Today could be the day you stop feeling stuck
When you feel safer in your body and clearer in your mind, your life will start changing in ways you never thought were possible.
Hi, I’m Amy
I have spent most of my life in curious self-discovery
Most of us want to feel safe, loved, acknowledged, and that we are enough. We want to know that everything is going to be ok. It’s a normal part of being human, and I believe it is possible. I also promise that you are inherently enough.
I have spent most of my life in curious self-discovery and have faced several of my own challenging, painful and beautiful life experiences. I learned several years ago that there is no one path to healing, but that growth and meaningful change are possible and that asking for help is a sign of strength. My personal path has included traditional therapy, yoga, breathwork, substance use recovery, writing, painting, dancing, plant medicines, somatic therapy, travelling and faith.
Before becoming a therapist, I spent 15 years leading teams in corporate retail, which eventually led to burnout and feeling misaligned in my life. Today I live with more intention, purpose and resilience. Like everyone, I have had my own struggles including experience with overcoming anxiety, depression, self-worth, burnout and substance use. I also have experience caring for and grieving aging parents, one who passed from cancer and one from vascular dementia.
I feel most like myself when I’m near the ocean, in the sun. I hold a Master of Counselling and I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor and Certified Coach. I practice in person in Vancouver, BC and online across Canada.
Finding the right counsellor for you is important. I invite you to book a free 20-minute consult so you can see if I am a good fit for you.
How you might be feeling
Are you feeling overwhelmed and exhausted? Do you experience triggering looping thoughts of fear, worry, guilt, shame or anxiety? Are you navigating grief and loss or a major life transition, causing feelings of depression or hopelessness? Do you feel a lack of purpose or meaning in your career or relationships? Do you worry about finances? Regardless of what you are going through, you don’t need to face it alone.
Do you want to feel more safety, trust, confidence, meaning and purpose in life? Do you want to do less people pleasing and more living for yourself? Are you seeking greater ease, peace of mind, and joy in your life, even as you navigate difficult challenges?
Firstly, I want you to know you’re doing great. Being human is equally as difficult as rewarding. If you relate to any of this, I’d be honoured to help guide you. I believe everyone is resilient, but if you could do it all on your own, you wouldn’t be seeking counselling. I’m here to help you reconnect to your inner wisdom and see things from new perspectives, which will lead to change.
Imagine living without the constant undercurrent of stress, anxiety, pain, shame or lack of motivation.
Counselling can help you gently release what’s been keeping you stuck and feel more at home in your body, confident to move through whatever life sends your way.
Life’s challenges do not go away with therapy, but your capacity can expand to experience life in a way that feels new, lighter, and more empowering.
Imagine a different way of living
Sessions with me
My role is to provide you with a safe, inclusive, non-judgmental space where I listen to you, validate you, ask intentional questions, offer new perspectives, and help you connect more fully with your inner wisdom to help you achieve your therapeutic goals.
Counselling is a place where you can get to know yourself at a deeper level. Knowing who you are and what your beliefs are can help set the groundwork for making sustainable change in your life. As you progress on your journey, you may find that life becomes clearer and more colourful.
Holistic Approach
-
Mind
Our thoughts shape how we experience the world. Therapy can help you get curious about and shift beliefs and patterns that may be quietly running the show.
-
Body
The body holds what the mind can't always express. Learning to tune into physical sensations can unlock deeper healing than words alone.
-
Emotion
Therapy offers a supported space to explore and express feelings at a pace that feels grounded rather than overwhelming.
More on what sessions may look like
Sessions are shaped around your needs, and we work together to do what feels most supportive for you. When we first meet, we talk about your overall goals in therapy, but each session can look different. Some days you might want a safe space to talk things through or process your thoughts and feelings. Other days we may incorporate somatic body-based therapy. Some sessions may explore finding freedom from patterns that are no longer working for you, while others are focused on setting and reaching goals. Whatever we do, know that you are in full control of what sessions look like and we never do anything that does not feel good for you. I can provide as little or as much structure and guidance as you need. There is no “right” way to do therapy. The most important thing is that you feel supported, and that you are getting what you need out of our time together. You can count on me to provide a calm, safe, non-judgmental, supportive space. We always go at a pace that feels good for you and even in the deepest sessions, we may find lightness, laughter or a sense of relief.
How can I support you?
I work with clients on a diverse set of topics. Here are some common ones.
-
You're exhausted, stretched thin, and running on empty, yet somehow still pushing through. When everything feels urgent and rest seems impossible, it can be hard to remember who you were before all of this. Therapy can help you slow down, recover, and find your way back to yourself.
-
Anxiety is a normal sensation and state which most people experience at some point in their lives. It is your body's alarm system trying to protect you from danger, except it can go off even when there is no real threat which can feel debilitating. It shows up as racing thoughts, tension in your body, worry that won't quit, or a sense of dread you can't shake. Therapy can help you get to know your nervous system and learn to reclaim your life.
-
Examples of Acute Trauma:
Car accident
Natural disaster (earthquake, flood, fire)
Physical assault or attack
Witnessing a sudden death
Sexual assault
Medical emergency or life-threatening illness
Being robbed or burglarized
Serious injury or accident
Witnessing or experiencing violence
Sudden loss of a loved one
Examples of Vicarious Trauma:
Healthcare and mental health workers handling traumatic cases
First responders witnessing accidents, violence, or death scenes
Journalists covering traumatic events
Emergency dispatchers taking crisis calls
Teachers supporting students who've experienced trauma
Victim advocates working with assault or abuse survivors
Forensic professionals
Lawyers working on traumatic cases
-
Developmental trauma is harm that happens during childhood through abuse, neglect, or ongoing stress that disrupts a child's sense of safety and ability to form secure attachments. It affects how someone learns to regulate their emotions, see themselves, and relate to others. Unlike a single traumatic event, developmental trauma occurs repeatedly during critical periods of brain and emotional development, shaping the nervous system and leaving lasting effects on mental health, relationships, and how someone moves through the world.
Examples of Developmental Trauma:
Unpredictable parent moods, walking on eggshells
Being blamed for your parent's emotions or problems
Having your feelings dismissed or told you're "too sensitive"
Emotionally distant or unavailable parents
Constant criticism, shame, or feeling never good enough
Witnessing violence or fighting between caregivers
Being expected to manage a parent's emotions
Abuse
Basic needs not consistently met (food, safety, attention)
Parent leaving or frequent abandonment
Taking care of siblings or household as a child
Chaotic, unstable home environment
Love that felt conditional or inconsistent
Being told your needs were a burden
-
You may feel like everyone else has it more together than you do, but it’s likely an illusion. Therapy can help you reconnect to the inner confidence you’ve always had.
-
You may feel like the ground has shifted beneath you - a new role, a shift in your relationships, or simply the sense that something needs to change. Therapy can help you find your footing and move forward with more clarity.
-
You may feel like you're going through the motions. Like something is missing, even if you can't quite name it. Therapy can help you slow down, get curious, and rediscover what lights you up and gives your life more direction and meaning.
-
From navigating current romantic relationships, to being single and the challenges of online dating or meeting someone new, or needing support with friendships or family or even co-workers.
-
You may be grieving a person, a relationship, or a version of your life you thought you'd have. Grief doesn't follow a timeline, and it doesn't always look the way people expect. Therapy can offer a supportive space to feel and process whatever you need to.
-
Finances can be a stressful topic for many people. The beliefs we carry about money are often ones we inherited. Therapy can help you explore your beliefs around finances and rewrite them if they are no longer serving you.
-
You may have had a profound or challenging plant medicine experience and aren't sure what to do with it. Therapy can help you make sense of what arose, integrate the insights, and carry them meaningfully into your everyday life. I do not provide psychedelic-assisted therapy.
What is Trauma?
Trauma isn’t just defined by an event that happens - it’s the intense overload of physical and sensory experience our bodies carry in response to the event. Trauma can disrupt our sense of wholeness. When an experience is overwhelming, the mind and body shift into survival mode, and parts of us may disconnect or go into hiding in order to cope. You might notice this as feeling unlike yourself, stuck in certain patterns, emotionally numb or unable to control your emotions, on edge, or pulled in different directions internally. These responses aren’t signs that something is wrong with you — they are protective adaptations that help you survive. In trauma-informed, embodied counselling, we gently work to reconnect the parts of you that had to fragment, helping your nervous system feel safe enough to integrate those experiences so you can feel more whole, more present, and more free in your life. Integration does not mean excusing horrible events that happen to us, but it is about feeling more capable of sitting with those experiences.
What is Somatic Body Centred Therapy?
Somatic therapy includes the body as an essential part of the healing process. When we experience stress or trauma, our nervous system can become stuck in survival responses such as fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown, and those responses may not fully complete. This can leave you feeling tense, anxious, numb, reactive, or constantly on edge.
Somatic therapy gently brings awareness to physical sensations and nervous system patterns, creating the safety needed for those unfinished responses to resolve and settle.
How somatic work can help
The body knows before the brain. The body is also intelligent at shutting down to protect us so we don’t feel anything. Or maybe we feel too much. Either way, somatic therapy can help you get to know your own body, have new empowering experiences and learn your body’s cues to help you navigate life with more ease.
Somatic Therapy is also effective for trauma. Talk therapy is important, but for some people, it is not enough. If you feel like you’ve tried talk therapy and still are not feeling better, you may want to try somatic work.
As your body experiences that it is no longer in danger, you can experience less overwhelm, more ease, and a greater capacity to move through life with confidence and resilience.
I’d love to meet you
I promise only essential emails will be sent to your inbox. You can also email me directly at amy@inbodycounselling.com. I work out of an integrative health clinic in Yaletown called BNFTS and online across Canada.
Location
BNFTS Integrative Health Clinic
#400- 1168 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC, V6B 2S2
Hours
Monday–Friday
See booking page for counselling hours
Phone
TBD