Principles

We are grief- , attachment- and trauma-informed.

Grief-informed: we recognize the impact of death and non-death loss on every aspect of a person’s life. We acknowledge that grief is a natural response to loss, that there is no one right way to grieve and that each loss is unique.

Attachment-informed: we recognize the impact of a person’s attachment styles on their relationships. We acknowledge that early childhood experiences and trauma impacts how a person experiences their attachment with others.

Trauma-informed: we acknowledge the impact that trauma may have in various aspects of a person’s life. This means we make sure that people feel safe, supported and are not re-traumatized. We empower people to make choices and use their voices.

  • In addition to drawing from the wide body of theories, knowledge and therapeutic approaches in the field of counselling, we integrate various tools from specialized trainings in collaboration with and in consideration of clients’ unique needs and readiness.

    We honour wholeness and engage with people as their whole selves. We acknowledge that trauma, loss and life challenges impacts one's emotional, psychological, physical, social, and spiritual well-being. We move towards healing and wholeness by using approaches that integrate the body, mind, emotions, and spirit.

  • We bring our whole heart in caring for each client as we believe that developing a secure, trusting relationship with a safe other is the birthplace for change.

    It is our desire to provide compassionate care, empathy and a safe place as we believe that people have longings to feel seen, heard, validated, known, understood, felt, accepted, and cared for, especially in difficult moments.

  • We value holding space for your story to be told and acknowledged in a non-judgmental and supportive space where your experiences are honoured, processed and integrated into your life story in a way that is fitting for you. We offer individualized care based on your unique context. We meet you where you are at and we move at your pace.

    We will take time to discover your existing internal and external resources - we will spend time identifying, acknowledging and utilizing the strengths you already have, while integrating new skills, tools and resources into your existing ones.

  • A connected, strong relationship and safe emotional connection between you and the counsellor is foundational for healing and lasting change. In having your grief, pain and trauma witnessed in the presence and safety of a therapeutic relationship, it is our hope that what may have once felt unbearable becomes less heavy and eventually more bearable.

    Therapy is team-work where both you and the counsellor work collaboratively towards your goals. We will be walking alongside you, fully invested in the process of change as a fellow human traveller and as a compassionate guide. For meaningful change to happen, we invite you to invest in the process of therapy wholeheartedly - this could look like trying out new things inside and outside of session.

  • We invite you to get curious about the thoughts, emotions and body sensations that show up in the present moment - this could look like slowing down and staying with the range of your emotional experience while learning to regulate them in the safety of our therapeutic relationship. You will cultivate insights and experience new ways of being in our sessions and outside of our sessions.

  • We value understanding your story by looking at the context in which you experience daily life and in the context of your past. We take the time to get to know who you are and where you come from – your personal circumstances, values, childhood experiences, attachment history, family system, cultural background and how you have been impacted by experiences of trauma.