Sandra Osazuwa
MA, CLINICAL & COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGY
RESEARCHER | CLINICAL THERAPIST
(UNDER SUPERVISION)
PhD Candidate,
Clinical & Counselling
Psychology
The University of Toronto - OISE
Canada
- sandra@sandraosazuwa.com
Education
BA, Honours Psychology, Co-op, with Distinction
Double Minor: Human Resources Management; Sexuality, Marriage and Families
University of Waterloo
2012 - 2017
MA, Clinical & Counselling Psychology
University of Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
2018 - 2021
PhD, Clinical & Counselling Psychology
Doctoral Candidate
University of Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Vanier Scholar (2021)
2020-Present
Clinical Experience
| Aug 2026 - Present
(Virtural, ON)
Layla Care
Clinical Therapist –
Psychotherapy & Psychological Assessment
Psychotherapy & Psychological Assessment
- Provide psychotherapy and psychological assessment to adults under supervision.
- Conduct psychodiagnostic assessments, including adult ADHD assessment.
- Provide virtual services across Ontario.
| Aug 2026 - Present
(Oakville, ON)
Oakville Centre for Cognitive Therapy
Clinical Therapist – Psychotherapy
- Provide psychotherapy to adults under supervision.
- Work from a humanistic, integrative, and culturally responsive orientation, drawing on CBT, DBT, ACT, and motivational interviewing.
- Provide in-person services in Oakville and virtual services across Ontario.
| Sept 2025 - Aug 2026
(Toronto, ON)
CAMH
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY RESIDENCY
Health & Wellness Centre
- Short-term psychotherapy with adults using CBT, ACT, motivational interviewing, and integrative approaches.
- Psychological assessment, including MMPI-2-RF work.
- Consultation and interdisciplinary care.
Complex Care & Recovery – Concurrent Disorders Psychosis
- Psychotherapy and clinical work with adults experiencing psychosis and concurrent substance-use concerns.
- Co-facilitated Engagement and Skills groups.
- Participated in interdisciplinary consultation and care planning.
| Sept 2022 - Aug 2023
(Hamilton, ON)
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
Psychotherapy & Assessment Practicum –
Young Adult Substance Use Program
Young Adult Substance Use Program
Provided individual psychotherapy, group-based treatment, crisis support, and psychodiagnostic assessment with young adults presenting with substance use and co-occurring mental health concerns. Responsibilities also included integrated report writing, case consultation, and interdisciplinary care.
| Sept 2021 - Aug 2022
(Toronto, ON)
PSYCHOTHERAPY & ASSESSMENT PRACTICUM
Provided psychotherapy and structured diagnostic assessment with adults experiencing mental health and substance use concerns. Clinical work included case formulation, integrated report writing, treatment planning, and consultation within a concurrent-disorders context.
| Sept 2018 - Apr 2023
(Toronto, ON)
The OISE Clinic
Program-based Clinical Training
Completed a progression of supervised practicums in psychological assessment, psychotherapy, and later clinical supervision and consultation. Training included interviewing, case formulation, administration and interpretation of psychological measures, integrated report writing, treatment planning, and psychotherapy with adult and young adult clients. In advanced training, I provided supervision and consultation to master’s-level trainees completing psychotherapy and psychoeducational assessment work.
| Mar 2018 - Jan 2020
(Hamilton, ON)
Sexual Assault Centre Hamilton Area (SACHA)
SACHA Support Volunteer
- Actively participated in 13 weeks of training and completed the test call
- Supported women and men who have directly/indirectly experienced sexual assaults on the phone
- Accompanied callers to either the police station or hospital upon request
“In the world through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself.”
- Frantz Fanon (Psychiatrist & Philosopher)
Research
My research focuses on mental health equity, race, culture, and culturally integrative approaches to psychotherapy. I am particularly interested in how cultural, relational, communal, and structural contexts shape mental health, healing, and psychological care, especially within Black and African communities.
My doctoral research examines how Black mental health practitioners understand and integrate African Healing Traditions with Western psychotherapy. This work builds on my master’s research, which explored African community perspectives on culturally integrative psychotherapy. Across these projects, I have been interested in how practitioners and communities negotiate different understandings of mental health and healing, and how culturally grounded approaches can be meaningfully incorporated within psychological practice.
My broader research interests include health-service access and equity, program development, implementation and evaluation, and qualitative research methods.
Research Supervisor:
Dr. Roy Moodley
Dissertations:
Doctoral Research – African-Centred Integrative Healing
Explores Black mental health practitioners’ attitudes toward and application of African Healing Traditions alongside Western psychotherapy. Using Constructivist Grounded Theory, the study examines how practitioners negotiate and enact culturally integrative approaches to care and the contextual conditions that shape this work.
Master’s Research – African Healing Traditions & Psychotherapy Integration
Examined African community perspectives on integrating African Healing Traditions with Western psychotherapy. The study used Constructivist Grounded Theory and contributed to a peer-reviewed publication in the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration.
Methods:
Constructivist Grounded Theory, qualitative interviewing, thematic and interpretive analysis, mixed-methods research, program evaluation, survey research, and knowledge mobilization.
Research Experience
| Oct 2019 - Dec 2024
(Toronto, ON)
Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
Coordinator –
Border(ing) Practices Research Project
Border(ing) Practices Research Project
Coordinated quantitative and qualitative research examining social workers’ interactions with immigrants in Canada, including the Canadian Survey of Social Workers’ Attitudes Towards Immigration and the Border(ing) Practices research program. Responsibilities included ethics preparation, participant recruitment, database management, data cleaning and analysis, scoping review coordination, manuscript development, and research dissemination.
| Sept 2019 - Feb 2020
(Toronto, ON)
CAMH
Research assistant -
McCain Centre for Child, Youth & Family Mental Health
McCain Centre for Child, Youth & Family Mental Health
Supported clinical research involving youth at risk for or experiencing depression and concurrent mental health concerns. Assisted with research appointments involving youth and caregivers, data collection and verification, research administration, and knowledge translation activities.
| Oct 2018 - Aug 2019
(Toronto, ON)
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
Research Assistant -
Organizational Behavioural Psychology
Organizational Behavioural Psychology
Supported behavioural research through literature, social media, and case-law reviews; qualitative data organization and coding; and assistance with the development and implementation of field experiments.
| Sept 2017 - Aug 2018
(Hamilton, ON)
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
Research Assistant -
Concurrent Disorders Capacity Building Program
Concurrent Disorders Capacity Building Program
Supported research and program-evaluation activities within a concurrent-disorders capacity-building program. Responsibilities included administering assessment batteries, maintaining research databases, analyzing demographic and program-impact data, contributing to educational programming, developing conference materials, and supporting manuscripts and implementation-related work.
Portfolio
