James Murch

James Murch, M.A., C.Psych. is a registered Psychologist who completed a master of arts in counselling psychology from Yorkville University in 2013. He then worked as a counselling therapist in Nova Scotia, prior to moving to Alberta where he pursued further training and registration as a Psychologist. James completed his training and registration requirements while working as a clinical team lead with an assertive community treatment program which focused on providing a range of clinical services through outreach to individuals experiencing homelessness who were diagnosed with forms of psychosis.

After becoming registered as a psychologist in 2018, James focused his practice on disorders involving difficulties with impulse control. He has worked with substance use disorders working with the Calgary Drug Treatment Court as well as in private practice and has strong experience treating eating disorders, particularly binge eating disorder, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, and weight management difficulties. Over the past 2 years, James has further focused his practice in the areas of psychological assessment including adult clinical diagnostic assessment, assessment of psychological injury and return to work, and adult ADHD assessments; the treatment of traumatic stress disorders; and the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder and other obsessive compulsive type disorders including hoarding and body focused repetitive behaviours such as hair pulling and skin picking. He continues to treat adults with eating disorders, substance use disorders, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders as well and enjoys working with adults experiencing stress and other issues due to life transitions.

James primarily uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) approaches including exposure response prevention and inference-based therapy for OCD, comprehensive behavioural treatment for skin picking and hair pulling, and other body focused repetitive behaviours, enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders, and rational emotive behaviour therapy for anxiety disorders. In his work with traumatic stress, he primarily uses Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). James has also trained in Solution Focused Therapy (SFT), Narrative Therapy, Motivational Interviewing (MI), and harm reduction psychotherapy and integrates these approaches into his work. He works with adults and is experienced and enjoys working with members of LGBTQ+ communities as well as veterans.

James is a member of The College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO), the College of Alberta Psychologists, the Psychologists Association of Alberta, the Canadian Psychological Association, the TLC Foundation for Body Focused Repetitive Behaviours, the International OCD Foundation, and the EMDR International Association. He has previously served as the chair of the Social Justice, Equity, and Inclusion Community of Practice through the Psychologists Association of Alberta and provides training to other health care providers on topics such as motivational interviewing, harm reduction, inference-based CBT for OCD, and OCD and related disorders.

James works virtually and offers services throughout Ontario.