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About Ruth
Ruth Cohen B.A. (Hons), M.SW., R.S.W. has dedicated her entire career to promoting the health and safety of children. Ruth began working in child welfare as an intake worker in 1992, in Toronto, Ontario. She transitioned to Peel Region in 1994, where she worked in family service. In 1996, Ruth moved to London, England, where she spent two years working for Brent Social Services in the Children’s Social Work Department as a senior social worker on their child protection team. Upon returning to Toronto in 1998, Ruth transitioned to children’s mental health and worked for Peel Children Centre and then moved on to the Peel Collaborative Child and Adolescent Sexual Abuse Treatment Program, until her daughter was born in 2002. From 2014 to 2017, Ruth volunteered in a clinical capacity at Act to End Violence where she offered support services to abused women and their children.
Ruth has attended dozens of workshops and conferences on mindfulness training, narrative family therapy, trauma therapy, and anything related to intimate partner violence. For the past decade, she has worked exclusively with women escaping from violent relationships. In 2018, Ruth co-authored an autobiographical self-help book “Lessons in Letting Go” which made the #1 best seller on Amazon in two separate categories. In her chapter “My Life as a Dog”, Ruth takes her readers on a journey as she searches for a sense of self. Ruth’s passage depicts a woman’s triumphant strength and fearless, instinctual need for survival. It is the story of someone who has been thrown insurmountable roadblocks and who had the courage to overcome everything from an abusive childhood riddled with extreme emotional torture to a violent marriage, and move forward with confidence in her mind and integrity in her heart. In 2020, Ruth joined #thecourtsaidcanada as the country’s co-lead, which has given Ruth the platform to educate the organization’s followers on the systemic failures associated with intimate partner violence post-separation.
Ruth has been a single mom since 2005. When not working in a clinical capacity, she is managing the health needs of her dually diagnosed immune-compromised teenager. Ruth is an animal lover and is passionate about keeping fit; she trained in mixed martial arts and has a black belt in karate.
EDUCATION
Ruth graduated from York University in 1992 with an Honours Bachelors degree in Psychology. In 1994, she went on to receive a Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Toronto. She is registered with the College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers and is a member in good standing; she is also a member of the Ontario Association of Social Workers. In 2000, Ruth completed a year-long externship in family therapy at The George Hull Centre for Children and Families. In 2014, Ruth completed her Level I and II Certification in Trauma Counselling for Front Line Workers at The Hinks.
APPROACH
Ruth is a believer in the power of the mind. She combines aspects of narrative family therapy with an eclectic, dynamic personal style of systems theory which is adapted to each individual. Ruth uses Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) which is a short-term, goal-oriented psychotherapy treatment that takes a hands-on approach to problem-solving. Its goal is to change patterns of thinking or behaviours that caused people’s difficulties and change the way we feel in the moment and post-crisis. Ruth helps her clients identify negative self-talk and encourages her clients to vocalize their problems and painful life events in a supportive and non-judgemental environment. The ultimate goal of therapy is to receive new insights, rewrite the life script, reduce stress, and learn new and more adaptive coping mechanisms.
