Therapeutic Approach
Every person’s reason for starting psychotherapy is different. You may be struggling with relationship difficulties, anxiety, depression or trauma. Or you may have a sense that your life lacks meaning or is not going the way it should. Therapy provides a safe and supportive setting in which to understand and explore your thoughts and emotions. My background of living in different countries and languages makes me sensitive to the challenges of navigating diverse environments. My concern with the effects of historical trauma makes me aware of the realities of injustice. I believe that effective psychotherapy should instill curiosity, create possibilities for change and help us to experience ourselves and the world around us in new ways.
Whatever your reason for choosing therapy, together we will develop am approach that works best for you. Over the course of the past 30 years, I have worked with a wide range of individuals in many different settings. I have been trained in diverse therapeutic modalities, including relational psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, existential therapy and cognitive-behavior therapy. Our work together may be long-term, short-term or somewhere in between. Above all, it will be engaged and participatory.
My private practice is located on the westside of Vancouver, in Kitsilano. I also provide psychotherapy supervision to a range of mental health professionals and lead study groups in the field. During Covid, my practice has been conducted by video or by phone. In the event that my practice is full, I will be happy to provide referrals. I can be reached by phone at 778-388-3089 or by email at roger.frie@sfu.ca
Clinical Background
Dr. Frie is a registered clinical psychologist with the College of Psychologists of British Columbia, and a licensed clinical psychologist in New York State. He has extensive experience in private practice, clinic and hospital settings. He has been teaching psychotherapy to psychiatrists, psychologists and counsellors for well over two decades.
Dr. Frie is an Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, where he teaches in the Department of Psychiatry and supervises psychiatry residents. Before moving to Vancouver, he was a Senior Attending Psychologist at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he taught and supervised psychiatry residents for many years. He received his Psy.D. at George Washington University and completed his APA internship at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, Columbia University.
Dr. Frie has ongoing professional ties to mental health centers in Canada and the United States. His primary psychoanalytic affiliation is with the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology in New York, where he is a faculty member and supervisor. Contemporary relational psychoanalysis focuses on our conscious and unconscious patterns of relating to other people. It helps us to understand that change starts in the way we interact with ourselves, others and the world around us. Dr. Frie is often invited to hold seminars and give lectures at institutes of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. He is an editorial board member of the journals, Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Psychoanalytic Discourse and Psychoanalytic Psychology and a former editor of Psychoanalysis, Self and Context.