Trauma and PTSD Counselling

Traumatic events leave a lasting imprint on your nervous system, mind, and body. When an experience overwhelms your capacity to cope, it can trap you in survival mode, leaving you feeling perpetually anxious, exhausted, or disconnected.

Understanding Trauma

Trauma rarely looks the same from one person to the next. Traumatic stress can stem from distinct types of life experiences:

Shock Trauma (Single Event) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

This can occur from a sudden and overwhelming event that threatens your safety such as a motor vehicle accident (MVA), a medical emergency, a natural disaster, or witnessing violence.

Complex Trauma and Developmental Trauma

Complex trauma results from chronic, repeated interpersonal stressors like domestic abuse or psychological control. Developmental trauma traces back to adverse childhood experiences (ACE), such as emotional neglect or growing up "walking on eggshells." These early attachment disruptions deeply alter how your nervous system defines safety and handles adult relationships.

How Traumatic Stress Looks and Feels Like

Trauma alters your brain wiring, forcing the body to react to present-day life as if the danger is still happening. Many individuals experience visceral symptoms from a nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight:

  • Hypervigilance and Anxiety: Feeling constantly on edge, jumpy, or unable to relax.

  • Intrusive Memories: Vivid flashbacks, nightmares, or sudden emotional waves that mirror the original event.

  • Relational Patterns: Chronic people-pleasing, struggles with boundaries, persistent guilt, or a harsh inner critic.

  • Avoidance: Avoiding places, people, driving routes, or thoughts that trigger reminders.

  • Physical Reactions: Chronic muscle tension, sleep disruptions, digestive issues, exhaustion, or sudden irritability.

ICBC Support and Specialized Funding Coverage

If your symptoms result from a motor vehicle accident (MVA) in British Columbia, your care may be fully or partially covered:

  • 12 Pre-Approved Sessions: ICBC automatically covers 12 counselling sessions within the first 12 weeks of your accident date, regardless of fault.

  • Treatment Extensions: If you need support beyond 12 sessions, or if 12 weeks have already passed, we can submit a treatment plan to ICBC to request approval.

Trauma Recovery

Because trauma is a bodily experience, talk therapy alone is rarely enough. Healing requires retraining your nervous system to feel genuinely safe in the present moment. We will work together at a pace that feels comfortable for you, helping your body release stored stress so you can reclaim your life.

Book a free 20-minute phone consultation

You can also reach me at 604-719-7555. If I am in a session, feel free to text or leave a voicemail. I will get back to you as soon as I can. We can figure this out together.

Other counselling services: Anxiety and Depression Counselling

Truama and ICBC Counselling in Burnaby

Areas of Practice

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

  • Complex Trauma (C-PTSD)

  • Developmental and childhood trauma

  • Motor vehicle accident (MVA) trauma

  • ICBC support and coverage

  • Panic and hypervigilance

  • Shame and chronic guilt

  • Boundary challenges and people-pleasing

  • Attachment and relational patterns

  • Nervous system dysregulation