FAQ

First, getting here is already a big step. It takes courage to make the decision to try counselling.

In our work together, you can expect a good amount of talking, but it’s not like in the movies. My job is not to analyze you, fix you, or prove anything. You are not broken, and you are not wrong. My role is to offer non-judgmental support, offer prompts to deepen your awareness, work with your strengths, share tools to help you feel more confident in navigating your thoughts and emotions, and serve as an echo to your truth and inner knowing. Some sessions may be more emotional; others may be more reflective. It all depends on where you are and what most supports you in the moment.

Your job is to lean into each session as honestly and openly as you can (not for me, but for you). Together, we’ll move at a pace that feels good and sustainable to you. Often, going slow is going fast: if we try to rush or force things, it can end up replicating the very harm we are working on healing. Good therapy is not about pushing anyone beyond their limits…it’s about discerning where those limits are and working within them until it feels safe enough for you to gently, with grace and kindness, expand beyond them.

If you'd like to get a feel for working together, I offer a free 20-minute consult. You can request one here.

Take a moment, if you haven’t already, to look through this website. Consider my areas of expertise, the way I describe my work, and the modalities I draw from. What feelings come up for you? Is there a budding sense of trust or resonance? Do you feel confident in my capacity to support you? Or is there a sense of mismatch, confusion, or even irritation?

I invite you to take stock of all this because healing takes effort, and if the connection with your counsellor doesn’t feel like a natural fit, therapy might end up feeling like more emotional work than it needs to. Therapy is a personal journey, and finding the right fit matters. You’re allowed to take your time and explore. You deserve to find someone you feel truly aligned with.

If you're interested in a free 20-minute consult to get a sense of fit, you can request one here.

I am both: I use the words counselling and therapy interchangeably.

Technically, counselling describes shorter-term, goal-specific support that focuses on a specific life experience (e.g., navigating a breakup). Therapy or psychotherapy often refers to longer-term processes that explore root wounds and underlying patterns (e.g., one’s relationship with themselves and others). Using those definitions, I would say I practice therapy more than counselling. Often, my work with clients starts off as counselling and naturally deepens into therapy, and it can shift back and forth depending on what comes up in their lives.

I use the professional title Counsellor or Clinical Counsellor in British Columbia, “Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) is the designation for practitioners who hold a Master’s degree and are registered through the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC). Other provinces use different terms. For example, in Ontario, a similar role would fall under the title Registered Psychotherapist, which is regulated by the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CPRO).

That’s a valid and important question, and the answer is no.

Clients pay me for my services and expertise, which I use to help them experience life in the way they truly want to. But no one can pay me to care (or not care) because care isn’t transactional. While the counselling space may be where I meet and build relationships with my clients, the care and the relationships that form are real.

Payment is one form of reciprocity, and it can allow clients to show up with more emotional freedom. As the client, you don’t need to offer support in return or worry about how I’m feeling. The relationship is one-directional and centred entirely on your well-being. There’s no unspoken “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” dynamic. That’s one of the powerful gifts of therapy: it’s a space that exists just for you.

No. I don’t believe the counsellor is the healer. You are the one doing the healing, which means it can take many different forms and unfold in all kinds of ways.  

That said, my work is in service of healing. I am devoted to stewarding the space and cultivating the conditions for healing to take place on a psychological, emotional and physiological level. Over time, you may find yourself discovering—or remembering—how to move with the flow of healing even more, and in a way that is uniquely yours.