About — In-Power Counselling

Hi I’m Theresa!

And I want to be on your team !

A Little About Me

I believe change is possible! I am very passionate about supporting people in finding their voices and standing in their own power.

I am committed to helping people achieve freedom from systemic and societal oppression in every capacity. Since moving to Vancouver in 2012 I have been focused on learning the origins and impacts of trauma. My therapeutic focus is on trauma intervention, freedom from abuse, substance misuse, and achieving empowerment using largely narrative therapeutic techniques. I have a Bachelors in Science from Houston Baptist University, a Masters in Counselling Psychology from Adler University, and I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC # 17617) with the BCACC.

My life has been a series of successes and struggles and I have not always known if I could succeed, or how to choose myself as the momentum of life moved so rapidly. One day I decided to choose myself and it has been the hardest, most wonderful, most frightening, most surprising, most delightful choice I ever made!

Loving yourself is an on-going commitment. Your relationship with yourself is the only relationship you'll always have. Let me help you make it the best it can be!

My Process

We start where you like. I don't like to assume anything about what your priorities should be.

Together, we understand the elements in your life or relationships that are causing you distress and how this distress affects you on a day-to-day basis.

We identify what your goals are and how we work together to get you there. My role as your counsellor is to establish safety for everyone in the room. I "hold the space" so you can feel free to be honest & vulnerable and get all that you can from the counselling experience. I am an unbiased perspective to objectively take in your story and reflect back what you bring into the room.

Once we feel we understand the dynamics at work in your life I support you in removing the obstacles to achieving your goals and building the tools to maintaining safety in your life on your own!

My Counselling Philosophy

1) There is nothing wrong with you

2) You hold the power for change inside yourself

My job is to draw it out !

As a counsellor, I work from a narrative framework. I believe by understanding your story we can find the consistent themes that speak to distress, the information that suggests skills for success, and the areas that need healing and restoration.

I utilize a trauma-informed, feminist, non-oppressive, decolonizing framework. Those are a lot of intense words that more simply mean: we look at everything in a context. We do not exist in a vacuum. What we have learned about ourselves and how we relate to others comes from what we have been taught in our families, our communities, and largely, society as a whole.

Together, we understand how this context has played out in your life and relationships and how instances of trauma may have exacerbated these ideas. We then, re-write your story to reflect your truth and build an authentic narrative for you and your relationships.