Psychotherapy and The Baker’s Dozen: A New Path to Healing
Psychotherapy and The Baker’s Dozen opens the door to a fresh way of healing. With decades of research and lived experience, Dr. J. R. Bruce Cassie reveals why so many leave therapy still struggling. His book guides readers through the “Baker’s Dozen,” thirteen common-sense steps that restore balance before counselling begins. It is a call to pause, prepare, and step into therapy with clarity, strength, and hope.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
J. R. Bruce Cassie, Ph.D
Dr. J. R. Bruce Cassie is Professor Emeritus of Applied Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. His life’s work has been guiding graduate students in counselling and psychotherapy while pioneering research across education, business, and mental health. His studies ranged from stress in teaching and student learning to management training and career development, always with one goal: to help people make better choices and live with purpose.
Raised in Northern Ontario as the fifth of seven children, Bruce grew up in a home filled with faith, hard work, and community service. He carried those values into a career that spanned classrooms, research centres, and lecture halls. Alongside his professional path, he built a family rooted in learning and service—his wife a teacher, his children successful in medicine and psychology. Now retired in Huntsville, Ontario, Dr. Cassie continues to write, teach, and challenge old ideas with fresh vision.
ABOUT THE BOOK
PSYCHOTHERAPY AND THE BAKER'S DOZEN
Psychotherapy and The Baker’s Dozen is Dr. J. R. Bruce Cassie’s bold rethinking of how therapy should begin. After decades teaching graduate students and researching counselling outcomes, he noticed a troubling truth: too many people leave therapy still hurting, sometimes worse than before. This book asks the difficult questions. Why isn’t therapy working for so many? What if the problem isn’t the therapists but the timing?
Drawing on global research, Dr. Cassie introduces the idea of a Pre-Therapy journey. Before clients step into psychotherapy, he urges them to confront what he calls the “Baker’s Dozen”—thirteen everyday but critical correlates of mental well-being. From nutrition to finances, from fitness to communication, these hidden struggles often fuel stress, anxiety, and despair. By tackling them first, clients walk into therapy stronger, clearer, and ready. It is not about replacing therapy, but about preparing for it—and, perhaps, finally making it work.
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