Ann sitting at home
Ann Dowsett Johnston portrait

Psychotherapist.
Best-selling author.
Healer at heart.

Depression / Anxiety / Stress / Addiction / Relationships / Grief / Transitions

COUNSELLING

I am a psychotherapist. I am also a registered social worker, a graduate of the Smith College for Social Work. Passionate about providing collaborative, trauma-informed, relational, embodied care for my clients, I work from a holistic perspective.

Explore counselling >
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
—Poet Mary Oliver

WRITING

Ann is the bestselling-author of Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol, named one of the 10 best books of 2013 by the Washington Post. 

Read more >
Drink book by Ann Dowsett Johnston

ABOUT ME

I am not sure what year it was—sometime in the late 1980s—but I do remember the evening as if it were yesterday. I was sitting at the back of a packed auditorium, listening to the Jungian analyst Marion Woodman.

Read more about Ann >
We must be willing to give up the life we’ve planned to have the life that is waiting for us.
—Joseph Campbell

WORKSHOPS

Writing Your Recovery
We all have a story—or stories—to tell. Excavating those narratives, finding the courage to give voice to our secrets, takes time. I believe writing is a process of discovery. At the heart of good writing is finding a compelling, authentic voice. To locate that voice, each individual must get in touch with what is most integral in their experience.

Explore workshops >

MEDIA

WALRUS TALKS:

The Walrus Talks Vice

Women: toe-to-toe with men in the workplace, toe-to-toe with risky drinking. Are we having an adult conversation? I think not.

View here >

TEDx TALK:

Drinking and how it changed my life

In 2013, I travelled to New Zealand to record my TED X talk. It now has more than a million views.

View here >

THE AGENDA:

Ann with Piya Chattopadhyay

Drinking is the modern women’s steroid, enabling her to do the heavy lifting of a complex life. It is how women celebrate—and self-medicate, numb, cope.

View here >

AUDIO:

Ann on CBC’s Sunday Morning with Michael Enright
Listen here >