Elizabeth Chan

I was once told that bravery is this sensation of courage that overcomes us. It doesn’t mean that we ought to be fearless, but the contrary, really. It is born out of our desires to face our fears. I believe that we can best face our fears in trusting and allowing spaces where we are seen as we are, understood with immense compassion, and supported and encouraged with infinite patience. I believe that we need these sacred and personal spaces to really open up and be with our tough stuff. I believe that healing starts with feeling seen and feeling safe.

I believe in the process of healing connection. In my work, I function as an advocate, collaborator, and clinician. I hold space, guide, and listen with complete love and attention, while also carefully utilizing theoretically and empirically sound interventions to address issues that clients identify as problematic and/or distressing.I have immense respect for those I have journeyed with, and I am truly honoured to join clients as they process pain, overcome obstacles, and move towards increasing a sense of self-confidence and joy in daily living.

I graduated with a Masters of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Trinity Western University, and am currently working both in private practice and in non-profit community services with a broad range of clientele. I specialize in areas of acute and developmental trauma. More specifically, I have experience and expertise in working with a variety of presenting concerns including, but not limited to, emotional dysregulation, numbness and dissociation, relational conflicts and marital concerns, grief and loss, crisis, anxiety, depression, repeated childhood trauma, abuse, eating disorders and body image concerns, issues regarding one’s identity or sense of self, self-harm, and suicidality. I work across all demographics with regards to age and gender, though the majority of my work, currently, is with adult men and women.

I operate from a trauma-informed, relationally-centred approach, and have trained in a variety of research-informed therapeutic modalities including Lifespan Integration Therapy, Observed and Experiential Integration Therapy, Emotion-Focused Therapy, and Existential Analysis, a phenomenological, person-centred approach to psychotherapy developed by Alfried Längle. I have received supervision in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, Gottman Method Couples Therapy, and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. I gravitate to modalities that are somatically-oriented and attachment-focused – approaches that position the therapist to engage the whole-person of the client from a place of love and wholeness, with compassion and strength. Beyond this, I am also both interested and adept in the use of expressive arts for therapeutic purposes. I believe that incorporating creative modalities can be a part of helping clients to tell their stories well, process through their pain, identify obstacles to a good, fulfilled life, and move towards a sense of hope, healing, empowerment and strength.

I offer 50-minute sessions for $140 (GST inclusive) and 90-minute sessions for couples and families for $210 (GST inclusive). As an R.C.C., my session fees may be covered by your extended medical benefits. Please seek to confirm this with your provider prior to our session. Session fees are payable by cash, cheque, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express or e-transfer online.

In addition to my clinical practice, I am available for group counselling/process groups as well as workshops/speaking engagements in the following areas: trauma recovery; emotional awareness and regulation; mentalization and the development of self-awareness; and relationship building and communication skills. I am further available for consultation and research collaboration across various topics including relational research praxis, critical theory paradigms, identity, gender, voice and embodied personhood, spirituality, trauma and dissociation, ontological underpinnings of healing and wholeness, cross-cultural applications of psychotherapeutic practice, and community health.