About Hardy Roots
Hardy Roots Psychotherapy is grounded in the belief that the ways people adapt to life often reflect meaningful responses to lived experience. Many develop resilience through responsibility, hardship, and the need to keep going, which may later feel limiting or disconnected from deeper needs and values. The name reflects both resilience and growth, and therapy offers a space to understand what has shaped you and move toward a more grounded, values-aligned life.
Meet Diana
My name is Diana Jakovic, and I am a Registered Psychotherapist providing virtual therapy to adults across Ontario.
My work is grounded in curiosity, respect, and an understanding that each person’s story is shaped by relationships, culture, values, lived experiences, and personal meaning. I view therapy as a collaborative process; one where we can explore what feels difficult, understand what has helped you cope, and consider what may be ready for change.
I support adults navigating anxiety, stress, burnout, workplace stress, emotional strain or disconnection, self-worth concerns, relationship difficulties, boundaries, family pressure, family-of-origin experiences, grief, identity concerns, cultural or immigration-related stress, intergenerational patterns, and life transitions. Some clients are also looking to better understand themselves, their reactions, and the recurring themes in their lives that they would like to address.
My approach is reflective, collaborative, culturally responsive, and paced with care. I draw from biopsychosocial, psychodynamic, attachment-informed, Emotion-Focused, Compassion-Focused, and Strength-Based therapy approaches, tailoring therapy to each person’s needs and goals.
I am also trained in EMDR and may incorporate it when appropriate to support the processing of difficult experiences, distressing memories, and recurring emotional triggers.
I offer therapy in English and Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian.
Strength-Based Therapy
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Compassion-Focused Therapy
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Emotion-Focused Therapy
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Psychodynamic Therapy
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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
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Narrative Therapy
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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
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EMDR
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Strength-Based Therapy 𓆱 Compassion-Focused Therapy 𓆱 Emotion-Focused Therapy 𓆱 Psychodynamic Therapy 𓆱 Cognitive Behavioural Therapy 𓆱 Narrative Therapy 𓆱 Acceptance and Commitment Therapy 𓆱 EMDR 𓆱
Qualifications
Values & Philosophy
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Reflective
A space to better understand emotional patterns, relational dynamics, and the experiences that have shaped your present concerns.
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Collaborative
Therapy is guided by your goals, readiness, feedback, and evolving needs.
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Grounded
The work is connected to your real life, relationships, responsibilities, and values.
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Culturally Responsive
Your identity, family background, values, and lived experiences are understood as meaningful parts of therapy.
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Neuroaffirming
Differences in how people think, feel, process, communicate, and experience the world are approached with respect and curiosity. Therapy is adapted to support your needs without pathologizing your way of being.
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Growth-Oriented
Therapy supports movement toward greater clarity, emotional steadiness, self-understanding, and values-aligned living.
Therapy Approach
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Talk Therapy
Talk therapy offers space to slow down, reflect, and make sense of what you are experiencing with the support of a therapist. At Hardy Roots, talk therapy may involve exploring emotions, relationships, recurring patterns, life transitions, grief, self-worth, or experiences that continue to feel unresolved. The process is collaborative and may draw from different therapeutic approaches depending on what feels most relevant to you.
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Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) & Attachment-Based Therapy
EFT and attachment-based approaches help make sense of the emotional needs and relational patterns that shape how we connect with others. In individual or couples therapy, this may involve exploring cycles of pursuing, withdrawing, protecting, or disconnecting, while building greater emotional safety, responsiveness, and connection.
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Compassion Focused Therapy
Compassion-Focused Therapy can be helpful when self-criticism, shame, perfectionism, or a harsh inner voice make it difficult to feel settled or supported within yourself. Rather than simply “thinking more positively,” this approach explores how protective patterns may have developed and helps build a more understanding, balanced way of relating to yourself.
In therapy, this might look like noticing the tone of your inner dialogue, understanding what triggers self-criticism, exploring the fears or expectations beneath it, and practicing ways of responding to yourself with greater steadiness and care. Over time, the goal is to reduce the power of shame and self-attack while strengthening a sense of inner safety, perspective, and resilience.
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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT can help you notice patterns in the way you think, feel, and respond. At Hardy Roots Psychotherapy, CBT may be used to explore unhelpful thought patterns, build more balanced perspectives, and develop practical strategies for concerns such as anxiety, self-doubt, perfectionism, or avoidance.
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Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)-Informed Skills
DBT-informed work can support you in managing intense emotions, tolerating distress, and responding more intentionally during difficult moments. These skills may be introduced when therapy involves emotional overwhelm, impulsive reactions, interpersonal conflict, or difficulty calming the nervous system.
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Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy looks beneath the surface of present-day difficulties to understand how earlier relationships, experiences, and protective patterns may still be influencing your inner world. At Hardy Roots, this approach may be used to explore recurring themes in relationships, self-worth, emotional reactions, and the ways you have learned to protect yourself over time.
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Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR is a structured therapy approach that can help people process distressing experiences that continue to feel emotionally charged or difficult to move past. At Hardy Roots Psychotherapy, EMDR may be introduced when past experiences appear to be shaping present-day reactions, beliefs, relationships, or patterns of avoidance. The work is paced collaboratively, with attention to safety, readiness, and emotional regulation, so that difficult experiences can be processed without needing to recount every detail at length.
