North Talk Counselling
Hi, I'm Sarah (she/her) & welcome to my practice.
Registered Clinical Counsellor (#12933)
MA Counselling Psychology
About Sarah
I have been practicing as a Registered Clinical Counsellor for over 8 years working in various settings including education, non-profit, and private practice. No matter what setting I work in, I’m always driven to connect and support people from a nonjudgmental and compassionate stance.
I do not believe that humans are pathological nor do we engage in inherently pathological behaviour – we do things for a reason. Over time and through challenging situations, we tend to learn and enact strategies to cope that may have once been useful but for a variety of reasons, they become problematic. It can be helpful to gain insight into how and why we developed these strategies and learn how to make changes so that we can respond more adaptively and flexibly to our environment. I truly believe that to make desired changes, we must first understand and have compassion for ourselves. It is only then that we can have the space to identify the direction we want to move in and be open and willing to make changes that align with our internal values.
"Connect to your internal compass and move towards your values."
My Approach
I am passionate about working from intersectional-feminist and anti-oppressive approaches. What does this mean? It means recognizing the harmful oppressive systems that impact us all in order to minimize self-blame while identifying forms of resistance that can be enacted to help you follow your true North to live a life in alignment with your values.
I work alongside clients through a collaborative approach offering perspectives and strategies from Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), trauma-processing, EMDR, feminist therapy, queer theory, mindfulness, and self-compassion. I am sex-positive as well LGBTQIA2S+ welcoming and supporting.
My goal is to help you create links between the insights you gain through counselling to effective behaviour change that can translate across all aspects of your life so that you can get the most out of our time together.
- Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Trauma Informed Care
- Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy
- Intersectional Feminist Therapy
- Queer Theory
- Mindfulness
- Self-Compassion
- Anxiety & Stress
- Body Image
- Depression & Low Mood
- Goal Setting
- Life Changes & Transitions
- Self Worth
- Sexual Identity & Gender Expression
- Sexual Violence
- Trauma & Complex Trauma
- Relationship Issues & Communication (Individual)
I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors. I completed a MA in Counselling Psychology from Simon Fraser University in 2015. As part of my education, I completed a Master’s Thesis exploring the inequity queer women face while accessing safe and appropriate sexual healthcare.
Who Am I?
I was one of those rare kids who knew exactly what they wanted to be when they grew up, in my case – a Counsellor. I was always drawn to helping and standing up for people. I also had the privilege of being exposed to my own individual and family counselling from a young age. I’ll never forget sitting across from my Counsellor as a kid with tears in my eyes asking her if I could be a Counsellor when I needed counselling myself (ha! If only I knew then what I know now!)
I grew up privileged in many ways as a white, able-bodied, educated, financially secure, neuro-typical, cis-gender woman. My siblings and I were raised in a blended-family between two homes. I went through normal ups and downs through childhood, adolescence, and young-adulthood punctuated by more challenging situations and trauma.
Family has always been incredibly important to me and in 2020 my partner and I welcomed our daughter. Motherhood has taught me a lot and I’ve experienced my own struggles (as well as a lot of fulfilment!) raising a “spirited” young child. My own relationship history in a queer relationship that lasted many years gave me personal experience in coming-out in a heteronormative context while experiencing the realities of being a sexual minority. I’ve struggled through the confines of heteronormativity and binary stances as I’ve navigated my fluid sexuality. I have found queer theory to be particularly helpful and healing in my own journey and I am passionate about sharing this approach with others – queer theory, like intersectional-feminism, benefits everyone!
Outside of work you can find me with my family at the beach, on the local mountains, biking, camping (realistically 1-2 times a year), and doing all the real and boring life admin tasks like grocery shopping and laundry.
Let's Connect
Available from 9:00AM – 5:00PM
Address Downtown Vancouver
Email sarah@northtalk.ca