Treatment & Approach
Since you found your way to our page, there's a good chance that you or someone you care for needs someone to listen, support and help.
What is Healing Waves?
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Healing WavesCounselling is based on the idea that healing will come in waves throughout our lives. We will experience moments when we are ready to heal and other moments when we are not yet ready to take that next step. This is a natural ebb and flow, just like waves.
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Similarly, emotions will also come in waves. Some days, you will feel strong, empowered and ready to conquer life. Other times, you will feel down, closed off and unprepared to deal with emotions.
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Thinking of the healing process like waves in the ocean is a way to not only show yourself grace but feel more connected to yourself and nature. Picture your healing in the waves, allowing the therapeutic sound and comforting rhythm to help you find peace. Remember, too, that waves can exude calmness or exert power. Both are needed and natural.
Goals
Our goal in each session is to guide you through the process and help you with what you need. We will work together with you whether you have set accomplishments for yourself or you prefer to focus on a different goal during each session.
We want to make sure that you are getting the help you need and believe that you deserve to be heard, validated and respected for taking a charge and working on your healing journey.
Our therapists approach treatment sessions in a flow manner based on what comes up in your life and how it affects you rather than focusing on a strict, one path towards healing, which can be limiting and often invalidates your needs at the moment.
Speciality and Focus
At Healing WavesCounselling, you will be connected with therapists in Vancouver that specialize in a number of different areas; each targeted to provide you with the support you need throughout the healing process.
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Trauma-informed (childhood trauma, abuse, narcissistic parents)
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ADHD specialized
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Depression
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Anxiety
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Body image (working with women and youth, can be social media related, anything related to self-image)
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Sexuality (polyamorous, open relationship, sex work)
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Men (how a man/male can show up in a relationship, his role and his power)
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Mind and body connection
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Somatic attachment psychotherapy
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Mindfulness
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Person-centered
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Internal Family Systems
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Harm reduction
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Social justice
Trauma Counselling
Trauma can take many forms and happen at any stage of life. Unresolved trauma can diminish your ability to thrive and lower your capacity for dealing with further stressful or traumatic events, possibly leading to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or complex PTSD (cPTSD). Psychotherapy is a process that allows you to explore your thoughts, feelings and behaviours in the non-judgmental presence of a therapist.
Unpacking trauma is a multilayered journey and can take some time. It's normal to think you are ready to unpack your trauma, but you may sometimes find that you are not emotionally, physically or mentally prepared for that process, and that's okay. In addition, there may be some days when you feel as if you've taken one step forward, while on other days, you may feel like you've taken two steps back. Healing is not a linear progression, and our counsellors will always meet you where you are while navigating your trauma.
Unresolved trauma can lead to emotional dysregulation, unresolved anger, addiction, chronic pain, anxiety, depression and often unwanted behaviours. We can help you recognize and unpack unhealthy patterns and unhealthy coping skills by looking at the purpose they served and how they may now be harming rather than helping you.
During your sessions, you will be able to create some space from those memories and emotions with the help of one of our counsellors to get a better understanding of those feelings and behaviours, putting them under your conscious control and allowing for a more healthy resolution of the trauma.
ADHD Treatment
At Healing WavesCounselling, we approach adult ADHD therapy in Canada differently from many other mental health programs. Rather than focusing on homework, worksheets or so-called practical suggestions, we take a step back and help you get a holistic view of how adult ADHD impacts you and those around you.
ADHD can impact your work, communication style, friendships, relationships and self-image, and everyone's journey is unique to them. We help you look at emotional regulation, executive functioning, people-pleasing, sensory overload, boundary setting, rejection sensitivity, impulsive behaviour and other everyday challenges ADHD can bring. While both men and women can suffer from this, adult ADHD in women specifically is often underdiagnosed because women are thought to mask many symptoms at an early age.
Additionally, people with ADHD are significantly more likely to have other mental health diagnoses, for example, depression, anxiety, OCD and bipolar disorder, which can further complicate traditional treatment methods and cause even more stress.
We can help clients navigate the diagnostic process and learn how to access accommodations where available. If desired, we will also work closely with clients as they begin the process of finding the proper medication at the correct dosage.
Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy
A somatic approach to mental health allows for the exploration of the relationship between mind, body, brain and behaviour. Many people do not realize that lifelong trauma and unresolved feelings or emotions can actually be stored in the physical body.
This can present as chronic aches and pains, muscle tension, frequent headaches or even a general sense of fatigue. In some cases, it can even contribute to issues with gut health, feelings of burnout or pain with no underlying physical cause.
Somatic therapy helps you feel that deep connection between mind and body, combining physical and psychotherapy techniques during a session to bring your awareness to those sensations.
These types of therapies can include breathing exercise, restorative yoga and other mindfulness techniques, which can be exceptionally helpful for those in need of anxiety counselling in Canada.
Our trained therapists in Vancouver will utilize a personalized blend of effective interventions to help calm your nervous system and create a more relaxed state that will better facilitate the healing process.
With somatic attachment therapy, we can help you explore the intimate bonds created with yourself, other people and the environment you live in. These bonds are what forms the foundation of your sense of self, allowing you to flourish in different areas of your life and giving you a safe space to adapt, grow and glean lessons from positive and negative life experiences.
Creating a robust, safe and secure attachment to your true self as well as the people you care about is an essential step for dealing with anxiety and stress because it gives you a comforting sense of acceptance and belonging. This is an important baseline for beginning your healing journey.
Relationship Counselling
Our team provides relationship counselling, couples counselling and marriage counselling in Vancouver.
"It takes a lot of love and want to change, and you also have to want it enough that you would be willing to change something in yourself.
Something fundamental.
You have to really want the relationship and your partner in a way that moves you to transcend yourself.
Everyone hopes that if I could just change something in my partner if they were just this way or that way it would be better.
The only change that happens is if you crave the relationship, and love the person enough that you are going to move beyond something in yourself."
Dr. OrnaGuralnik, American psychologist and psychoanalyst