Counselling for young adults in Burnaby and BC
A lot of people arrive at this stage of life having assumed it would be more straightforward than it is. School had a structure and a finish line. What comes after mostly does not, and having to build one yourself is harder than it looks from the other side of it.
For many people this is also a first attempt at counselling, without much sense of what it involves or whether their situation counts. I am here to help guide you forward and better understand yourself.
What young adults bring to therapy
anxiety about the future, and about decisions that feel irreversible
low mood, and the flatness that is harder to describe than sadness
leaving home, or not being able to
pressure to have chosen a direction already
work that is not what was expected, or is not there
comparison, particularly the version that happens on a phone
relationships, including the first serious ones and the first serious endings
drinking and drug use that has stopped being purely social
motivation that has gone, without an obvious reason
earlier experiences that are only now becoming a problem
How I work
I do not think counselling teaches people capacities they do not already have. The strength is usually there and something is sitting in front of it, and my work is helping you find what, understand where it came from, and clear it.
Some of what gets in the way at this age is genuinely new. Some of it is older than that: lessons learned early, in circumstances where they made sense, which hardened into patterns that only start causing trouble once you are running your own life.
You set the direction. My primary orientation is person-centred, and alongside it I draw on DBT for managing intense emotion, CBT for the link between thought and behaviour, psychodynamic work for tracing a pattern back to where it started, and solution-focused work when what you need is a decision rather than an excavation of history.
Two things that come up more at this age than any other
Motivation, and being told it is discipline. People arrive having concluded they are lazy, usually after a long stretch of trying to force themselves. That explanation almost never survives a proper look. Something is in the way, and understanding what it is tends to be more useful than more effort applied to the same thing.
Substance use that nobody has named yet. Drinking and using in your twenties sits inside a social context where it is normal, which makes it hard to see when it has changed function. It is worth looking at earlier than most people do, and looking at it is not the same as being told to stop.
Access and location
I want to be as accessible to my clients as possible. I offer sessions on weekdays and weekends as well as during the day and evening.
I see clients in person in Burnaby, a few minutes from Metrotown, and online anywhere in British Columbia. Sessions run 50 or 80 minutes, and I work in English and conversational Mandarin.
A limited number of sliding scale spaces are available. If cost is the thing standing in the way, raise it at the consultation and we will talk about it.
Questions couples ask about counselling for young adults
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There is no threshold to clear. Most of the work I do is with people managing something ordinary that has stopped improving on its own.
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Mostly talking, and mostly you. Nothing has to be resolved in it, and you are not expected to arrive with an explanation of what is wrong.
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Yes, and some people do exactly that for a handful of sessions.
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Yes. Evening and online sessions make that easier around a timetable.
Booking
I offer every new client a free 20-minute consultation, by phone or video, before anything is booked. It exists so you can hear how I work and decide whether it suits you, with no obligation either way.
Sessions run 50 or 80 minutes, in person in Burnaby or online anywhere in British Columbia, in English or conversational Mandarin.