Couple, Relationship and Marriage Counselling
- Helping couples to resolve conflict resulting from impulsive anger, marital betrayal and affairs, poor communication.
- Structured exercises and possible ‘homework’.
- Solution focused rather than historical or problem focused
- Attending to your needs and goals
- Providing guidance and coaching
- Learnable behaviours and exercises
- Physical and verbal communication skill training for partners who seem to show low interest, lack of intimacy or commitment
Sexuality and Intimacy
Therapy calls for couples to express their commitment to each other, explore their sexual histories and expectations, and learn to communicate their individual sensual and sexual needs openly and directly. The goal is to negotiate what you want in order to be able to receive and in turn give pleasure.
Affairs, Betrayal and Rebuilding Trust
Few facts are more disturbing than those that betray the trust we count on to make sense of the world. We aim to support couples to resolve the past by attending to the individual and interpersonal issues in the now.
The process of distinguishing one’s self during intense authentic communication reveals true character and allow for a healthy informed reconnection rather than an anxiety-driven pressure for togetherness to avoid conflict.
Recovery from Trauma Through Relationship
As an adult suffering from grief after loss, accident, illness, death, emotional, physical or sexual abuse as well as witness to extreme violence; criminal victimization, rape, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Committed relationships are used as a vehicle for healing.
Individual Counselling for Men and Women
Receive therapy to directly address chronic or situational anxiety, grief, fear, depression and anger.
- Resolving compulsive behaviour, substance abuse and impulsive acting out
- Relational coaching for appropriate assertiveness and self-expression crisis.
- Support during conflict, infidelity and crisis
- Social skill development and pscho-education to diminish fears, shyness, jealousy and unwanted thoughts
Individual Suffering and Emergency
A variety of techniques and orientations using physical, emotional intellectual and spiritual or intuitive awareness, are utilized to address anger, shyness, anxiety, depression, fear, grief, guilt and shame. Problems may present as obsessive thought, addictions, phobias, sleeplessness or nightmares.
- Calming, soothing, relaxation, grounding
- Guidance to insight
*40 years of experience in a variety of meditation and spiritual practices
Separation and Divorce Counselling
The marital conflict activates powerful beliefs and emotionally-fuelled, impulsive behaviours. When the marital bond is in doubt, internal conflict similar to being in a state of shock is a natural result. Stress leads to making decisions primarily from emotions and ‘fight and flight’ responses unless specific interventions are in place to manage conflict.
- Coaching to bring your relationship to an end in a way that decreases recrimination, guilt and shame.
- Education about the possible challenges of adjusting to living separate lives; especially if one wants out and the other doesn’t.
- Coaching and challenging couples to acknowledge the happy times, as well as the bad, so that necessary grief can be expressed. This allows for a healthy letting go and dissolving of the bonds of marriage.
- Initial discussions of separating finances, residence and parenting responsibilities that can be used to guide legal counsel to minimize disruption during the transition.
- Creation and enactment of goodbye rituals.
Recovery from Trauma
Recovery from parental neglect, sexual, physical and emotional trauma, as well as, witness to extreme violence is possible. Research has identified areas of the brain that are affected after trauma, which left untreated can interfere with happiness over the whole lifetime. The good news is that psychotherapy is effective in reconfiguring the functioning of the brain.
First Nations Healing
Non-insured Mental Health (NIMH) funding provides for immediate crisis counselling. To apply for therapy under this funding, we will need your full name, address, date of birth, status number and BC health number.
First Nations Health Authority {FNHA}, Indian Residential School Resolution Health Support Program funds counselling for survivors and affected family members requires your full name, address, date of birth and status number, as well as, the name of a relative who attended Indian residential school, their date of birth/passing and the IRS they attended.
After acknowledging that we are of Euro-Canadian heritage, our counselling is based on a profound respect of the strengths and challenges faced individually and collectively by First Nations’ men, women and children. We have been deeply influenced by the innate and distinct spiritual and cultural presence, we experience while listening to client’s stories.
We offer collaborative, solution-focused counselling that is safe and respectful, to achieve the goals important to you. Along the way, teaching ways and means to quiet and calm memories, destructive feelings and unwanted thought; freeing your spirit to act for what is best for your family, Nation and self.
We have been practicing in Victoria since 1994 and can schedule initial appointments within days.