About Rev. Father Joseph Makdessi

Why I do this work

"Thank you for trusting me to walk alongside your well-being journey."

I know what it is to grow up in a home that breaks apart. My parents divorced when I was a young child, and the family I knew was gone before I really understood what a family was. Then, while I was still young, my father died. I carried that grief for years: in the silences, in the questions no one answered, and in the feeling that I had to hold everything together on my own.

As a young adult, I met a priest who changed the course of my life. He listened without rushing or judging. He cared for me, encouraged me, and prayed with me and for me. He saw something in me long before I could see it in myself. In the place my father had left empty, he became a spiritual father, and he guided me toward the priesthood. He is still my spiritual father, and he walks with me to this day.

“Brokenness does not have to be the end of your story.”

Years later, as a husband and father, I made a quiet promise: what broke in my childhood would not be passed on to my children. And as a priest, I sat with individuals, couples and families, many carrying the same wounds I once carried. I wanted to offer them more than comfort. I wanted to offer real, evidence-based help. So I trained as a counsellor and psychotherapist, to give others what was so freely given to me: someone who listens, believes in them, and walks beside them.

If you are carrying a broken story, you are not alone. The patterns of the past do not have to repeat in your family. Here you will find a safe, non-judgemental space where you will be heard, and where faith is welcomed, never imposed.