Registered Clinical Counselling | East Vancouver | Commercial Drive
ECHO COUNSELLING
Sharlene Petigara
BIPoC Identified & Queer Allied Counselling
My counselling practice is committed to help you to have honest conversations that start to uncover the areas in your life where you feel a need for growth. My clients find that, together, we can slow down difficult moments, identify what’s going on within, and grow a sense of self-leadership in which there’s much more possibility and choice in how they live than it seemed. I am a cisgender woman and person of colour in my 30's, and I use the pronouns she/her. I am a TIST trained and certified counsellor, presently offering in-person and online therapy in East Vancouver, on Commercial Drive.
​​
​​​​​​​​​
​
Some reasons to try therapy are:​
​​​​​
If you want to deepen your self-understanding and find out how to give yourself what you need in challenging times
If you want to feel less self-blame and move toward a more generous view of yourself
If you’re feeling hurt or frustrated with others and want closer relationships while keeping your sense of integrity
If you want to heal from past events and connect with others and yourself in a way that feels safer
​
If you want to get more bold and authentic in your relationships and work, and live from a more self-expressed place
If you have difficulty making decisions and want to move from a place of doubt to self-trust
If you want to explore transitions in identities or life paths in a nonjudgmental and reassuring environment
​
About My Practice
I offer a reflective and encouraging space where you can process experiences and emotions in a way that feels different. I help my clients to tune in to what strengths are already there that can be expanded upon, and to start noticing what strategies have historically helped them to get by that may not be useful anymore. My clients often find themselves connecting to a self that feels more authentic, and learning what it feels like to start to expand their capacity to cope with life’s stressors. People often describe feeling lighter and more capable after our sessions.
​
I am certified in an approach that can simply be called “parts work," which was developed by Dr. Janina Fisher. It's a highly effective, step-by-step approach that helps people to get curious about their own emotional responses without getting lost in them. What often comes out of this work is a felt shift in perspective, in which things seem less overwhelming, and there’s more of a sense of choice in how to respond to the world.
​​
​
Areas of Focus
Some of the areas I can help with include:
​
Relationships & attachment styles
​
Trauma
​
LGBTQ+ matters
​
Gender identity & expression
​
Self-esteem
​
Anxiety
​
Depression
​
Work/life balance​
​
Personal/professional identity
​
People of colour & multicultural issues
​
Immigration & adjustment
​
Healing from oppression & internalized messages
​
Understanding & navigating challenging emotions
​
Parenting challenges & family dynamics
​
Substance use & addictive patterns
​
Developing self-care/compassion
​
​
​I hold a Masters in Counselling Psychology with a focus on Traumatic Attachment. I also have over ten years of experience in the field of mental health and trauma, from my previous career as a Registered Social Worker. My extensive training, combined with my experience on Vancouver Coastal Health's ACT Team and the Vancouver Integrated Supervision Unit, has prepared me for my clinical work with individuals navigating a wide range of challenges.
You can trust that I have a solid understanding of the issues that people can face, and that I am passionate about helping people achieve their goals and live more fulfilling lives.
​
Clinical Training
​
Please note I am a Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment™ Certified Practitioner
-
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Training, Dr. Esta Porter
-
Narrative Therapy Level 3 Training, Dr. Stephen Madigan
-
Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment, Level 3, Dr. Janina Fisher, Ph.D., Academy of Therapy Wisdom
-
Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment, Level 2, Dr. Janina Fisher, Ph.D., Academy of Therapy Wisdom
​
-
Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment, Level 1, Dr. Janina Fisher, Ph.D., Academy of Therapy Wisdom
-
Narrative Therapy 5-day Foundations Training, Dr. Stephen Madigan​
-
Queer Competency Training, Qmunity
-
Indigenous Cultural Safety Anti-Racism Training, San'yas
CONTACT
Book a free 10 minute consultation to ensure that I am the right fit for you. I usually respond within 1-2 business days.
​
I am currently offering online and in-person sessions on East Vancouver Counselling, on Commercial Drive. If you are uncertain about online counselling, I really recommend giving it a chance. Video calls can be as worthwhile as in-person counselling is, and often clients even prefer it to in-person meetings.
​
Book an online consultation here, or email me directly.
​​​
​
​
​