Dr. Sarah Becker, Registered Clinical Counsellor

Sarah believes that her role as a counsellor involves walking alongside her clients while offering an objective and informed perspective. Because she often sees people who are seeking change, her goal is to help clients identify which patterns in their lives are helping or hindering their attainment of the changes they desire. Sarah believes that people are naturally adaptive, and psychological distress often occurs when our adaptations no longer work for us in a given situation. Her therapeutic work often involves helping people identify the ways in which their experiences and relationships have influenced how they see and interact with the world, and assisting them in exploring new strategies for coping with their experiences in order to live a valued life.

Both her clinical work and research have focused on highlighting individual strengths while recognizing the systemic and contextual barriers that people encounter. She completed her PhD in Counselling Psychology at the University of British Columbia, where her research focused on Indigenous women’s career decision-making experiences. Sarah also is involved as a facilitator with Wounded Warriors Canada, serving first responders and military veterans and their families with group-based trauma treatment programs such as the Trauma Resiliency Program and COPE programs.

Sarah collaborated with Dr. Burrows to offer including psychoeducational and clinical assessments, and is are happy to serve Nanaimo and surrounding areas in this regard. Their approach to assessment is both diagnostic and problem-solving, in that the central aim is to help clients identify how they can better meet their educational, personal, and career-related goals within their own context.

Sarah's primary practice areas include:

• Mood and anxiety issues
• Eating disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• PTSD and trauma
• Relationship issues
• Psychoeducational assessment (under the supervision of a Registered Psychologist)

I recognize that finding a counsellor that is a good fit can be a process that demands a lot of resources- both time-wise and financially. I am happy to speak with prospective clients over the phone to determine whether my approach might work for you.

Qualifications:

• Registered Clinical Counsellor: British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors