Find The Path By Walking It
Burnout and life fatigue
Who am I, and what are we doing here?
One of my teachers said the practice of counselling is 'getting comfortable putting your feet up in hell', and that is one way to describe my approach. We will approach your stories, experiences, insights, social locations, and internal landscapes together, and I'll support you through shifting into new ways of being with and living in the world. People report they feel supported by my accurate listening, non-judgemental approach, and being actively connected to our work together - if you're in need of a one hour blank slate/sounding board, we won't be a good fit.
My experiences as a survivor, a traveller, a parent, a neurodiverse queer person, and a writer all inform my interest and approach to life and counselling. We will draw on creative processes, bodily inquiry work, evidence based tools such as CBT, and teachings from Indigenous traditions which I use with explicit permission. My practice is relational, holistic, and body centred. I use humour, metaphor, transparency, intuition, and deep embodied connection to listen into your story and invite a deeper dive and maybe a gentle nudge into new insights and actionable changes.
I have a Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work (trauma informed practice specialization), and a Bachelors of Social Work degree, both from the University of Calgary. I am also a Registered Social Worker in good standing with the BC College of Social Workers (#14904) and the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (#844126). I hold Diplomas in Addictions Counselling and Indigenous Oriented Focusing Oriented Therapy and Complex Trauma, among other specialized trainings. I've worked in housing, public service, public health, family counselling, addictions recovery, youth mental health, outdoor education, tourism, and a whole host of other jobs which require human connection.
I work with adults and couples+ who are seeking support in the realms of grief and loss, addictions recovery, and relationship and intimacy work. I am polyamory and kink friendly and specifically invite diverse gender, erotic, and relationship issues, as well as general mental health and wellness concerns. My rates are 140/hr for individuals, 230/90 mins for couples+.
I keep limited office hours for in-person appointments in qathet/Powell River, and am available either by secure video conferencing or via telephone for remote support. Sessions may be claimable by various insurance providers under psychotherapy services.
I gratefully acknowledge that I live and work on the traditional territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Acknowledgement seems like the least I can do, and I strive to continually learn and practice ways of being in relationship with reconciliation practices.
Focusing Oriented Therapy
Focusing is a gentle, client led bodily inquiry process which creates space for inner dialogue and conscious shifts to take place. The therapist holds the space and supports the client in exploring what is coming up, in the moment, and how to integrate that knowledge.
Building Resilience and Positive Coping Skills
You are more than what has happened to you. Adversity doesn't always build resilience and time doesn't heal all wounds. The good news? You can change your mind, effort works, and you are incredibly capable, adaptable, and wired for survival. What served you in the past may not serve you now: let's find out what does.
Support and strategies to deal with complicated and grief stricken times. Living in an incredibly stressful context within multiple systems of oppression takes a personal and professional toll. We will develop meaningful and realistic plans for dealing with these real life challenges, using a variety of approaches to access emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental wellness.
Sex, Drugs, and Death.
These are short hand ways of talking about taboo topics. I welcome discussions about your hardest topics, unspoken desires, ungrieved or complicated losses. You'll find support, validation, resources, and new ways of knowing your stories.
Everyone who terrifies you is sixty-five percent water.
And everyone you love is made of stardust, and I know sometimes
you cannot even breathe deeply, and
the night sky is no home, and
you have cried yourself to sleep enough times
that you are down to your last two percent, but
nothing is infinite,
not even loss.
You are made of the sea and the stars, and one day
you are going to find yourself again.
Fin Butler
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