Counselling & Psychotherapy with Laurel Swenson, RCC in Vancouver.
I provide counselling and psychotherapy in Vancouver for adults, couples, LGBTQ2S+ clients, and creative professionals.
Individual Therapy for Adults
Relationship Counselling (couples and other relationship structures)
Therapy for Depression & Anxiety
Why begin therapy?
Maybe you’ve been struggling with not feeling like yourself for a while now. Your confidence has dwindled, your emotions feel too unpredictable, and stress seems to get under your skin more than it used to.
Your mood is up-and-down, you feel unsure of yourself too frequently, and taking healthy risks — like asking someone out on a date or going for a new opportunity — feels difficult.
You may be finding that your close relationships are more stressful for you than they used to be — maybe you’ve started avoiding people.
You may also feel like you need to hide these struggles from the other people in your life — especially at work.
Life might feel like it’s getting smaller and smaller, with your worries and doubts having way too much influence on your life.
Signs it may be time to begin therapy
You might notice yourself having thoughts:
Will I ever feel calm and balanced?
Will I ever feel confident and at ease?
Is there something wrong with me?
Will my bad feelings about myself ever go away?
Why am I like this?
I feel broken.
Things will never get better.
You end up feeling frustrated and stuck, and wonder, “Why can’t I get it together? I should be able to feel fine. What’s wrong with me?”
You crave to live a life with less emotional pain, more choice, and more confidence. You want to thrive.
Your do not have to go through these painful times alone.
What’s at stake?
What’s at stake, if you don’t take action, is a downward spiral: feeling worse, problems accumulating, relationships getting tougher to deal with, stress becoming harder to manage, and feeling less and less confident in yourself.
Your work and your relationships are already suffering — especially your relationship with yourself.
Things could get worse but, if you reach out for help, life can start feeling better. We all need outside help sometimes. Now is the time to reach out and get help — before you feel even worse. You can take the first step to stop the downward spiral now — and start climbing back up to feeling better and living your life more fully.
I can help. I have made it my focus to help others when they are pulled into a downward spiral.
(You might find my Therapy Prep Package useful: a free resource I send when you sign up for my newsletter)
Begin therapy to make lasting changes
I know what it is like to struggle and wonder if life will ever get better. I suffered many years of terrible depression and anxiety. And then I got better. So much better that I now work to help others get back to thriving, growing, engaging, and feeling good about life again. (Read more about my story of getting better here)
You can feel more empowered and engaged in your life again too.
Taking the first step
I know it can be hard to take the first step and reach out to a new therapist. I promise to make the next steps as easy as possible for you. Call or email me — we can talk on the phone and I can answer any questions you may have, and we find out if I am a good fit for helping you.
I really am glad you are here and found my website. If you are reading this, then I imagine you are struggling like I once was. It is a hard place to be, but you do not have stay there and you do not have to go through this alone. You can start the process of feeling better by taking a first step by reaching our for help.
Laurel Swenson is a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) providing therapy in Vancouver.