The following counselling practicum students are currently providing sliding scale counselling:
Rates for student counsellor services:
50 minute individual session: $25-75
75 minute individual session: $35-100
50 minute relationship or family session: $50-125
75 minute relationship or family session: $60-150
Hours: See individual bios for working hours
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 clinical supervision by Luisa Ospina and Sam Kaplan, as well as engage in peer and school based supervision, while completing their counselling education.
New practicum students are joining in Jan. 2022- bios pending.
Bréa's practicum is from January 2022-August 2022. Let us know if you would like to be connected once Bréa starts.
Bréa will be providing in person and online counselling. Bréa (she/her) is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology at Yorkville University. She is an able-bodied, cisgender, and biracial woman of mixed ancestry born and raised on the unceded and stolen territories of the səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam) Nations. As a certified trauma-informed yoga teacher, prenatal yoga teacher, and full-spectrum doula, Bréa is passionate about supporting marginalized folks experiencing trauma, grief, anxiety, depression, and life transitions. Bréa commits to an anti-oppressive, collaborative, and intersectional approach grounded in critical race theory and social justice. She draws from Person-Centered Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy, Attachment-Based Therapy, Existential Therapy, and Narrative Therapy. You can expect Bréa to offer a non-judgmental and empathic space to safely navigate the totality of your humanness and reclaim your right to be holistically supported. 
Lina's practicum is from January 2022-August 2022. Let us know if you would like to be connected once Lina starts.
Providing online counselling, as well as in person counselling on Fridays from 9:00 am-1:30 pm My name is Lina (she/her) and I am a neurodivergent, queer, disabled, and bicultural individual living and working on the stolen lands of the səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam) Nations. Intersectional inclusivity is an important part of my practice and I aim to co-create with you a comfortable therapeutic space that prioritizes authenticity, empowerment, and curiosity. My practice is focused on anti-oppressive and trauma-informed care for marginalized individuals including, but not limited to, BIPOC, neurodivergent, 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, immigrants, and poly communities. My values best align with person-centred and humanistic approaches as I believe clients are the experts of their own life. It is my honour to take the role of a supportive co-collaborator alongside my clients on their healing journey. As a certified yoga and movement teacher, I seek to integrate mindfulness and somatic techniques to deepen the mind-body connection. I believe understanding how we hold emotions and trauma in the body is an important part of the therapeutic process. Additionally, I have a strong dedication to supporting the neurodivergent community, as I have a first-hand understanding of the inaccessibility of the society we live in. I continually work to dismantle my own internalized ableism and address dominant narratives around disability. I aim to help neurodivergent clients identify and work with their individual needs surrounding sensory overstimulation or understimulation, executive functioning, emotional regulation, meltdowns, and shutdowns. In my personal life, I enjoy gardening, playing with my 2 cats and 1 dog, doing yoga, and consuming any and all sci-fi media! I look forward to connecting with you. 
Katherine (she/they) Providing in person counselling on Wednesdays from 9:00 am-1:30 pm Online counselling Mondays from 1:00-6:00 pm and Thursdays from 6:00-7:00 pm Practicum is from November-August 2022 Katherine (she/they) is an able-bodied, cisgender settler on the traditional, unceded, and occupied lands of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Watuth and Squamish peoples from Hong Kong with non-binary, anti-racist and anti-capitalist values. Proud to be a woman of colour who defies the idea of normativity and an advocate for understanding our emotions, Katherine privileges the Intersectionality in people. Katherine translates emotions into articulated experience with deconstructive conversations, appreciative inquiry, creative concept & visualization. Experienced in interdisciplinary expressions and critical thinking, her therapeutic style incorporates Motivational Interviewing with Intersectional Feminist-Narrative x Somatic techniques, led with a trauma- and systems-informed approach, social justice and radical acceptance values. She is a graduate of the Feminist Narrative Immersion program at ProChoices Community Therapy Clinic and is currently pursuing a Master of Counselling degree at City University of Seattle in "Canada". She has completed Clinical Hypnosis Skills for Health Professionals, level 1 with the Canadian Society of Clinical Hypnosis (BC Division) and the course Dying and Death: Conversations and Reflections at Simon Fraser University. 
Beth d’Aoust (she/her/hers)
Providing in-person counselling on Sundays from 1:45pm-6:30-pm. Online counselling Tuesdays from 4:00pm-6:15 pm. Practicum is from November-August 2022 Beth is a white, queer, disabled, straight-sized, cisgender settler living and working on traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. Beth spent the past six years teaching high school English, and after feeling her priorities shift away from academia and toward her students’ mental health, self-regulation abilities, and general wellbeing, she was drawn toward the more intimate 1:1 setting of the counselling space. Beth offers an accessible, collaborative, client-centred, anti-oppressive, and trauma-informed approach to counselling for individuals (adults and youth), families, and those seeking relationship counselling. Beth is firmly committed to the ongoing process of unlearning involved in decolonization and her practice is heavily informed by systems thinking, intersectional feminism, harm reduction, non-binary values, queer theory, attachment theory, and somatics. Beth has lived experience in and near chronic illness and disability, traumatic brain injury, anxiety and depression, addictions, religious trauma, intergenerational trauma, self-esteem, burnout, sexualized violence, grief and loss, non-monogamy and alternative relationship structures, and relationship endings. Beth has been studying nervous system regulation, interpersonal neurobiology, polyvagal theory, and epigenetics in her free time for the past five years. Throughout this time, she has also trained extensively in Conscious Connected Breathwork facilitation, Hakomi Therapy, and Bioenergetics with Numa Somatics. In January, 2021, Beth handed over her English classroom, and dove into a full-time Master of Counselling degree at City University of Seattle’s “Vancouver” campus, in the interest of blending her passions and expanding her offerings. In her personal life, Beth is a lover of singing, dancing, laughing, reading, painting, cooking for loved ones, taking rainy forest walks, tending to her many plants, and soaking up sunshine whenever possible. She loves connecting with new people, facilitating collaborative and empowering experiences, and providing a tender, validating witness to folks as they process their lived experiences. Beth is so looking forward to working with you! 
Christie Ma
Christie is completing practicum from till January 2022. They are providing online and telephone sessions on Mondays and Tuesdays. *Currently full- waitlist available for BIPOC clients. 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. 
Maryanne Wong (she/they)
Providing online counselling sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and in-person counselling on Saturdays with those that are double vaccinated. * Currently Full, contact to be added to their waitlist Maryanne is also a Registered Social Worker and folks whose extended health benefits cover Social Workers can claim appointment costs with Maryanne. Sometimes we need a place where we can kick off our shoes, speak our minds plainly, and work through difficult situations, thoughts, and feelings. I strive to create a space grounded in respect, empathy, and curiosity; we will work together to co-create a space that works for you. I’m Maryanne (she/they), a student counsellor completing a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Victoria. I’m a queer, second-generation Chinese Canadian, born and raised as an uninvited settler on unceded territories of the səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam) Nations. I’ve been a registered social worker since 2012, providing counselling and social work services for a wide range of folks including members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities (with a soft spot in my heart for other QTBIPoC), folks with disabilities, immigrants, and members of kink and poly communities. I have experience in a number of areas including navigating multiple group memberships (e.g. sexuality and cultural minority; gender and disability); self-esteem, anxiety, depression; adjustment to changes in ability, life transitions, end-of-life planning, and caregiver burnout. As a queer, bicultural kid with both lived and professional experience, my perspective is informed by an intersectional social justice lens. I approach my counselling work with a collaborative, inquisitive spirit and trauma-aware, harm-reduction approach. When I’m not working with clients I enjoy snuggling with my small fluffy dog, choreographing dances, introducing friends to dim sum, and toodling on the seawall with my Beloved. I look forward to connecting with you. I am currently offering in-person services for folks who have been double vaccinated. Virtual and phone services are available for individuals who have not received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. |
Emily Salja (she/her/hers)
Providing online counselling Mondays-Fridays from 11:00am-8:00 pm
* Currently Full, contact to be added to her waitlist
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.
Providing online counselling Mondays-Fridays from 11:00am-8:00 pm
* Currently Full, contact to be added to her waitlist
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.
Lau (she, her, hers) will be providing in-person counselling on Monday evenings, and online counselling Wednesdays and Saturdays. Her practicum goes from til February 2021.
* Currently Full, contact to be added to her waitlist
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!
* Currently Full, contact to be added to her waitlist
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!