A Different Way of Seeing
Seeing clearly is not always about eyesight. It is also about how we understand ourselves, our circumstances, and the possibilities available to us.
Out of Sight Psychology grew from the intersection of professional psychological practice and lived experience with vision loss. It reflects a belief that meaningful psychological support begins with understanding the individual, not simply the diagnosis, disability, or circumstances they are facing.
Over more than two decades as a psychologist, Joshua Simmonds has worked across healthcare, education, research, and community settings. These experiences have reinforced the importance of approaching every person as an individual whose experience cannot be fully defined by a diagnosis or condition.
The practice is particularly interested in what happens psychologically when people experience major changes in their lives.
Sometimes the challenge is learning how to function differently.
Sometimes it is learning how to see yourself differently.
And sometimes it is discovering that the life you once imagined is not the only meaningful life you can have.
About Joshua Simmonds
Licensed Counselling Psychologist
Joshua Simmonds has been a licensed counselling psychologist since 2003, with professional training in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health concerns.
His clinical training included internships in adult inpatient and child outpatient psychiatry, experiences that shaped his understanding of psychological care, responsibility, and the importance of being attentive to differences in power, privilege, and individual circumstances.
Over the course of his career, Joshua has worked in healthcare, education, research, and corporate environments. His professional experience includes clinical psychology, school psychology, psychosocial counselling, research coordination, educational support, community programming, and public education.
He has also worked as a research coordinator at McGill University's School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and as a research assistant at the Jewish General Hospital's Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry. These experiences developed a strong appreciation for scientific inquiry and the importance of evidence in understanding what makes healthcare interventions safe and effective.
His work has consistently brought together three perspectives:
Clinical Experience.
Scientific Inquiry.
Lived Experience.
Together, they provide a different way of understanding psychological adaptation.
LIVED EXPERIENCE
Understanding Vision Loss
From Both Sides
Joshua has lived with progressive vision loss throughout his life.
Before he was born, genetic testing indicated that he was likely to develop retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary eye disorder characterized by progressive loss of visual fields and eventual blindness.
During his youth, his vision remained sufficient to participate in sports and other physical activities. Academically, however, he initially struggled to find direction.
In his mid-20s, while experiencing significant emotional difficulty and uncertainty about his future, a vision rehabilitation centre encouraged him to return to school.
The transition was not easy. He initially struggled academically and had not fully accepted the implications of his visual impairment. Things began to change when he started advocating for himself and making better use of available supports.
Academic accommodations and low-vision rehabilitation, including increased font sizes and ZoomText computer software, helped improve both his academic performance and his confidence.
That experience eventually led him toward a career in mental health. It also taught an enduring lesson:
Sometimes adaptation begins when we stop trying to live exactly as we did before and start discovering what is possible now.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Psychology, Research, Education & Vision Rehabilitation
Joshua's professional journey has included a range of settings and populations.
Clinical Psychology
His clinical training included adult inpatient and child outpatient psychiatry, providing experience in psychological assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.
Research
Joshua has worked in clinical and academic research settings, including McGill University's School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and the Jewish General Hospital's Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry. These experiences strengthened his interest in understanding psychological questions through systematic research.
Vision Rehabilitation
As a psychosocial counsellor with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), now Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada, Joshua provided psychological support to individuals with vision impairments and their families. He facilitated community resources, conducted educational workshops, and developed a 12-week telephone-based support group addressing mobility, isolation, and mental health.
Education
Joshua has also worked in educational settings, first as a resource worker supporting children with special needs and later as a school psychologist. This work reinforced his belief that accessible education requires understanding individual differences. Two people may share the same diagnosis, yet experience that condition in very different ways. Effective support therefore begins with the individual.
PARA-ATHLETICS
Mental Gymnastics
What sports has taught Joshua about
disability, inclusion, and community
Psychology and research are only part of Joshua's story.
For more than a decade, he has participated in para dragon boating, an accessible sport that brings together people with psychological, sensory, developmental, and physical disabilities.
His involvement has extended beyond participation.
He served as Dragon Boat Canada's first Para Program Director in 2020, helped develop its first Para Committee, served as co-chair, and has been involved in managing a local para team supported by the Habilitas Foundation.
More than Sport: Para sport has provided opportunities to experience:
Competition
Inclusion
Community
Teamwork
Resilience
Belonging
Leadership
Sport has also reinforced an important principle:
People may experience disability differently, but shared experiences can reveal how much we have in common.
Creating opportunities for people with different abilities to participate together can challenge assumptions, build relationships, and strengthen communities.