Making a connection with people has always come naturally for Felicia Fischhoff. The founder and CEO of Rooted in Resilience said that as a child, people would always remark how approachable and comforting she was. It was a quality that helped her form bonds with friends and strangers alike.
“I'd be the little girl who'd get in trouble because I came home late. Someone was crying at the park and I waited until their parents came and made sure that they were okay. I’ve always had this super compassionate heart,” Fischhoff said.
That deep sense of compassion and empathy led to a degree in social work followed by a degree in international development studies, both at York University. Her early career included working at the Scott and Toronto City Missions and leading an anti-sex trafficking organization with her partner.
Throughout that work on larger community issues, Fischhoff said she still felt a calling to focus on the individual. As fate would have it, Fischhoff said it was an interaction during her honeymoon that would inspire a pivot to a career in psychotherapy.
Fischhoff and her partner spent their honeymoon visiting with groups working with survivors of sexual assault and genocide in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. During their stay at a home for survivors of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, an experience that inspired Fischhoff to pursue a career as a therapist, one resident shared how he not only knew who had murdered his parents, but he knew where they lived.
“He said, ‘I know where they live, but I have to forgive them.’ That stayed with me,” she said. “What also stayed with me was this—'they sent aid, but what they didn’t send were therapists or psychologists.' That was the moment for me. If I questioned it before, I knew this is what I needed to be doing.”
After starting their family, Fischhoff returned to school to become a registered therapist and launch her practice.
Today, Rooted in Resilience offers psychotherapy services for individuals, couples, and children navigating a wide range of challenges, from trauma to relationship difficulties. But what sets the practice apart is its commitment to culturally grounded and attuned care. Fischhoff has intentionally built a team that reflects the rich cultural makeup of the Markham community, with therapists who reflect the lived experiences, cultural backgrounds, and languages of the communities they serve with the clients they serve.
"Sometimes, if you're an immigrant, you feel more comfortable sharing particular things in your mother tongue," Fischhoff said. "We want people to feel seen. Especially when you're dealing with trauma or difficult experiences, you want to feel heard and you don't want to feel like you're overexplaining everything."
For Fischhoff, that vision was never separate from where she chose to plant roots. A Markham resident since 2020, she said opening her practice here in 2023 was a natural extension of her commitment to the community she calls home.
"I really want to build here. I want to contribute to where I live and the city that I live in," she said. "I knew my practice had to be diverse—not only resonant of my own experiences, but of whatever community I serve."
