It’s your first therapy session. You’re sitting on a chair in a room with fluorescent lighting, facing someone you don’t know (yet) and suddenly, opening up about the heaviest aspects of your life doesn’t seem like such a great idea.
That’s the old way.
The good news is, the therapy landscape has changed a lot over the last decade, and today’s world of alternative therapy includes approaches that weave together modalities like EFT tapping, equine therapy, somatic counselling, Hakomi, Attachment Theory, Neuro-Linguistics, Breathwork and even yoga!
Let’s just say, you’ve got options.
Here are seven unique and beautiful approaches to alternative therapy that our team has either tried ourselves, or have been hearing great things about.
somatic coaching with eft tapping – carla dawes
As a certified Emotional Success Coach and Accredited EFT practitioner, Carla’s mission is to help women reignite their spark and consciously create the life they truly want. She supports her clients with everything from making a job shift, to shifting out of the patterns that have been keeping them stuck. Her coaching centres around working with emotions — our most profound teachers — to help her clients recognize their core patterns, quiet the inner critic, and move forward with great ease.
energy focused counselling – jacqui lepoureau
With over 25 years of experience, Jacqui’s approach combines the traditional aspects of counselling with energy work and nervous system regulation. Therapy can feel overwhelming to some of us. Jacqui’s approach starts with allowing the body to settle into safety, so that you can access stored emotion, reflect on past experiences and integrate insights in a grounded way. She works with the clients’ whole self — physical, mental and spiritual — incorporating healing practices such as Reiki and Access Bars to support body awareness and deeper insights.
counselling with horses – river haven farm
Owned by Equine Facilitator and Certified xChange Guide Lynn Moseley, River Haven Farm offers counselling sessions for teens and adults supported by the healing power of horses. Horses have a unique ability to reflect our emotions, gently nudging us to shed any blocks that prevent us from expressing our true selves, which help us access deeper authenticity and truth. Led by a team of experienced therapists, the counselling sessions at River Haven offer a truly therapeutic setting held by the wisdom of the animals.
somatic therapy – kristen mccarthy
A clinical counsellor, somatic therapist and yoga teacher based in Vancouver, BC, Kristen incorporates both eastern and western approaches in her sessions. Her approach acknowledges that while it’s important to be able to comprehend our experiences intellectually through talk therapy, real shifts also require an understanding of the the ways that stress is stored in the body, so that it can be processed and released somatically.
soul healing and energy clearing – angela prider
As a Family Systems Counsellor and shaman for over 25 years, Angela offers private somatic counselling ceremonies designed to help you navigate life transitions, clear emotional heaviness and illuminate your pathway forward. Angela begins each ceremony with Cacao, weaves in somatic counselling practices, and offers shamanic and sound healing to clear heavy energies. You will then lay in stillness, listening to the sound of the sacred Unity Horse Drum and finally close with an optional Rapéh ceremony to integrate your experience. Options available for individuals or couples.
relationship and family counselling – nasreen gulamhusein
As a Master Therapeutic Counsellor, Nasreen has spent the last 12 years helping individuals and couples find and consistently return to what freedom feels like to them. She is educated in modalities such as Attachment Theory, Bowen Family Systems Theory and Neuro-Linguistic Programming all to support her clients in maintaining steadiness, faith and resilience through moments of uncertainty. She’s a beloved therapist based in Port Moody.
hakomi therapy – tai hubbert
Hakomi Therapy is a mindfulness-based healing modality that helps you discover unconscious beliefs and patterns that affect different aspects of your life. Tai’s sessions, described by clients as “medicine for the soul”, are designed to help you inquire deep within yourself in expanded states of awareness to find pathways that may not be able from an intellectual perspective. You will explore core programming — that is early experiences that shape how you see the world — so that it can be seen, supported and healed.
