The work of a counsellor is to support others to discover their gifts and move into wholeness.
Clinical counselling, consulting, training
Hi, I’m Susan Dempsey, a Clinical Counsellor in practice for over 25 years, with a Masters in Counselling Psychology from the University of Victoria. I am a member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, and a Certified Hakomi Practitioner and Trainer.
I have a broad background in clinical counselling, consultation, training, and group facilitation. My experience also includes working with the effects of sexualized and gender based violence, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, career and life transitions .
Susan Dempsey, MA, CCC
My philosophy and approach to counselling and psychotherapy is centred on a deep respect for the integrity of the individual, and an understanding that human beings live within an intricate social context, taking into account power, privilege, social location, and personal history in understanding the human experience.
Methods & approaches
I have a large repertoire of approaches, choosing how we work based on your needs and desires. From an approach informed by mindful self-study, I work to help you become more self-aware, to connect with your strengths and capacity, to heal from past traumas, and to find healthy ways to approach difficult emotions and life circumstances in order to move forward into the life you long for. I use these same skills to help you become and continue to be an aware and growing professional counsellor.
My work draws on and is inspired by mindfulness practices, Hakomi Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and is inspired by many teachings over the years. I believe that we all have an inherent will and capacity to be whole and create lives in line with our precious values. I am excited to accompany you on that journey.
As a member of the LGBTQ community, I have a particular interest in working with diversity, gender and sexual orientation, identity, and inclusion. I continue to explore my own relationship to the privileged position into which I was born, as well as the challenging identities I also inhabit, and am dedicated to bringing these lenses to my work.
“We are not the healers. But we can be the context in which healing can happen”
Ron Kurtz, founder Hakomi Psychotherapy