FAQs

Counselling can be helpful if you’re struggling with your mental health, with your relationships, or with any area of your life and want to overcome your problems. If you’re unsure of what is causing your concerns or what you want to work on, we can sort that out together.

During your free 20-minute inquiry phone call, you can ask me any questions you have about counselling or working with me. I’ll also explain how I can help, my fees, and how insurance works if you have an insurance policy.

The best way to know if I’m the counsellor for you is to book a free inquiry call  and ask me any questions on your mind. I can tell you about myself and explain how I work, and you can then decide if you’d like to work together.

We begin counselling by discussing your concerns and how we can work together to help you feel better. We can begin to set goals and discuss the steps to get you there.

How frequently you attend sessions is up to you. It’s usually best to start with weekly sessions to build momentum, then space sessions out over a longer time frame as you feel ready.

How long it takes to start feeling improvements depends on your history, how distressed you are, how long you’ve been struggling, your goals, and how often we meet. Some people notice changes within the first several sessions, while more profound changes can sometimes take several months and occasionally years.

I offer both online and in-person counselling. In-person sessions are held at my Kitsilano office in Vancouver, and online sessions are available by video for anyone who prefers to meet from home or who does not reside in Vancouver.

Yes, research shows that online therapy is as effective as in-person therapy for most people, including those struggling with anxiety, depression, or trauma. What matters most is the quality of our connection and your ability to feel safe and open during sessions. If you live in the Vancouver area, you can choose in-person or online sessions.

I’m trained in several research-backed therapy approaches  shown to help reduce or eliminate anxiety and depression by resolving what’s causing or contributing to them. These methods help regulate your nervous system and build skills to help manage feelings of worry or low mood when they arise.

Traumatic experiences don’t just exist as memories; they also show up in your body’s reactions (e.g., a racing heart, feeling on edge, jumping at sudden noises, feeling numb, or having trouble sleeping).

Counselling helps you heal from trauma and PTSD by helping you understand how trauma has impacted your emotions, relationships, and sense of safety in the world, while honoring your nervous system’s responses and moving at a pace that feels safe for you. We may use various approaches to explore when and how symptoms show up in your life. From there, we work with these issues using approaches such as Somatic Experiencing to help regulate your nervous system so you feel safer and more in control.

Counselling provides a place to grieve in your own way and at your own pace, free of judgment. This might mean giving yourself permission to fully experience the loss, or permission to step back from it when you need to. If you are stuck in your grief and can’t move forward, we’ll explore what is in the way to facilitate your own unique healing process.

Counselling can improve your relationships by helping you recognize and change feelings and patterns of behavior that are causing problems in your life, like difficulty trusting, repeated conflict, or feeling unseen or unworthy. Relationship problems are often connected to earlier distressing or traumatic experiences and the ways you learned to relate to others. As you become more self-aware and feel better about yourself, you’ll be more authentic, communicate your needs better, and have more fulfilling relationships.

Trauma-informed counselling means I’m trained in evidence-based therapy approaches known for helping people resolve problems associated with one or more distressing or traumatic experiences. Traumatic experiences often lead to involuntary nervous system reactions that are out of your control. These feelings and reactions were attempts to keep you safe when the event occurred, but now cause problems in your everyday life. Somatic Experiencing (SE) helps you process the past and regulate your physical responses so you feel better.

Mindfulness is the practice of slowing down and paying attention to what’s happening in your mind and body, without judging or trying to change what you notice. It helps build awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and body sensations that get in the way of healing. It also gives you more choice in how you respond to difficult emotions rather than being controlled by them. It can help calm your nervous system, especially when you’re feeling anxious or overwhelmed.

Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-based approach to healing stress and trauma. SE works with what’s happening in your body to release stuck energy and bring your nervous system back into balance. It helps you feel calmer, more grounded, and better able to handle life’s challenges with less fear, anxiety, or depression.

Yes, I am queer-affirming and work with 2SLGBTQ+ clients. I provide an environment where you can feel safe knowing your identity will be accepted and understood.

Yes, I work with neurodivergent adults, supporting you as you navigate a world that doesn’t always work the way your brain does. We may work on exhaustion from trying to adapt to others’ expectations, masking (trying to be someone you are not), sensory overwhelm, or the toll of years spent trying to fit into a way of being that wasn’t designed for you.

My counselling fees are $195 for a 75-minute session and $130 for a 50-minute session. Our first session can be 75 minutes and includes time to review my consent form and initial intake questions. If cost is a barrier to getting support, please contact me to discuss your situation.

As a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor (RTC), many extended health plans cover for my services. Instead, I provide a receipt you can submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. Please check your plan for its particular details.

Plans that commonly reimburse my clients include ClaimSecure, Equitable Life of Canada, GreenShield Canada, Manulife, Pacific Blue Cross, and Sun Life.

My counselling office is located in Kitsilano, Vancouver, at 200 – 1892 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC, V6J 1Y9. Please note that there is one flight of stairs to enter the building. Online sessions are also available if you can’t come in person or prefer not to.