How I Work With Individuals
Most people don’t come to therapy because of one specific thing. They come because the strategies that used to work have stopped working — and they’re not sure what to try next.
My work draws on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Existential Therapy. In practice that means we work on two levels at once:
The first level is the day-to-day. CBT gives us a way to examine the relationship between your thoughts, your emotions, and your behaviours — so we can interrupt the patterns keeping you stuck. The racing 3am thoughts. The procrastination loop. The story you’ve been telling yourself for years that may not actually be true.
The second level is deeper. Existential Therapy makes room for the questions underneath the symptoms — about meaning, identity, mortality, freedom, the life you’re actually living versus the one you thought you’d have. Not everyone wants to go there. But the option is on the table.
In both modes, my approach is measured. I think carefully about my questions and the way I frame things. The goal isn’t to give you advice or fix you — it’s to help you see yourself more clearly, and decide what you want to do about what you see.
Navigating Trauma and Overwhelm
When we go through something difficult or overwhelming, the body often holds onto it after the mind has tried to move on. This can leave you stuck in one of two states.
The first is hyper-arousal — anxiety, vigilance, the sense that the threat isn’t quite over. You’re always a little braced for something.
The second is hypo-arousal — numbness, shutdown, a flatness that makes everything feel far away. You’re functioning, but you’re not really here.
Both are the nervous system’s attempt to protect you, and both can settle. In our work together, we move slowly. We expand what therapists call your window of tolerance — the range in which you can feel difficult emotions without being overwhelmed by them — so the past can begin to integrate rather than intrude.
This isn’t about reliving anything. It’s about building the capacity to revisit hard material without getting stuck in it.
Rewriting Your Inner Narrative
For many people, the harshest voice they hear all day is their own.
It might sound like constant low-grade self-criticism, replaying old mistakes, holding yourself to standards you’d never apply to anyone else, or assuming the worst about how others see you. Over time this voice can feel like the truth — just how things are.
It isn’t. The inner critic is almost always a protective strategy that started out trying to help and has long since outgrown its usefulness. Somewhere along the way, being hard on yourself felt safer than being kind.
Rather than trying to silence this voice, we get curious about it. Where did it come from? What is it trying to protect? What would change if you stopped believing it?
The result, gradually, is a quieter mind — not because the voice disappears, but because you stop taking everything it says at face value.
What to Expect
The first session is mostly about getting to know each other. I’ll ask what’s bringing you in, what you’ve already tried, and what you’re hoping might shift. We won’t solve anything in 50 minutes — we’re just starting to build the relationship that the rest of the work depends on.
From there, the shape of our work depends on you. Some clients come for a focused piece of work and feel done in 8 to 12 sessions. Others stay longer, especially when there’s more history to explore. We check in regularly about whether the work is still useful, and at any point you’re free to say it isn’t.
The practical details:
- 50-minute sessions. Standard length for individual work.
- $160 per session. I don’t offer direct billing, but I provide receipts you can submit to your extended health plan — most plans in BC cover counselling with a Registered Clinical Counsellor.
- Weekly to start. Momentum matters early on. Many clients move to biweekly once the work is established.
- In-person or virtual. I work from a East Vancouver office and offer virtual sessions across BC. I prefer in-person when possible, but virtual is genuinely effective when that’s not practical.
