Who is individual therapy for?

Individual therapy can benefit just about anyone — whether you feel overwhelmed, disconnected, stuck, anxious, exhausted, or unsure of what's 'wrong' but know something isn't working. You may be navigating a specific challenge or repeating patterns that are hard to change, or simply want to understand yourself better. You don't need a trauma history or a clear sense of what feels off to begin — you can walk into the unknown together, with company.

What can we work on together?

Relationships, family dynamics, anxiety and overwhelm, boundaries and people-pleasing, shame and self-worth, identity and belonging, family and intergenerational patterns, grief and life transitions, trauma, and experiences that live in the body. Desire, pleasure, agency, aliveness, and creative expression are part of the work too — therapy can be enjoyable at times.

What is your approach to therapy?

The approach is relational, collaborative, trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and anti-oppressive. Conversation and reflection are part of the work, but a large part happens through the body — slowing down to notice sensations, impulses, emotions, activation, shutdown, boundaries, and moments of connection or ease, which builds embodied awareness of your patterns.

Why include the body?

What we know doesn't automatically translate into what we do — that takes practice, including practice with the body. Our bodies are conditioned to respond to our experiences, and relationships, family histories, culture, trauma, and the systems we live within shape how we respond to safety, threat, connection, and belonging.

What happens in a therapy session?

The first few sessions focus on getting to know each other, after which a goal or commitment usually takes shape. Sessions are casual and informal but professional — you can eat, colour, or fold laundry during them. Sometimes the therapist leads, sometimes the client does, checking in regularly to make sure the work still feels aligned.

How will I know I'm experiencing positive change?

Transformation looks different for everyone and gets discussed directly with each client. In general, it often shows up as more choice, capacity, connection, and freedom in how you relate to yourself, others, your body, and your life — recognizing therapy as an ongoing, cyclical journey rather than a fixed endpoint.

Individual Trauma & Anxiety Counselling in Burnaby, BC

Individual counselling at Harbour Counselling & Wellness supports adults in Burnaby, BC — in-person or online — working through anxiety, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and boundary-setting patterns rooted in family history and intergenerational trauma.

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The bridge between awareness and aligned action

You may already have insight into how your family history, relationships, cultural and life experiences have shaped you. You may notice patterns of people-pleasing, overresponsibility, perfectionism, self-abandonment, angry outbursts, difficulty setting boundaries, or a cloud of anxiety that won’t quite lift.

Awareness and insight are such an important part of healing. And yet understanding your patterns does not necessarily change them. In the heat of the moment, when that trigger comes knocking, you might respond the same way, even though you know better.

At some point, you end up asking yourself, why can’t I just do the thing I know?

We can read all we want about learning to swim. Eventually, we need to dip into a pool. Practice the skill, right?

Between insight and awareness is practice and integration. And that’s the part a lot of us struggle with. This takes time, commitment, and energy. And those resources are so very precious. So why not use these resources with more intention, towards a new way of being that helps you feel more embodied and empowered, and supports deeper connection to yourself and the people around you?

How we work together

It’s helpful to make sense of your experiences. The brain does appreciate that clarity. We also want to work with your experiences directly in real time — through conversation and the body.

What you’ll experience in our work is relational, collaborative, and somatic. We slow down and notice what is happening internally— the sensations, emotions, impulses, areas of tension, and so on. We may pause the conversation to be with what is unfolding, and other times return to the conversation to integrate what you are noticing. In this way, our sessions move like a figure 8.

I’m well into my practitionership of generative somatics that includes course study and supervision with Fayza Bundalli. This lineage of somatics explores how we are shaped by lived experience and the conditions we move through. I feel deeply honored to be learning and practicing this methodology because it centers the bodies, experiences, and realities of the Global Majority.

An easy way to view it: somatics is sensations, emotions, and nervous system responses. It supports the idea that healing is not only what we think but also something we experience and practice through the body. Generative somatics focuses on what we want to create moving forward. It helps us understand our patterns and protective responses while building the capacity to move toward our values, relationships, purpose, and the kind of life we want to live.

What change can look like

We explore what becomes possible when familiar patterns are no longer the only option. We’re creating a buffet of choices and options. Even if the conditions remain the same, you have more choice and agency in how you wish to show up and engage.

This may look like responding from a more grounded and boundaried place in relationships that haven’t changed much or at all. You might be more direct about your needs, or clearer on how you wish to be supported. You may share and express your creativity more openly. You may trust yourself more. It may also look like relationships feel more reciprocal and aligned. And maybe you can be with the tension of discomfort or the unknown with a bit more ease. You might be able to feel guilty and still set that boundary.

The truth is, many things are outside of your control. The work is not about forcing change where change is not possible. It’s definitely not about changing others (sorry to disappoint you there!). It’s truly about getting to know yourself deeply and intimately so you know your needs, wants, values and longings clearly. And you make informed choices from that place!

Bringing relationships into the room

I primarily work with adults individually; however, there are times when it can be meaningful to invite a partner, friend, adult sibling, parent or another important person into therapy. This could be for one session or several sessions.

This can offer a supportive container to practice the skills you’ve been learning in sessions while having the safe presence of your therapist.

My role in joint sessions of this nature is not to take sides. I hold the space so your experiences can be heard, and new possibilities for understanding, clarity, and connection can emerge.

This is different from relationship or couples therapy, where a duo will begin and complete their journey at the same time, and each individual is offered equal time and space to share and process.