About Laura

Hi, I’m Laura.

My passion for optimal health and well-being initially led me into a 10-year career as a personal trainer and a karate instructor in which I was privileged to support people’s journey toward healthier, more active lifestyles. Yet, as I worked with both my karate students and my adult clients, I soon noticed much of my coaching also involved overcoming mental health challenges and barriers. In those moments, I discovered how helpful and healing it could be simply to give someone my full attention and really ‘see’ them as a whole person.

This exciting discovery inspired me to further my undergraduate degree in psychology with a post-graduate diploma in Addictions Treatment and Prevention, a Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology and registration as a clinical counsellor (RCC) with the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors.

My goal as a counsellor is to create a warm, fully attentive, and non-judgmental space where individuals of all ages as well as couples, can safely process difficult emotions, develop new perspectives, and reconnect with what brings fulfilment to life. My experience in providing mental health services focuses on trauma recovery, managing anxiety, and stress, alleviating difficulties with depression and mood concerns, addictions, and supporting clients in navigating relationship challenges. My approach to counselling centres on strengthening resilience and finding freedom from what holds us back, utilizing a trauma-informed and strengths-based lens, and involving several methods including Internal Family Systems, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Integrative Behavioural Couple Therapy.

My husband, and I moved to Abbotsford in 2020 from Ontario to be closer to our children and to pursue my other passion for hiking and backpacking in the mountains of beautiful British Columbia.