Serena is a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC), offering online and in-person counselling in Vancouver BC. She offers couples and individual counselling to adults and youth 12-19. If what you are struggling with feels too much or overwhelming, Serena is there to support you in her naturally warm and empathic approach. As a therapist, she is integrative and relational. Identity wise, Serena is a person of colour and a member of the LGBTQ2S+ and chronic illness community. Serena pulls from methods that aim to both acknowledge one’s experience of pain while encouraging to make the changes you seek. Specifically, this includes theories such as ACT, DBT, and IFS for individuals along with Gottman and EFT for couples. I will also utilize imagery, psychoeducation, somatic movement, metaphors, and humour along the way to help explore historical stories, set goals, and support you moving in the direction you wish to go.

Our work can look like building psychological flexibility, learning how to change relational dynamics, grappling with the ongoing distress of grief, co-creating ways to
handle anger safely, navigating a complicated diagnosis, letting go of the pressure to be perfect, exploring the parts of you that are holding you back, and more. While no topic is off limits, I especially love to work with clients navigating their relationships, grief, chronic illness and/or pain, intergenerational trauma, family strife, perfectionism, self-esteem, depression, loneliness, anxiety, anger, neurodivergence, and life transitions.

Maya Angelou said that “there is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Together we can unpack your story, find the points causing you distress – internally and externally, provide you coping strategies, build new patterns, and set you on the path forward you seek, When not in the therapy office, you can find me dancing and choreographing, trying out a recipe in the kitchen, delving into a new book, escaping into the outdoors, spending time with loved ones, photographing the world around me, and enjoying a sweet treat (or two).

Registration

Registered Clinical Counsellor #25576, BC Association of Clinical Counsellors

Education

Master of Counselling with President’s Honors from City University

Bachelor of Arts, Sociology Major and Psychology Minor, with Distinction from the University of Victoria

Training in Early Recollections and Life Tasks from Adler Centre

Certified in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training and Mental Health First Aid

Gottman Method Couples Therapy Level 1

Complex Trauma Certification Training Level 1

Sex Practitioner Therapy Certification