Shaila Patel M.A. RCC

Practice information:

*Please note, I am not taking new clients at the present time.*

I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor with a private practice in Coquitlam.  I am also a part-time counsellor at Aster Wellness Centre in Port Coquitlam.

I am originally from New Zealand and moved to Vancouver in March 2000.  This was one of several significant transitions in my life and I bring insights from these experiences to my work.

Background

Prior to becoming a counsellor I was an accountant for over 20 years.  This period provided huge learning about burnout, perfectionism, and stress, both in myself and in the people I worked with and mentored.  During this time, I also discovered a passion for guiding people towards work-life balance through exploring and understanding their self-relationship.  Eventually a chronic health issue I had struggled with for almost 10 years forced me to start taking my own advice!  I began a journey towards wellness that led to a career change and a gradual transformative shift in my own relationship with self.

I truly believe personal fulfillment does not exist in some distant future.  It is a potential we each hold right now but is often unrealized because well…life happens.  I love supporting people through counselling as I know what's possible when we begin this journey.  It is immensely rewarding to witness the joy and freedom that emerges on the path to self-alignment.

Approach

My approach primarily focuses on a person’s relationship with self.  I believe breakdown in this key relationship is at the core of many issues including anxiety and depression, grief, difficult life transitions, interpersonal conflict, self-esteem issues, spiritual issues, amongst others.  While I certainly support clients in addressing external factors that may block wellbeing, I believe enduring change occurs when we strengthen and transform the relationship with self. 

So how might this look when I work with you?  I guide and support you in exploring different parts of yourself, particularly those behaviors/beliefs that may unconsciously create personal distress.  This asks for a degree of ownership or responsibility for your situation and that can be scary.  Therefore, I aim to create a warm, respectful, and non-judgmental space in which we can explore together.  The goal is to increase self-awareness so you more easily recognize ways of being that are unhealthy.  With greater self-awareness, you can make different choices that ultimately lead to better emotional and physical health.

Techniques

In addition to traditional counselling, I may use techniques such as focusing oriented therapy and expressive arts therapy during our sessions.  My intention when using these creative and experiential techniques is to encourage a whole-person therapy experience.  I believe healing has a greater impact when we attend to the mind, body, and spiritual self.  Finally, each client brings a unique perspective or worldview to therapy and I acknowledge and respect this in any technique or approach I may use.