When life is difficult the resulting symptoms usually include depression, anxiety, fear, anger and/or withdrawal. Rather than avoiding these states I have helped hundreds of clients turn them into resources, significantly improving their lives --usually after only a few sessions. I have 25+ years experience working with couples, individuals, families and groups, and have supervised 20+ new therapists. I specialize with couples, helping them to move beyond arguing, tension, anger, resentment and distancing into happy couples. My clients turn their problems into workable solutions. Free tips: www.shorecounselling.ca.

Island Clinical Counselling is now accepting clients onto a waitlist. New clients will be seen in Spring, 2021. Contact to reserve a spot. To all of you who feel weary, frightened, overwhelmed, alone: take refuge here. You are not alone. There is hope. Although the waves seem too rough, they can be calmed. Let’s navigate these storms together. I am Kathryn Atkinson and I want to provide you with a safe space to share your struggles, be truly heard, and understood. Together we will find ways to increase your resilience and climb those mountains that seem insurmountable or traverse those dark storms that seem unending.

I see clients of all ages and backgrounds, presenting with a wide array of issues and concerns. Some are seeking a long-term therapeutic relationship, and for others, a single session is adequate. Either way, I want to create a safe and productive therapeutic environment for clients to feel comfortable in talking about their lives. I want to collaborate with clients to help them glean a better understanding of their lives, and come up with ways to make it through their day feeling better and more confident in their actions.

Chloe McKinley, a registered clinical counsellor (RCC) and behavioural consultant, offers a unique therapeutic approach for individuals and families seeking counselling support. Chloe specializes in addressing the psychological needs of children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families, embracing cultural and gender diverse LGBTQ2 communities. She is one of the few counsellors on Vancouver Island to offer both clinical counselling and behavioural consultation. Chloe also serves as part of the multidisciplinary team known as Cowichan Autism Team Services (CATS). CATS welcomes collaboration and is accepting referrals.

Healthy change is possible and you do not have to face challenges alone. It can be very difficult to seek help and reach out during hard times. If you are reading this then you have already taken the first step towards well being. Finding a counsellor who you feel comfortable with is an essential part of the healing process. I would be happy to talk with you. Supporting individuals, families, youth and children for over 24 years. This is the time to take the best care of ourselves and our loved ones. Triggers arise now more than ever and support is available.

I blend clinical counselling and music therapy to help you thrive. Music and creativity can be the path to healing, but sometimes can also be the cause of suffering. My personal journey through music and healing showed me that it is possible to reconnect to the feelings of enjoyment, satisfaction and freedom that we had when we were first exploring music and bring them into our lives and creative practices today. I have the honour to share this journey with others looking to reclaim the positive power of music in their lives. No previous musical training is necessary to benefit, just a desire to connect with your creative self.

When life seems to be crumbling with confusion and uncertainty and you are struggling with your emotions, I will come along side you offering compassion and kindness providing a safe, non-judgemental, respectful environment valuing your unique way of being. You may feel overwhelmed trying to balance work, play and relationships striving to hold it all together. Perhaps COVID-19 has intruded bringing havoc into your every day world. Has sleep and self-care eluded you and do your control and power seem to be spiraling down? You are not alone. Together we can change the way things are now to the way you would like them to be.

If you are struggling with stress of any kind ie. work stress, family stress, relationship or personal stress or simply trying to cope with the overwhelming demands of modern life, please feel free to give me a call. I have 20 years experience treating Depression, Anxiety, Burnout, Addictions and Trauma of all kinds. I also provide family and couples counselling. In addition to offering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Solution Focused interventions, I teach Mindful Self Compassion and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction to all my clients, including older children and teens.

When you searched the net or picked up the phone and called for help, you already started the change process. Through your life story, my experience and a solution-focused perspective we can explore possibilities, develop an action plan and create lasting change.Together we can explore how unique and dynamic you are as both an individual and as part of a collective.

I love my work! For over 20 years I've been helping individuals and couples create a life they love with proven, measurable, effective and fast methods to break through old patterns, get past limiting beliefs, and create possibilities they never knew existed. This isn't therapy like you've seen it on TV or in the movies, it doesn't have to take years. If you're tired of the "same old, same old" you deserve to feel better.

To conceptualize therapy, the following might be a helpful picture. Recently, we decided to hatch our own chickens. After a couple of weeks, we candled the eggs to get a glimpse inside. The glimpse was amazing and mysterious—we could see life happening beneath the shell. This is what often happens in a counselling session; we look beneath the “shell” and get a glimpse of the mystery and complexity of the human experience. From this deeper looker inside, we have many choices and changes that are possible.

I am an adult/child/youth and family therapist and clinical consultant in private practice. As well as being a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC), I am a Registered Art Therapist (ATR and BCATR), a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor (RPT-S), and a certified Play Therapist Supervisor (CPT-S). I celebrate 45+ years experience as a counsellor psychotherapist and 35 years teaching internationally the therapeutic methods I have developed called Holistic Expressive Therapy. For 34 years, I have taught courses at the Justice Institute of British Columbia where a certificate on my approach to therapy is offered.

You may be bumping into challenges, hurdles, and fears, and noticing unhealthy repetitive patterns which are in the way of the life you truly want. I can support you to gently explore all those parts of you with curiosity and non judgement. My work is not informed by a diagnostic lens with labels; rather, it references the client as a "whole" being on their own unique human journey. I look forward to accompanying you on your healing journey, to tap into your implicit body-mind knowing and what is present in your body to deepen your awareness and consciousness.

Do you want to reignite a passion for your life and feel more connected to yourself and others? Together in a warm and nurturing space you will become empowered as your own healer. You will be invited to regain a sense of self-efficacy and gain skills to journey back to a grounded sense of self.

We formulate beliefs about ourselves early in life. If we grow up in a nurturing and loving environment, individual beliefs might be that I am lovable, I am worthy and I deserve good things in life. Unfortunately, many of us grew up in families where our caregivers struggled with their own negative beliefs and were therefore not able to be there for us in a way that we needed them to be. Many people grow up thinking I am not worthy of love, connection or the good things in life.

I bring decades of experience helping emergency services and health care professionals find solutions to the cumulative stress they experience every day in their jobs. Without a safe place to work through these normal reactions to abnormal events, careers can be cut short and the families of these professionals struggle as well. Together we can find solutions for work related stress and other issues such as: the impact on the families, grief and loss, addiction/recovery and enhance existing coping skills. I enjoy working with a wide range of age groups from young adult to adult.

Many of the individuals I see feel stuck and unsure of their capacity to manage life struggles independently. Providing a safe space in which to process these challenges nurtures hope and offers a sense of clarity. I intend for you to leave sessions feeling empowered to make decisions that bring you closer to living authentically. I engage with curiosity, sensitivity, warmth, and a bit of humour. I know that when you enter the room, you bring a wealth of experience that is unique to you. Therefore, consideration will be given to your individual characteristics, preferences, needs, beliefs, and abilities.

My ideal client has often dug themselves into a hole into which they can not get out of on their own. The issues will be related to a difficult relationship of some description, partner, family, community, finance, environment, financial, and certainly themselves. It is likely that their goals are uncertain and that they feel lost. Very often, my ideal client does not know what they want, but can with certainty say what they don't want.

My approach incorporates using knowledge of human design and development to provide a supportive framework from which to normalize and understand concerning emotional experience. I generally employ Schema Therapy to aid clients to identify self-limiting core beliefs and their origins. Somatic (body) awareness may be offered to enhance client awareness. This is an optional, skill-based, self-delivered aspect of treatment. Clients desiring to understand troubling emotional responses to situations, including relationships, stress, depression and anxiety, have consistently benefitted from the above approach.

Are you tired of struggling? Are you wondering how counselling might help get you unstuck? Do you want some personal power back in your life? I offer both in-office and on-line counselling options to reach a variety of clients with different goals, needs and budgets. If you are struggling with anxiety, depression, anger, relationship issues, weight issues, eating disorders, and or stress I offer support to help get you back on track.