What kinds of topics are covered in individual counselling?
Individual counselling can be helpful in many ways depending on the topics and goals identified with you. Some of the most common reasons our clients seek individual counselling in Vancouver are outlined here.
- Your mental health - Anxiety, ADHD, Trauma, and more
- Improve Interpersonal Relationships
- Emotional Regulation - Cope with Anger, Sadness & Fear
- Exploration of Self - Core Values & Beliefs
- Support for Life Stages & Unexpected Changes
3 easy steps
Step 1
Therapist Matcher
Let us match you with the best therapist for your needs.
Step 2
Say Hello
Connect from home for your free 15 minutes virtual call with your future therapist.
Step 3
We’ve Matched!
We will book your first session together. Begin your journey with us on this road of exploration, healing, and growth.
No more “I should probably try therapy” energy – let’s actually do it.
What sets us apart from other clinics for individual counselling in Vancouver?
- At Vancouver Counselling Clinic, we want to provide you the best mental health care we can provide, so we do not work in silos (AKA. lone-wolf) like most other counselling clinics
- We are a team of people-centric and passionate helpers, who collaborate in order to bring you the best of our solutions and treatment plans
- We work together to improve our skills and provide alternative perspectives that allow us to excel at what we do - helping people
- When you work with Vancouver Counselling Clinic, you get more than just your therapist
- You get to work with a therapist, who is receiving diverse mentorship and guidance from other trained professionals
Exploration of Self
We want to encourage you to get curious about who you are and who you want to become. These different states of self can create goals that will help clarify what skills, perspectives, and understandings we need to reach in therapy. We use self-exploration as a way to help us deepen our understanding of ourselves and build resilience. We look back on our past and seek new learnings and insights. We look at our lives today and seek opportunities to grow and heal. Topics for individual counselling can include:
Emotional regulation and emotional coping skills
Most of us did not grow up within families or communities that taught us how to listen to and regulate our emotions, particularly anger, sadness, and fearfulness. It is common for people to compartmentalise these feelings, which can create mental health issues and symptoms. If you have experienced or witnessed trauma in the past, such as sexual trauma, domestic violence, intergenerational trauma, or childhood trauma, it is normal for you to experience difficulties in coping with certain emotions.
Depression
When we feel down and hopeless about ourselves, dreading our lives, distancing ourselves from others, cocooning ourselves in isolation for extended periods, or having thoughts about death, we could be experiencing depression. Helpful skills can be fostered to improve feelings of depression. We can learn to become more aware of and shift our thought patterns, which then helps us create opportunities to lift our mood.
Multicultural identities
We specialize in working with Asian mental health in Vancouver, and welcome all cultural identities and families. Some of the culturally related issues can include filial piety, immigrant parent-child conflicts, multi-generational homes, financial anxiety, long-distance relationships, intergenerational trauma, and childhood trauma from traditional parenting.
Understanding your core values
The family we were raised in and our lived experiences form so much of our core values, which can feel like a mystery. Our values can teach us about our triggers, defensiveness, aggressiveness, and interpersonal conflicts. Sometimes, our values also perpetuate our need for control, constant need for achievement or productivity, perfectionism, and people-pleasing.
Anxiety
Worries and fears can rush through our minds taking up space, using up capacity, and bringing up emotions of anxiousness, uneasiness, insecurity, and discomfort. Learning how to cope with these patterns of thoughts and feelings can help us improve our mental health and our relationships. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of abandonment, fear of being unlovable, and fear of being unworthy are some of the most common types of anxieties people experience.
Adult ADHD
Adult ADHD encompasses the experiencing of ADHD symptoms in adults, but these symptoms may have began earlier than adulthood. ADHD tends to increase impulsivity, restlessness, reactivity, and inattentiveness. Sometimes, these symptoms create friction in interpersonal relationships as the symptoms may also be seen as inconsideration, nonchalant or indifferent behaviours, too extroverted, forgetful, and unthoughtful. When we struggle in our interpersonal relationships, it then adds to the emotional stress of worries, low-self-esteem, social anxiety, and more.
Life Stages & Changes
Teen counselling encompasses a wide range of topics, which can be helpful in guiding them towards healthy development. Teen counselling can be different from school counselling, which is more focused on your teen’s academic and emotional functioning at school. Here are a few important topics that we have had past successes with:
Romantic & Intimate Relationships
- Dating & seeking love, navigating dating apps, and more
- Exploring sexual identities, positive sex education, embracing your sexuality with your partner, and affirming LGBTQ2I+ identities
- Healing attachment wounds - Insecure avoidant attachment, Insecure ambivalent attachment, Insecure anxious attachment
- Childhood trauma - emotional dysregulation, conflict avoidance, aggressive protector, anger management, anxiousness, negative core beliefs, hurtful love
- Sexual trauma - hypersexuality, hyposexuality, intimacy difficulties, sexual relationships, risky behaviours, impulsivity
- Codependency - lack of emotional boundaries between partners
- Infidelity & Infidelity Recovery - emotional infidelity and sexual infidelity, infidelity trauma
- ADHD and relationships - dating and ADHD, how does ADHD impact my partner
Long Term Relationships & Marriage
- Healing from regrettable incidents - cheating, lying, lack of attention
- How to make up after a bad fight - making repairs
- How to fall in love again - keep the fire burning in a relationship
- How to constructively have confrontations in a relationship
- Pre-marital counselling
- Married to a narcissist or experiencing narcissistic abuse
- Discernment counselling - figuring out if you should stay or leave a relationship
Unexpected Changes, Grief & Loss
- Recent diagnosis, sudden illness, or chronic illness and chronic pain
- Bereavement - loss of a loved one, how to honour their memory, how to move on with my life, regrets, wishes, and unfinished conversations
- Loss of job - layoffs, what to do if I got fired from my job
- Loss of relationship - long-distance, break up, separation, and divorce
Work Life & Stressors
- Stress management, work-life balance, self-care, and stress reduction
- Bullying and harassment in the workplace
- Micromanaging and hurtful supervisors or colleagues
- Interview anxiety, performance anxiety, feeling not good enough
- Workaholism, workplace burnout, and career burnout
- School selection for students, career choice, and career progression
Hear from our clients…
It’s such a relief to talk to someone who actually gets what it’s like being LGBTQ+. No weird looks, no judgment—just real support. I can finally be myself.
They really understand what it’s like growing up with Asian family expectations. I didn’t have to explain everything from scratch. Therapy helped me find a way to set boundaries without feeling like I was disrespecting my culture.
I honestly couldn’t do therapy if it weren’t for the evening and weekend times. They really work around my schedule, and it never feels rushed. Super knowledgeable and easy to talk to.
I was completely burnt out from work. As a healthcare worker, I’m used to putting others first—but therapy helped me draw the line and get some balance back.
I used to feel like anxiety was running the show. Now, I’ve actually got tools that help. I finally feel like I’m in the driver’s seat.
It’s so ADHD-friendly here. The sessions have structure, but there’s also room to adapt depending on how my brain’s working that day. No judgment—just stuff that actually helps.
For the first time in a long time, I feel safe opening up. It’s clear they really understand trauma, and the way they show up—it just makes healing feel doable.
I was totally running on empty. Therapy helped me reset, figure out where to draw the line, and start feeling like myself again.
Accepted by Insurance Providers
Direct Billing Available with Our Partners
+12 of the best insurance providers in Canada trusts us to provide you with the highest level of care and service.
What to Expect From One-on-One Counselling
How much does individual counselling cost, and is it covered by insurance?
Sessions are $150 (virtual) or $160 (in-person) for 60 minutes, and $235 (virtual) or $245 (in-person) for 90 minutes. We offer direct billing with most major Canadian insurance providers — including Sun Life, Manulife, Canada Life, and Pacific Blue Cross — so many clients pay little to nothing upfront. Sliding scale plans are also available if you don’t have extended health coverage.
Can I do individual counselling online, or do I need to come in person?
Either, whichever fits your comfort and schedule better. We offer both virtual sessions from home and in-person sessions at our Vancouver office, and you’re welcome to switch between the two if your needs change.
How many sessions will I need?
It depends on your goals and what you’re working through. Some clients come in for a handful of sessions to work through something specific, while others prefer ongoing, longer-term support — you and your therapist will check in regularly and adjust the pace together.
What actually happens in my first individual counselling session?
Your first full session (after your free 15-minute matching call) is about getting to know each other. Your therapist will ask what’s bringing you in, walk you through how confidentiality and sessions work, and start shaping a plan together — it’s also your chance to see how the fit feels.
Do you offer individual counselling in languages other than English?
Yes. Between our therapists, we offer sessions in Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Punjabi, and Hindi in addition to English, and we specialize in supporting Asian and multicultural clients navigating family or intergenerational dynamics. Just let us know your preference through the Therapist Matcher.
My problem doesn't feel "big enough" for therapy — should I still book?
Yes. You don’t need to be in crisis to benefit from counselling — many clients come in because they feel stuck in a pattern, want to understand themselves better, or are navigating a change, not because something’s “gone wrong.” If you’re asking the question, that’s usually reason enough to have the conversation.
Meet Your Future Therapist
Lori Wang
Registered Clinical Counsellor
Works With
- Children & Teens
- Adults
- Couples & Partners
Speaks
- English
- Mandarin
Kemmy Wong
Registered Social Worker
Works With
- Teens & Adults
- Couples & Families
Speaks
- English
- Mandarin
- Cantonese
Kelsey Lee
Registered Clinical Counsellor
Works With
- Teens & Adults
- Couples & Families
Speaks
- English
- Hakka
- Mandarin
- Cantonese
Raajbir Virk
Registered Clinical Counsellor
Works With
- Children, Teens & Adults
- Couples & Families
Speaks
- English
- Punjabi
- Hindi
Ann
Registered Clinical Counsellor
Works With
- Teens & Adults
- Couples & Families
Speaks
- English
- Mandarin