KIRU PSYCHOTHERAPY CLINIC
The Cognitive Freedom Program
A twelve week adult program for anxiety to understand your patterns better and start changing them.
A 12-week psychotherapy program for adults who've done the reflecting, named the patterns, and still find themselves reacting the same way. Weekly lessons, weekly one-on-one sessions, and monthly live calls with Dr. Shyamala Kiru. In person in Newmarket, ON, & online across Ontario.
Rewire Your Mind. Reclaim Your Freedom.
Kiru Psychotherapy Clinic
"I know exactly why I do this.
But I still do it."
You’ve read the books. You’ve done the therapy. You can name your triggers, explain your childhood, and describe your patterns better than most people could. Then something unplanned happens, and you’re right back in it: saying yes when you meant no, rehearsing what you should have said for three days, or hearing the same critical voice that’s been running since you were nine.
We know:
Insight is not the same as change.
Most approaches give you one of two things: understanding without structure, or tools without context.
The Cognitive Freedom Program gives you both in a specific order over 12 weeks.
You've spent years understanding yourself. Let's spend 12 weeks changing something.
Message us to get started.
The Cognitive Freedom Program | Newmarket & Virtual Across Ontario
People-Pleasing. Avoidance. Procrastination. Emotional Reactivity.
Four ways we make life harder while trying to make it easier.
If this sounds familiar:
- You say yes when you mean no, and resent it after.
- You rehearse conversations for days before having them, if you have them at all.
- You avoid the conflict even when something needs saying.
- You know what you want to say and freeze in the moment.
- You’ve achieved plenty on paper and still feel like you’re not enough.
- You’re exhausted by your own overthinking, and from the outside, nobody can tell.
Twelve weeks from now, you’ll see the pattern coming and know how to interrupt it.
Who Delivers The Program
Connect With a Therapist in Newmarket, ON
Every session is delivered by a Registered Psychotherapist regulated by the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario. Each and every therapist on our team trains on this model in-house before they see a client, and the program itself was developed by Dr. Shyamala Kiru, who spent over two decades as a Registered Psychotherapist and Registered Marriage and Family Therapist and holds a doctorate in couple and family therapy.
The Cognitive Freedom Program | Newmarket & Virtual Across Ontario
Program Details
One-on-one psychotherapy, not group therapy
12 weekly sessions, plus a short lesson each week
In person at 75 Main St S, Newmarket, ON, or online anywhere in Ontario
$175 per session, billed after each appointment.
Covered by most extended health plans under psychotherapy
Psychotherapists, regulated by the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario
Adults who feel stuck, anxious, or overwhelmed despite having done the work to understand why
Included:
- 12 video lessons
- 12 one-on-one psychotherapy sessions
- A private member portal holding every lesson and resource
-
The Cognitive Freedom Workbook
(yours to keep) - Optional monthly live group calls with Dr. Shyamala Kiru
Insight creates awareness
You learn how your thoughts, emotions, urges, and self-stories form, and why they repeat.
Structure creates change
Each session focuses on one specific CBT intervention, so the work stays contained, measurable, and effective.
Repetition creates new pathways
Week by week, old patterns get interrupted and replaced through consistent application.
Integration creates stability
Monthly calls and a workbook you keep give you space to reflect, clarify, and consolidate.
This is not open-ended work. It’s a deliberate system built to change the internal architecture that drives your experience, and you’ll know exactly where you are in it the whole way through.
The Curriculum
What You'll Work Through Over 12 Weeks
Each week: one principle, one therapeutic focus, one practice.
Week 1: Thoughts Are Not Facts
Just because you think something doesn’t make it true. You learn to catch the thoughts that feel like facts, so they stop running the show.
Week 2: The Story Is Not the Truth
The meaning you attach to what happens shapes how you feel about it. You learn to separate what happened from the story you’ve built around it.
Week 3: Repetition Creates Belief
A thought doesn’t become true because you’ve had it a thousand times. You learn why certain beliefs feel so solid, and how to loosen their grip.
Week 4: What You Avoid Gains Power
Avoiding the hard thing gives it more control, not less. You learn to face what you’ve been avoiding, in steps you can manage.
Week 5: You Become What You Believe
The beliefs you repeat about yourself shape who you become. You learn to spot the ones driving your choices and start reshaping them.
Week 6: No Pattern Is Permanent
Whatever you learned can be unlearned. The patterns that feel automatic were built over time, and they can be rebuilt.
Week 7: Freedom Begins With Flexibility
Seeing one side of a situation keeps you stuck. You build the skill of seeing several, so you have more choices in how you respond.
Week 8: Your Outer World Mirrors Your Inner World
What’s happening outside often reflects what’s happening inside. You learn how shifting internal beliefs changes the results you’re getting.
Week 9: Your Power Is in Your Response
Between what happens and how you react, there’s a gap. That gap is where your power lives. You learn to widen it.
Week 10: The Voice Within Shapes the Life You Live
How you talk to yourself affects everything. You learn to soften the inner critic and build a voice that’s on your side.
The habits you’ve been arguing about for months. We help you have a different conversation, the kind that leads somewhere.
Week 11: Your Story Can Be Rewritten
Your past doesn’t have to decide your future. You learn to rework the core beliefs shaped by old experiences.
Week 12: Freedom Is a Practice
Insight alone doesn’t create change. Practice does. This week ties it together and builds the habits that keep the new patterns as your default.
Our Approach
How The Cognitive Freedom Program Works
1. Weekly Lessons
Each week starts with a short pre-recorded lesson on one psychological principle: how thoughts, emotions, urges, and self-stories form, and why certain ones keep repeating. Practical, not theoretical. The goal is clarity, without judgement or overwhelm. Insight creates awareness.
2. Weekly Psychotherapy Sessions
You meet one-on-one with your psychotherapist and put that week's principle to work on whatever is happening in your life right now. Each session focuses on one specific CBT intervention tied to that week's lesson, so the work stays contained, measurable, and effective. Structure creates change.
3. Monthly Live Calls
Once a month, you join a live group call with Dr. Shyamala Kiru, creator of the program, to go deeper and ask questions. These calls are educational rather than clinical, and they're completely optional. They're here if you want them. Integration creates stability.
And then you do it again. Week by week, old patterns get interrupted and replaced through repetition. That’s the part that makes the change hold.
The Cognitive Freedom Program | Newmarket & Virtual Across Ontario
Who the Program Is For, and Who It Isn't For
This is a good fit if you:
- Are thoughtful, self-aware, and internally motivated
- Feel stuck despite insight or previous therapy
- Want depth with structure, not open-ended exploration
- Value evidence-based therapy alongside psychological insight
- Are ready to engage consistently for twelve weeks
- Want to meet life with more steadiness and more choice
This is not the right fit if you:
- Are in acute crisis or need intensive support
- Are experiencing severe, untreated mental health symptoms
- Need trauma-specific or specialized care beyond CBT
- Can’t commit to weekly psychotherapy right now
- Are looking for quick relief or passive learning
We’ll be honest with you about this on your consult. If the program isn’t right, we’ll point you toward what is, whether that’s with us or somewhere else.
When you learn the architecture of your mind, you gain the freedom to reshape it.
Not through force. Not through urgency.
Through clarity, consistency, and clinical support.
The Cognitive Freedom Program | Newmarket & Virtual Across Ontario
The Cognitive Freedom Program FAQs
How is this different from regular talk therapy?
Regular talk therapy tends to follow wherever the conversation goes that week. This program is sequenced on purpose. Each week builds on the last, moving you through twelve specific principles designed to take you from stuck to steady. You’re learning and practising a specific skill every week, and you’ll always know where you are in the plan.
Do I need a diagnosis to join?
No. This is built for any adult who feels stuck, anxious, or overwhelmed and wants to build real confidence. You don’t need a diagnosis or a crisis. Plenty of clients simply know something needs to shift and want a structured way to get there.
What does the program cost, and do I pay up front?
$175 per session, billed after each appointment, the same way standard psychotherapy is billed. That’s $2,100 across the twelve weeks, with no lump sum and no separate program fee. Psychotherapy is tax exempt, so there’s nothing added beyond that.
Is it covered by insurance?
In most cases, yes. Most extended health plans in Ontario cover psychotherapy provided by a Registered Psychotherapist. You’ll get a receipt after every session to submit to your insurer, and coverage depends on your specific plan, so check with your provider and ask what they cover for an RP. If you’ve got questions about billing before you start, ask us. We’d rather sort it out up front.
What if I've tried therapy before and it didn't help?
Common, and it’s usually a structure problem. Therapy that wanders can feel good and change little. This gives you a specific sequence, tools you practise every week, and a workbook you keep, so the change doesn’t stop when the sessions do.
What if I miss a session?
Life happens. We pick up where you left off, and the sequence still makes sense with a small gap. Your therapist will help you stay on track, without guilt or a lecture.
Can I do this online, or do I need to come to Newmarket?
Either. The lessons and workbook live in the member portal, and you access them whenever you like. Your weekly sessions can be in person at 75 Main St S in Newmarket or online anywhere in Ontario. The monthly group call is always online.
Is this group therapy?
No. Your twelve sessions are one-on-one with your own psychotherapist. The monthly live call is the one shared touchpoint, and it’s educational rather than clinical. You’re never processing your life in front of a group.
Do I have to attend the monthly calls?
No. They’re optional and included. Some people come to every one, some to none, and both work. They’re there for the extra support if you want it.
What happens after the twelve weeks?
You keep the workbook. Some people finish and get on with it. Others continue with individual therapy to go deeper on something specific. We’ll talk about it honestly in week twelve, because we’re not trying to keep you here.
Have more questions? Ask us, even the awkward ones!
The Cognitive Freedom Program | Newmarket & Virtual Across Ontario
What Changes
After
The Cognitive Freedom Program
Over time, the clients who finish the program often tell us they:
- Overthink less, and decide faster.
- Can say no without the guilt that used to follow.
- Catch an anxious spiral before it takes over.
- Speak up in the meeting, instead of replaying it on the drive home.
- Hold a boundary with family, a partner, or a coworker, and it sticks.
- Stop managing everyone else's feelings before their own.
- Sleep, instead of lying awake reviewing the day.
- Have a plan for the next hard moment, whenever it turns up.
Kiru Psychotherapy Clinic
How To Get Started
Managing this alone is a full-time job. Let’s get you some support.
As Seen On
The Cognitive Freedom Program
“This is evidence-based, start to finish. If you want internal change, rather than just insight, you’ve come to the right place.”
People-pleasing. Avoidance. Procrastination. Emotional reactivity. Four ways we make life harder while trying to make it easier.
If this sounds like you:
The Cognitive Freedom Program is a 12-week adult therapy program, designed to change the cognitive and emotional patterns that drive those reactions in the first place.
Each week you watch one short lesson, then meet one-on-one with your therapist to put it to work on whatever is happening in your life right now. Once a month, you join a live group call with Dr. Shyamala Kiru, creator of the program.
Visit Kiru Psychotherapy Clinic for The Cognitive Freedom Program in Newmarket, ON