“The way you look at things is the most powerful force in shaping your life.”
Counselling Sessions
Online Counselling for Individuals
I offer individual clinical counselling sessions to teens, young adults, and adults.
Sessions are available online through the Jane app on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Areas of Specialty:
ADHD
Childhood trauma
Self-esteem and self-worth
Family relationships
Emotional Abuse
2SLGBTQIA+ identity
Addictions
Self-care and wellbeing
I am a masters level trained and registered counsellor with over 15 years experience in the healthcare field.
My approach combines knowledge of counselling with a keen interest in helping you to feel and do your best through both practical and emotion-based resolution.
Counselling can be a powerful way to gain clarity and understanding about ourselves and our experiences. It offers a safe place to process emotions, trauma, difficult relationship dynamics, and the attitudes and beliefs we have about ourselves.
Consultation Calls
It can feel vulnerable and risky to find a counsellor. Consultation calls let you get a sense of what it might feel like to work together and to ask whatever questions may have. These calls are free of charge and are offered by phone or video call.
ICBC Counselling Sessions
Car accidents can leave us feeling pretty shaken, but counselling can provide a safe place to process this event and move ahead. ICBC sessions are helpful for reducing symptoms of post traumatic stress after a car accident and to access your inner strength as you heal. Direct billing for ICBC counselling sessions is available if you’ve had a car accident and have an ICBC claim number. For more information about ICBC’s coverage for counselling read here.
Counselling Approaches Offered
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
This kind of counselling looks a lot like it sounds. With a therapist, clients learn to accept difficult thoughts and experiences, create a little personal distance from them, work on mindfulness and identify their personal values. From there, small and manageable goals are set with the previous steps in mind. ACT lets you be the agent of change in your life and helps you grow a bit of mental flexibility.
Narrative Therapy
Like in ACT, Narrative therapy works to help you feel the separateness between you and the problem you hold. But this type of therapy focuses on the stories we all hold, and the thoughts, beliefs and meaning we make from them. Stories then get taken apart to be looked at in smaller pieces. This is done to understand where the stories may not be true and where they come from so the client can re-write the story in a way that feels balanced and healthy.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
This type of therapy focuses on examining the thoughts and behaviours in your daily life and works to reshape them. This is done by identifying them and trying out new ways of coping and thinking. CBT is particularly helpful for depression, anxiety and for folks who have never been to counselling before and appreciate a bit more structure.
Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
This kind of counselling offers clients an opportunity to better know, understand and feel their emotions. Emotions are there, whether we want them to be or not, and suppressing them can keep us from feeling well or cause them to bubble up in overwhelming ways. In EFT, emotions guide clients. The more emotions are accepted, the easier it is to feel them in all their shapes and shades.
Trauma-informed Counselling
A trauma-informed way of counselling involves acknowledging that traumatic experiences can colour many aspects of our lives and works to avoid triggering clients’ traumatic memories or traumatic responses unexpectedly. This kind of counselling puts your sense of safety first during sessions. Other aspects of trauma-informed counselling involve collaborating with you so you feel a sense of control and choice in your experience.
Queer & Trans Affirming Counselling
Queer folks exist, and deserve the same dignity, care and rights as all others in our society. This counselling approach acknowledges the oppression that queer and trans folks experience. Everyone deserves to feel safe and respected and everyone deserves good mental health services. Providing queer and trans-affirming counselling acknowledges the unique challenges that queer and trans folks face, and celebrates their beauty and resilience.
Mindfulness-based Approaches
Mindfulness activities are often included into our therapy session to allow you to engage when you are feeling distressed or anxious. It can also help busy ADHD or anxiety-based thinking to slow down and see the choices we have more clearly. These kind of activities support clients to feel ease in the present moment and practice witnessing their thoughts and behaviours without judgement.
ADHD-focused Counselling
Therapy for those with ADHD is client-specific. Therapy for ADHD symptom-management generally includes a combination of mindfulness technique practice, CBT exercises and an attitude of self-compassion. ADHD is not a problem to be solved, but a set of traits worth understanding. We will work together to acknowledge the gifts and challenges that come with neurodivergence.
Counselling for Nurses and Allied Health Professionals
Front-line medical professionals can benefit from counselling services that are tailored to their unique experiences. Those who work as nurses, pharmacists, social workers and other allied health professionals face stressors specific to their professional demands. Although the structure of counselling is roughly the same for someone who works as a helping professional, it can be helpful to work with a counsellor who understands the nuances of burnout or vicarious trauma that are unique to healthcare professionals.
“Nothing in the universe ever grew outside in.”