Adoption Therapists in V6C
Natasha Chalke
Pre-Licensed Professional, BA, LLB, RCC
Verified Verified
2 Endorsed
Vancouver, BC V6C
I am committed to providing compassionate support to individuals and struggling with anxiety and overwhelm in order to find balance in their lives. I also work with couples, parents, and families navigating relationship challenges. I was formerly trained as a lawyer and mediator and have worked in adoption for 20 years. As a result, I have extensive experience working with parents to increase their connection to their children and find solutions to parenting challenges. As a parent of four teenagers, I understand the challenges of raising children and navigating the complexities of family life first hand.
I am committed to providing compassionate support to individuals and struggling with anxiety and overwhelm in order to find balance in their lives. I also work with couples, parents, and families navigating relationship challenges. I was formerly trained as a lawyer and mediator and have worked in adoption for 20 years. As a result, I have extensive experience working with parents to increase their connection to their children and find solutions to parenting challenges. As a parent of four teenagers, I understand the challenges of raising children and navigating the complexities of family life first hand.
Sandra Stephanson
Counsellor, RTCc
Verified Verified
1 Endorsed
Vancouver, BC V6C
Therapy could be the key to open your compassionate process of accepting yourself and expanding your mental and heartfelt capacities. Moving at your pace and preference, we explore and identify your emotional, mental and relationship patterns that may seem bewildering or intense now, but with an open and patient perspective, I give you the space to validate, reframe and shift those patterns that no longer serve you. Ultimately, your willingness to meet any challenge or aspiration is a profound act of self-reflection rooted in courage that ripples out into how you live, relate and create in the world.
Therapy could be the key to open your compassionate process of accepting yourself and expanding your mental and heartfelt capacities. Moving at your pace and preference, we explore and identify your emotional, mental and relationship patterns that may seem bewildering or intense now, but with an open and patient perspective, I give you the space to validate, reframe and shift those patterns that no longer serve you. Ultimately, your willingness to meet any challenge or aspiration is a profound act of self-reflection rooted in courage that ripples out into how you live, relate and create in the world.
Leeya Schachter
Counsellor, MC, RCC
Verified Verified
Vancouver, BC V6C (Online Only)
Many people who struggle with infertility, miscarriage, birth trauma, or postpartum depression and anxiety report feeling alone and that no one understands them. These challenges can trigger complex emotions such as feeling lost, helpless, angry, numb, or hopeless about the future. For many individuals, when they feel lost or hopeless, they just want to feel validated and understood. When they're feeling stuck, they want to know that it won't be like this forever and they may want help finding their way forward. Working with a therapist who understands these struggles can help a person feel seen and allow them to find their way.
Many people who struggle with infertility, miscarriage, birth trauma, or postpartum depression and anxiety report feeling alone and that no one understands them. These challenges can trigger complex emotions such as feeling lost, helpless, angry, numb, or hopeless about the future. For many individuals, when they feel lost or hopeless, they just want to feel validated and understood. When they're feeling stuck, they want to know that it won't be like this forever and they may want help finding their way forward. Working with a therapist who understands these struggles can help a person feel seen and allow them to find their way.
Marcela Brun Fausto
Registered Therapeutic Counsellor Candidate, RTCc, BA, RHN, PMA
Verified Verified
2 Endorsed
Vancouver, BC V6C (Online Only)
Marcela's lived experiences are part of her therapies and an intentional holistic approach to care. Her work focuses on inspiring/helping people towards a holistic relationship with self so they are empowered to see, accept and heal themselves and be the author of their own story. She has a warm, caring and collaborative approach in her work. Life events can be very impactful and Marcela is skilled in maintaining safety and connection with her integrative approach. Compassion, inclusion, warm & empowerment is what you experience as she believes in expression, reflection and movement and being your authentic self.
Marcela's lived experiences are part of her therapies and an intentional holistic approach to care. Her work focuses on inspiring/helping people towards a holistic relationship with self so they are empowered to see, accept and heal themselves and be the author of their own story. She has a warm, caring and collaborative approach in her work. Life events can be very impactful and Marcela is skilled in maintaining safety and connection with her integrative approach. Compassion, inclusion, warm & empowerment is what you experience as she believes in expression, reflection and movement and being your authentic self.
See more therapy options for V6C
Adoption Counsellors
Does my adopted child need therapy?
Not every adopted child needs therapy. However, many can benefit from seeing an adoption-informed therapist, especially if they were victims of abuse or neglect, appear withdrawn or disconnected, have behavioural or developmental issues (which may or may not be related to their adoption), are struggling with feelings of grief or loss surrounding their birth parents, or find it difficult to establish an identity, a challenge that often becomes most apparent during adolescence.
When should adoptive parents seek therapy?
Prospective parents can benefit from therapy even before an adoption—for example, to voice worries and fears; to reconcile infertility struggles, if relevant; or simply to prepare themselves for parenthood. After the adoption, parents who are struggling to bond with their child; are unsure how to talk about adoption or related issues, such as race; or whose child is dealing with developmental, behavioural, or psychiatric concerns can address these and other issues with the help of an adoption-competent therapist.
Is family therapy appropriate for adoptive families?
Family therapy can be invaluable for strengthening the bond between adoptive parents and children, helping the latter feel more secure in their place in the family. Family therapy can also help adoptive families navigate complex communication issues—for example, parents who feel uncomfortable discussing race with their child, who in turn feels invalidated by their silence, or a child who has questions about his birth parents but avoids asking them out of fear of hurting his adoptive parents’ feelings.
What therapy is not appropriate for adoption issues?
A discredited therapy known as “attachment therapy” (sometimes called “holding therapy” or “rebirthing therapy”) should not be used to treat adopted and foster children, though it was largely designed for this population. Attachment therapy involves restraining, coercing, and punishing the child in order for them to “release” negative emotions and attach to their new caregivers—techniques that are abusive and dangerous and have even proven fatal in some cases.