Reliable family counselling services in North Vancouver

My practice is taking a break. Please check the BC Play Therapy Association’s website to look for other child therapists.

If you are hesitant with the stigma surrounding ‘seeing a counsellor’ or ‘going to therapy,’ don’t be. Think of it instead as taking action and being resourceful. You’re acquiring the tools to build your family up stronger. Your family will start to feel like a TEAM working together every single day. You don’t need to be a so-called ‘problem family’ to benefit from family counselling or child therapy. All of us can use the help.

Below are the services I provide as a family and child counsellor in North Vancouver:

Child play therapy:

If you’ve found it exhausting to keep up with your child’s behaviours, and your methods haven’t been catalyzing change, play therapy sessions can be the thing that gets the entire family back on track.

Is your child or adolescent in the realm of any of the following?

A bullying target or perpetrator
Prone to separation anxiety
Having tantrums and emotional or physical outbursts
Suffering post-traumatic stress and acting worried or fearful
Falling behind in school
Finding it difficult to socialize

Play therapy can help a child work through the stresses caused by these events or deeper issues. And, it can improve the relationships they have with their family and friends. This is done using specific therapeutic activities (play, music, crafts, games) in a supportive and fun environment.

Your child will enjoy several of these play sessions at my office, while you’ll complete at-home exercises to make sure progress and healing is happening.

Family counselling:

The family counselling I provide can equip families with the tools to understand each other better. Very often, the problems and stresses within families could be the result of dwindling communication and a lack of mutual understanding and empathy.

As a family therapist in North Vancouver, I’ll be providing a supportive environment at my office for your entire family (no age-limits!) over a period of several sessions. Depending on the situation, we may use Family Play Therapy or Filial Play Therapy to suit the needs of your family.

Filial play therapy:

Filial play therapy will teach parents how to play therapeutically with their children. It can cut through any discipline issues, outbursts, communication issues, and any other stressful situations you’re in with your child.

You’ll really start to understand your child. This can turn into a ripple effect of building a stronger relational foundation and reducing future conflicts between you both. What could be better? You’ll be implementing these playtime techniques through regular sessions both at my office and at home.

Family play therapy:

Sometimes, involving family members in therapy sessions can make changes happen faster. With Family Play Therapy, I use play and expressive ‘tools’ (or methods), that act as a catalyst for creating a communicable environment. The aim here is to get family members talking. It’s important to express their feelings, and thus work towards solving problems.

In these family-based sessions, parents may find that their children are more willing and able to work together as a team with mom and dad, or with siblings. This is because they can express themselves better through play. In a way, it takes the pressure off of directly addressing a problem, and allows the family to engage in an activity together instead. Through this, we can identify the ‘triggers’ or things that provoke the problem behaviours in the family. And when we know what they are, we can work to treat them.

Parenting Support:

Parents don’t often realize the profound and daily influence they have on their children. It’s a 24/7, thankless job that sometimes needs tangible strategies to be effective. If you find it hard, you’re not alone. We can work on this together.

Parent counselling:

Sometimes, despite your best effort to support your child, you are not seeing changes in them. Yes, we all have our blind spots. We may need to sit down and see if you have personal issues that get in your way of being the parent you would like to be.

Parenting coaching:

For parenting coaching, if you need extra support in learning parenting strategies, we can have separate sessions at my office. There’s really no ‘right’ way to go about parenting. It’s a matter of finding your voice and getting you to feel confident in your abilities!

Supervision for other play therapists:

I provide supervision for play therapists or child counsellors who use play therapy techniques. I am trained in non-directive, child-centred play therapy. In addition, I integrate other play therapy and expressive approaches to counselling. These are both traditional and cutting-edge methods I use regularly in my own work.

I have experience supervising play therapists of varied stages in their career. I look forward to sharing my knowledge and experience with child therapists in Metro Vancouver and beyond.