada.
For those beyond Ontario, I offer mindfulness coaching and consultation, distinct from psychotherapy and not regulated clinical care.
Begin Here
If therapy feels like a possible next step, I welcome you to a complimentary, confidential 30‑minute conversation.
Email: kara@karabraun.health
If mindfulness raises distress for you, please seek non‑urgent help. For emergencies, contact crisis services. Though rare, meditation injury or spiritual crisis can be overlooked in clinical care. I provide safe, trauma‑informed consultation whenever possible.
Kara Braun is a Registered Psychotherapist (Ontario) and provides psychotherapy only to clients physically located in Ontario, Canada.
Mindfulness coaching and consultation are available internationally; these services are not psychotherapy, do not include the controlled act of psychotherapy, and do not substitute for regulated mental health care.
Please ensure coaching is permitted in your region. For urgent needs, contact your local emergency services.