The following counselling practicum students are currently providing sliding scale counselling:
Sliding scale rates are $25 - $65 per hour for individual sessions, or $40- $120 per hour for family or couples sessions (including GST)
Hours: Sundays 12 pm - 6 pm
Location: By phone, video or in person at the Collaborative Space at 207 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
Please email samkaplan@expressivewellness.ca to inquire about connecting with one of these practicum students
All practicum students are provided with weekly clinical supervision by Luisa Ospina and Sam Kaplan, as well as engage in peer and school based supervision, while completing their masters in counselling education.
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Pin Han Hsu (she/her/hers)
Pin is providing counselling sessions on Mondays and Tuesdays online and in-person,
from March-September
Pin is a student counsellor completing her Master of Counselling degree from City University of Seattle. She is a cisgender, queer, Taiwanese, settler living on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples – səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam) Nations. As a student migrant from Taiwan, Pin holds a framework of multiculturalism and intersectionality to support individuals experiencing layers of systematic oppression such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, class and culture.
Pin is passionate about providing anti-oppressive and nonjudgmental care to marginalized individuals including, but not limited to, people in the LGBTQ2S+ communities, immigrants, people who use substances, and survivors of domestic violence. She provides services in English, Mandarin, and Taiwanese.
Pin’s approach to therapy is person-centered, strengths-based, and trauma-informed. She strongly believes that you are the expert of your own experiences and that her role is to guide and support you through the therapeutic process. Pin collaborates with her clients to find the integrative therapeutic approach that best meets their needs.
Pin recognizes your vulnerability and is honoured to walk alongside with you. She aims to meet you where you are at and offer a safe and confidential space in your journey. She looks forward to meeting with you.
Pin is providing counselling sessions on Mondays and Tuesdays online and in-person,
from March-September
Pin is a student counsellor completing her Master of Counselling degree from City University of Seattle. She is a cisgender, queer, Taiwanese, settler living on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples – səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam) Nations. As a student migrant from Taiwan, Pin holds a framework of multiculturalism and intersectionality to support individuals experiencing layers of systematic oppression such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, class and culture.
Pin is passionate about providing anti-oppressive and nonjudgmental care to marginalized individuals including, but not limited to, people in the LGBTQ2S+ communities, immigrants, people who use substances, and survivors of domestic violence. She provides services in English, Mandarin, and Taiwanese.
Pin’s approach to therapy is person-centered, strengths-based, and trauma-informed. She strongly believes that you are the expert of your own experiences and that her role is to guide and support you through the therapeutic process. Pin collaborates with her clients to find the integrative therapeutic approach that best meets their needs.
Pin recognizes your vulnerability and is honoured to walk alongside with you. She aims to meet you where you are at and offer a safe and confidential space in your journey. She looks forward to meeting with you.
Christie Ma
Christie is completing practicum from March till December. They will be providing online and telephone sessions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Christie is a student art therapist in training at the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute. They are a non-binary, queer, and multiethnic Hong Kong-Canadian settler living on the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish,) and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. Christie grew up in Hong Kong, and has lived in the UK and US as well.
Christie’s healing philosophy envisions global and collective liberation from systems of oppression. As a visual and performance artist, they engage the arts as a way to access and tangibly contend with trauma, feelings, and experiences held in our bodies. They seek to integrate somatic movement, expressive arts and body-mind work into their practice to safely explore in taking up space on one’s own terms.
Christie is passionate about anti-oppressive and decolonial care work for neurodivergent QTIBIPoC, diasporic/displaced folx, and survivors of violence. They practice through an intersectional and transnational feminist lens, and incorporate trauma-informed, culturally sensitive, and person-centred approaches. They have experience working with themes of identity, trauma, anxiety, depression, survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence, and suicidal ideation.
Christie enjoys strength and mobility training, forests by the ocean, cooking without recipes, and dancing to moody music playlists. They seek to connect with you where you are at, and offer a collaborative therapeutic experience that honours your ways of knowing.
Christie is completing practicum from March till December. They will be providing online and telephone sessions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Christie is a student art therapist in training at the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute. They are a non-binary, queer, and multiethnic Hong Kong-Canadian settler living on the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish,) and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. Christie grew up in Hong Kong, and has lived in the UK and US as well.
Christie’s healing philosophy envisions global and collective liberation from systems of oppression. As a visual and performance artist, they engage the arts as a way to access and tangibly contend with trauma, feelings, and experiences held in our bodies. They seek to integrate somatic movement, expressive arts and body-mind work into their practice to safely explore in taking up space on one’s own terms.
Christie is passionate about anti-oppressive and decolonial care work for neurodivergent QTIBIPoC, diasporic/displaced folx, and survivors of violence. They practice through an intersectional and transnational feminist lens, and incorporate trauma-informed, culturally sensitive, and person-centred approaches. They have experience working with themes of identity, trauma, anxiety, depression, survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence, and suicidal ideation.
Christie enjoys strength and mobility training, forests by the ocean, cooking without recipes, and dancing to moody music playlists. They seek to connect with you where you are at, and offer a collaborative therapeutic experience that honours your ways of knowing.
Lau (she, her, hers) will be providing in-person counselling on Saturdays, and online counselling Monday and Wednesday evenings. Her practicum goes from May until December.
Hello!
My name is Lau, and I’m a student currently working towards a Masters of Social Work through Wilfrid Laurier University. I’m a white, cisgender queer femme (she/her) of British and Russian Jewish background living on the stolen lands of the səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam) Nations. I grew up between small-town BC and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I have been a youth worker for the past 12 years.
I currently work in the health and education systems to support young people to make choices that are healthy for them, and to feel resourced in building strong relationships and community connections. I have worked with LGBT2SQ+ youth for many years, as well as Indigenous families, folks who use substances, and folks who are experiencing anxiety, depression, relationship violence, and self-harm.
My work is relationship focused, and I believe in working collaboratively with you, since you are the expert in your own life! I hope to create a space where I can help you to help yourself, and co-create opportunities for healing, growth, and liberation. I strive to work from a harm-reduction and trauma-informed approach. I’m excited to work with both youth and adults.
My work is deeply informed by intersectional anti-oppression, and I recognize the learning I have done from BIPoC women/trans/nonbinary folks. I strive to center social justice and decolonization in my practices, but I recognize that this is ongoing work of unlearning and listening. Hopefully this is something we can work on together.
In my personal life I love to sing in choirs, garden, cook, ride my bike, and laugh with my most loved folks. I’m excited to meet you!
Hello!
My name is Lau, and I’m a student currently working towards a Masters of Social Work through Wilfrid Laurier University. I’m a white, cisgender queer femme (she/her) of British and Russian Jewish background living on the stolen lands of the səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam) Nations. I grew up between small-town BC and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I have been a youth worker for the past 12 years.
I currently work in the health and education systems to support young people to make choices that are healthy for them, and to feel resourced in building strong relationships and community connections. I have worked with LGBT2SQ+ youth for many years, as well as Indigenous families, folks who use substances, and folks who are experiencing anxiety, depression, relationship violence, and self-harm.
My work is relationship focused, and I believe in working collaboratively with you, since you are the expert in your own life! I hope to create a space where I can help you to help yourself, and co-create opportunities for healing, growth, and liberation. I strive to work from a harm-reduction and trauma-informed approach. I’m excited to work with both youth and adults.
My work is deeply informed by intersectional anti-oppression, and I recognize the learning I have done from BIPoC women/trans/nonbinary folks. I strive to center social justice and decolonization in my practices, but I recognize that this is ongoing work of unlearning and listening. Hopefully this is something we can work on together.
In my personal life I love to sing in choirs, garden, cook, ride my bike, and laugh with my most loved folks. I’m excited to meet you!
Lien Dilewijns (she/her/hers)
Lien will be providing online counselling sessions from April till September
My name is Lien (Lynne) and I'm currently a student at City University of Seattle completing my master's in counselling psychology. I am a white, straight, cisgender Belgian settler living on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, which includes the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō, and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. I have experience in working with indigenous youth and addiction, individuals experiencing domestic violence, and folk struggling with anxiety, depression, and self-harm. I value allyship with 2SLGBTQ+ community.
I use a mindfulness, trauma informed, and harm reduction approach. I am also greatly interested in nature and mindfulness and how they can play an interconnected role in one's mental health. I love bringing aspects of these two environments into my counselling space to provide a calm, healing space where people can feel safe to grow.
Outside of counselling, I have a great passion for photography, animals of all shapes and sizes, travelling to new places, and going walks in my neighbourhood.
Lien will be providing online counselling sessions from April till September
My name is Lien (Lynne) and I'm currently a student at City University of Seattle completing my master's in counselling psychology. I am a white, straight, cisgender Belgian settler living on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, which includes the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō, and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. I have experience in working with indigenous youth and addiction, individuals experiencing domestic violence, and folk struggling with anxiety, depression, and self-harm. I value allyship with 2SLGBTQ+ community.
I use a mindfulness, trauma informed, and harm reduction approach. I am also greatly interested in nature and mindfulness and how they can play an interconnected role in one's mental health. I love bringing aspects of these two environments into my counselling space to provide a calm, healing space where people can feel safe to grow.
Outside of counselling, I have a great passion for photography, animals of all shapes and sizes, travelling to new places, and going walks in my neighbourhood.
Angel Sukkau (she/her/hers)
Providing in person counselling on Fridays from March-September
Waitlist for new clients at this time
Angel is a student counsellor completing her Master of Counselling degree at City University of Seattle. She is a cisgender, queer, Egyptian-Canadian settler living on the stolen homelands of the the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), Qayqayt (Key-Kite), Stz'uminus (Sha-main-us), S'ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwee-Kwet-Lum) Nations. Angel was born and raised in British Columbia and has been working towards a career in counselling for the past six years.
Angel believes in supporting folx through hardships and growth and believes her work is best described as helping people help themselves. She has worked with marginalized individuals including, but not limited to, LGBTQ2S+ folx, Indigenous peoples, sex workers, and people who use substances. She approaches counselling from a harm reduction, anti-oppressive, trauma informed lens and utilizes a collaborative approach integrating a variety of techniques from theories including person-centred, narrative, and adlerian as well as others.
Angel is passionate about the outdoors, music, art, and writing and would love to incorporate these forms of expression into her practice if they resonate with you. She seeks to understand your perspectives and meet you where you are at so she can provide counselling best suited to your unique needs and goals. She is looking forward to meeting with you in person.
Please email samkaplan@expressivewellness.ca or hello@luisa-ospina.com to inquire more!
Emily is a narrative therapist in training with the Dulwich Centre for Narrative Therapy*. She is a mostly-cis, queer, becoming-Jewish, disabled white settler with unknown maternal ancestry and English/Scottish paternal ancestry. She is currently living and working on unceded ancestral Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc lands. She was born and grew up on unceded Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Watuth lands.
Emily’s practice is rooted in surviving and thriving in resistance to colonial structures and systems. As a narrative practitioner, she works collaboratively with people she is in conversation with, in accordance with the drafted Charter of Storytelling Rights. She continues to learn from proletarian feminists and Black and Indigenous abolitionists about decolonizing therapy and moving towards narrative justice.
Emily has life experience in and near chronic illness and disability, difficulty eating, sex work, kink, anxiety and depression, identity evolvement, dysphoria and trans healthcare, non-monogamy and alternative family/relationship structures, collective cultures, and navigating grief and loss. She is particularly interested in community knowledges and skills, restorying narratives of productivity and rest, and resigning from normality.
In her personal life, Emily dives into gardening, building things, cooking good nourishing food and braiding challah, painting, and writing letters. She misses the ocean but loves the sky. She is so looking forward to meeting you.
Emily’s practice is rooted in surviving and thriving in resistance to colonial structures and systems. As a narrative practitioner, she works collaboratively with people she is in conversation with, in accordance with the drafted Charter of Storytelling Rights. She continues to learn from proletarian feminists and Black and Indigenous abolitionists about decolonizing therapy and moving towards narrative justice.
Emily has life experience in and near chronic illness and disability, difficulty eating, sex work, kink, anxiety and depression, identity evolvement, dysphoria and trans healthcare, non-monogamy and alternative family/relationship structures, collective cultures, and navigating grief and loss. She is particularly interested in community knowledges and skills, restorying narratives of productivity and rest, and resigning from normality.
In her personal life, Emily dives into gardening, building things, cooking good nourishing food and braiding challah, painting, and writing letters. She misses the ocean but loves the sky. She is so looking forward to meeting you.
Stephany Blandino (she, her, hers)
Steph is nearing the end of her practicum and not taking new clients
Hello! I am a student counsellor completing my degree in the Master of Counselling program through City University of Seattle. I am a cisgender, queer, Latinx, settler woman living on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, which includes the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō, and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
I see counselling as an opportunity to walk beside folks, co-creating safety and dignity as they navigate their healing journeys and call in their own wisdom. I believe my role is one of facilitating and collaborating, and that each client brings their own expertise, gifts, and the seeds for resilience.
My offerings are informed by intersectional feminism and rooted in the belief that this work can be deeply liberatory. I want to affirm folks as they dream of new possibilities and collect the tools to enact the changes they seek.
I am deeply passionate about anti-oppressive work, and the ways counselling and social justice fuel and inform each other. Both in my counselling work and in my personal life, I aim to centre justice and equity, and hold space for individual and community healing. I would like to develop my practice to include somatic work, supporting folks as they ask themselves “what does my body hold onto?” and explore how they can embody resilience.
I am grateful to be a part of Vancouver’s practitioner community and to walk alongside folks in their unique journeys. In my spare time, I enjoy being in the ocean or lakes, making playlists for all my moods, and spending time in my neighbourhood.
Jennifer Hamer
Jennifer is nearing the end of her practicum and not taking new clients
Hello, I am a student counsellor and Master of Counselling Psychology candidate with Yorkville University, in the final stages of my degree. I was born in Northern England, emigrated to Canada with my family as a child, and now live, work and raise my children on Galiano Island which is on the unceded traditional territories of the Lamalcha, Penelekut, and Hwlitsum First Nations, other Hul’q’umin’um’ speaking peoples, and the ceded territory of the Tsawwassen First Nation.
I believe that the role of the counsellor is one of facilitation and collaboration. I practice from a trauma-informed, person-centered perspective and believe in aiding people in developing and mastering the skills they need to flourish and make the shifts they seek in their own lives. I have a love of art and music and am interested in integrating this into my counselling practice. I am interested in working alongside whole families, neurodiversity, 2SLGBTTQQIAAP folks, and people in a variety of relationship structures. I aim towards an anti-oppressive framework and welcome feedback and further learning during our work together.
I currently facilitate a family drop-in center serving families with children from birth – 5 years old. Additionally, my experience includes working with people recovering from eating disorders, supporting individuals with problematic substance use, and people who have experienced violence and abuse.
I look forward to meeting you and further discussing the possibility of working together.
I will be co-supervised by two counsellors, Luisa Ospina and Sam Kaplan, during my practicum in order to support my own work as an emerging counsellor.
Jennifer is nearing the end of her practicum and not taking new clients
Hello, I am a student counsellor and Master of Counselling Psychology candidate with Yorkville University, in the final stages of my degree. I was born in Northern England, emigrated to Canada with my family as a child, and now live, work and raise my children on Galiano Island which is on the unceded traditional territories of the Lamalcha, Penelekut, and Hwlitsum First Nations, other Hul’q’umin’um’ speaking peoples, and the ceded territory of the Tsawwassen First Nation.
I believe that the role of the counsellor is one of facilitation and collaboration. I practice from a trauma-informed, person-centered perspective and believe in aiding people in developing and mastering the skills they need to flourish and make the shifts they seek in their own lives. I have a love of art and music and am interested in integrating this into my counselling practice. I am interested in working alongside whole families, neurodiversity, 2SLGBTTQQIAAP folks, and people in a variety of relationship structures. I aim towards an anti-oppressive framework and welcome feedback and further learning during our work together.
I currently facilitate a family drop-in center serving families with children from birth – 5 years old. Additionally, my experience includes working with people recovering from eating disorders, supporting individuals with problematic substance use, and people who have experienced violence and abuse.
I look forward to meeting you and further discussing the possibility of working together.
I will be co-supervised by two counsellors, Luisa Ospina and Sam Kaplan, during my practicum in order to support my own work as an emerging counsellor.