Dr. Arela Agako, C.Psych.

Dr. Arela Agako is the Founder, Psychologist and Clinical Lead of Albanian Community Mental Health (ACMH), the first hub of its kind dedicated to Albanian mental health. Growing up between two countries gave her an early, personal understanding of how history, culture, migration, and identity shape the way we experience ourselves and the world, and that experience continues to shape her work. At ACMH, she sets the clinical standards and works across the organization's four pillars: mental health care, research, education, and advocacy.

Dr. Agako completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at McMaster University and is registered with the College of Psychologists of Ontario (C.Psych.). Her clinical work focuses on trauma-related conditions including PTSD, complex PTSD, intergenerational trauma, and war and displacement trauma, as well as borderline personality disorder, emotion dysregulation, high-conflict relationships, anxiety, depression, insomnia, OCD, perinatal mental health, and burnout.

Her approach integrates DBT, CPT, EFT, ACT, CBT, and prolonged exposure, adapted to each client's history, culture, and goals. Her advanced training includes DBT for Complex PTSD, couples therapy for BPD (SAGE protocol), DBT with high-conflict couples, the Gottman Method, and CBT for personality disorders.

Her research on emotion dysregulation, DBT, and perinatal mental health has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Canadian Psychology, Psychological Services, and the Journal of Affective Disorders, and her work has been featured in Forbes, Psychology Today, and The Globe and Mail. Her full publication list is available on Google Scholar.

Dr. Agako also has her own practice, Trauma Care Psychology, where she oversees clinical operations and supervises other clinicians on the team.