Individual counselling in Burnaby and across British Columbia
One-to-one counselling for youth from age 14 and for adults, in person in Burnaby or online anywhere in BC.
Most people who contact me are not in crisis. They have been managing something for a while, it has stopped getting better on its own, and they want to understand why rather than just get through the week.
That is what this is for. We work out what is actually in the way, where it came from, and what can be done about it.
What people come to me with
anxiety, worry and the physical side of stress
low mood and depression
trauma, including things that happened a long time ago
substance use and the habits built around it
life transitions, including leaving home, changing direction and starting over
relationship and family difficulty
motivation, and the sense of being stuck without knowing why
self-esteem and identity
anger and difficulty regulating strong emotion
the ordinary weeks that have simply become harder to manage than they used to be
What sessions actually look like
There is no standard course of work, and I would rather tell you what varies than describe a session you might not recognize.
A first session is usually about two things: making sure you feel safe enough to talk, and getting the story out. Nothing has to be resolved in it.
After that it depends on what you came for. Some people want something practical and near-term, a decision to make or a pattern to interrupt, and the work stays close to that. Others want to understand where something started, in which case we go further back and take longer. Plenty of people want both at different points, and the work moves between them.
What I try to hold constant is that you set the direction. My primary orientation is person-centred, which in practice means my job is to follow accurately rather than steer.
How I think about what is in the way
I do not think counselling teaches people capacities they do not already have. We cannot teach someone how to love, but we can teach someone how to remove the barriers that are preventing them from loving. Most of what brings people here works the same way: the capacity is intact and something is sitting in front of it.
Some of those barriers are recent and obvious. Others are lessons learned early, in circumstances where they made sense, which hardened into patterns that keep returning long after the circumstances changed. Understanding why something happened is different from judging that it happened, and I work with a neutral lens on purpose.
Alongside person-centred work I draw on DBT for managing intense emotion, EFT for working with feelings as information, CBT for the link between thought and behaviour, psychodynamic work for tracing patterns back, mindfulness and grounding for when distress outruns thought, and solution-focused work when the priority is a decision in front of you.
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 people ask about individual counselling
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No. Working out what is actually going on is often the first part of the work rather than a prerequisite for it.
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This is worth saying so early, including what did not work about it. That information is useful rather than awkward, and it changes how I would approach things.
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Yes, I offer counselling in both English and conversational Mandarin, in-person or online, at the same rates.
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Most plans that cover counselling will reimburse sessions with a clinical counsellor, though it varies by plan. I provide a receipt after each session and recommend checking your coverage before you book.
I am currently under the supervision of Dr. Christopher Brown, RCC, while I await my RCC confirmation.
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.