(She/Her/Hers) M.Ed., R.C.C., C.C.C.
This imperfect moment is the entryway into everything you may want. However, when in the midst of a difficult moment people don’t often remember the potential it may hold for healing and fulfillment. Counselling, Mentorship or Supervision with Paula is an invitation to deepen your practice of wholehearted engagement with the life you have, since that is the best way to have the life you want. Therapy can guide you to practice the skillful means necessary to release habits that perpetuate dis-ease and discontent in order to transform difficult experiences into openings for creativity, healing, wisdom and fulfillment.
Mental health is not just the absence of illness; it is also the presence of wellbeing. In order to reduce undesirable symptoms while increasing the presence of desirable states of being, Paula utilizes: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, Emotion Focused Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Guided Visualization + Hypnotherapy, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy and Yoga movement.
Paula’s approach to counselling is integrative, experiential, compassionate, pragmatic and mindful. Counselling is about balancing both acceptance (of where you’re at) with (the desire for) change since both are needed for personal transformation.
The transformative power of meaningful conversations beckoned Paula from a young age. As a curious child there was nothing she relished more than being allowed to cozy-up in a corner of her grandma’s kitchen in order to witness adult conversations. It was in that kitchen that she was first introduced to a generous range of human emotions, to misunderstandings, to empathy, to self-expression, to reconciliation and to the power of human connection. What she learned was that we all need to feel heard, seen and connected with in order to find peace and purpose. She also learned not to be afraid of human emotion, no matter how loud or distressing, since emotional flow has the energy needed for healing.
As she matured, she learned to embody meaningful ways of relating with other people, with nature, and with herself. When she first read Rumi’s encouragement “let the beauty of what you love be what you do,” she knew that counselling psychology was her joy and work in the world, so she dedicated time to studying psychology and counselling first at the University of British Columbia, and then at the University of Toronto.
She took time to embody what she believes in, and worked as a counsellor at Fraser Health and in Private Practice before creating Love This Therapy. As a counselling geek who may be slightly obsessed with psychology, Paula enjoys continuing education and is committed to updating her knowledge and skill set on a yearly basis both as a counsellor and as a supervisor. She views counselling, mentorship and supervision as her fascinations, spiritual callings, and honest privileges.
“Life is full of suffering, and it is also full of the overcoming of it” – Helen Keller
“If you were to ask me how I found my way through the most difficult parts of my life, I would tell you this: I pay attention to the beauty. And by this, I mean that I have taught myself how to look for the details that makeup the delicate bones o the world around me—the things that tiptoe quietly on gentle feet, that don’t announce their presence in a loud voice” – Liezel Graham
