About Solasta
“Solasta” is Scottish Gaelic for light — radiant, luminous. We think people already carry that in them, even on the days it’s genuinely hard to feel it, and our work is helping it come back into view.
We chose the name deliberately in 2017, and the theme runs through the practice in small, deliberate ways too — our therapy rooms are named after Scottish islands: Jura, Lewis, Eigg, Lismore, Iona, etc.
Our Philosophy
We start from the belief that you’re already the expert on your own life — our role is expert support alongside you. That’s why we build individualized plans around your specific values, preferences, and goals. Curiosity matters to us as much as expertise does: we approach every person with genuine interest in how they came to be who they are, and we ask you to bring that same compassionate curiosity to yourself.
Collaboration runs through how we work. You’re a partner in your own healing — we teach you the tools and thinking behind what we’re doing, so the progress you make outlasts your time with us. Diversity and inclusion shape how we hire, how we train, and how each session actually runs; culturally competent care is simply part of good care.
We talk about clients “shining their brightest,” and we mean that literally: getting back into alignment with who you already are, underneath whatever’s gotten in the way. Wellness, to us, means feeling heard, respected, and valued exactly as you are.
Where It Started
Long before Solasta existed, Scott and Gillian McKirdy’s own path into this work began in Scotland — where they were both educated, and where their journey into parenthood led them to foster, and then adopt, children starting in 2004. Advocating for kids who’d already been let down by systems that were supposed to help them taught them something that still shapes how the practice runs today: understanding someone’s actual situation has to come before deciding what they need.
That experience didn’t stay personal. Gillian turned it into research, publishing peer-reviewed work on the lived experience of adoptive parents in Alberta and completing her doctoral dissertation on “blocked care” — the exhaustion that can build in parents raising children who’ve experienced early trauma. Scott brought the same focus into his career, working with organizations including Amaris Adoption and Family Support Services and speaking on adoption and fostering at conferences and community events across Calgary.
When they founded Solasta in 2017, that history came with them — in the name itself, in the specific attachment and trauma-informed training both McKirdys carry, and in a practice built from the start to understand a person’s situation before assuming what they need.
Who's Behind It
Scott McKirdy and Dr. Gillian McKirdy are both Registered Psychologists, registered with and accountable to the College of Alberta Psychologists, and they still run the practice hands-on.
Gillian holds a Doctor of Psychology from California Southern University, alongside a Master of Counselling, a Master of Science in Social Policy, and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Edinburgh. She’s a Canadian Certified Counsellor and a Certified EMDR Therapist, trained in gold-standard diagnostic tools including ADOS-2, ADI-R, and MIGDAS-2, and in attachment-focused approaches including Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, trained directly under Dr. Daniel Hughes. She serves as Associate Faculty at City University in Canada, previously taught as Assistant Professor at Providence University College, and personally supervises many of the practice’s Provisional Psychologists as they work toward full registration.
Scott holds a Master of Counselling from City University of Seattle in Canada. His clinical focus is adult psychological assessment — autism, ADHD, and psychoeducational assessments — with particular expertise in identifying autism in high-masking adults whose presentations are frequently missed. He’s trained in EMDR for both adults and children, has held roles with the Canadian Mental Health Association, St. Mary’s University, and Amaris Adoption and Family Support Services, where he also served on the board, and has given workshops and talks on adoption, fostering, and mental health at organizations including Woods Homes, SAIT, and The Mustard Seed Calgary.
The Team
Since 2017, the team has grown to almost 20 clinicians — psychologists and counsellors covering individual and couples counselling, EMDR therapy, trauma therapy, and psychological assessment from childhood through adulthood. A few examples of the depth on our team: Dr. Gillian McKirdy holds a Doctor of Psychology and has published peer-reviewed research on adoptive parenting in Alberta. Randi Sager, a Registered Psychologist of First Nations descent, brings an approach that bridges Indigenous and Western psychological frameworks to her assessment work. Sabrina Minor won the Psychological Association of Alberta’s Best Poster Award in 2024 for her research.
Several clinicians spent years teaching before this work — Jocelyn Simpson taught for 25 years across grade levels, countries, and cultures, and David Tamagi taught before training as a psychologist. Many are parents themselves, which shows up directly in how they work with families. And the team reflects real cultural and linguistic range — clinicians offering therapy in Urdu, Hindi, and Arabic, work grounded in First Nations heritage, and lived experience as children of immigrants and as immigrant parents.
We match each client with the clinician on our team whose actual experience fits what they’re bringing in. For assessments, that means written reports built to be genuinely useful to whoever needs to act on them. And across the board, it means treating differences in how people think — ADHD, autism, or otherwise — as something to understand and work with.
We offer several ways to keep support affordable. Our counselling student interns — master’s-level practicum students, closely supervised by our registered psychologists — offer individual counselling completely free to clients aged 10 and up. Practicum students also provide low-cost sessions at a reduced rate under the same supervision. And clients working with a Registered Provisional Psychologist, Registered Social Worker, or Canadian Certified Counsellor can access a sliding scale based on demonstrated need.
We see clients in person at our Calgary office and virtually across Alberta — children, teens, adults, couples, and families, all under one roof.
Our Calgary Office Space
Our thoughtfully designed counselling spaces are crafted to create a warm, welcoming environment where you can feel completely at ease.
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