Shannon Simms

For over 20 years I have been working with people dealing with various challenges, including stress, depression, anxiety, addictions, relationships, grief/loss and life transitions. During challenging times, our experiences can become burdensome, counselling helps to reconnect with strengths and resources, and develop new ones, resulting in life feeling manageable again. Counselling doesn't make problems disappear, but the therapeutic process reduces the negative impact of challenges, connects people to hope & possibilities & contributes to an improved sense of well-being.

I work in collaboration with clients, the client leads the way and sets the pace.  There are many ways to do therapy, I work with your particular preferences & goals.  I invite your feedback about our work together, to ensure we are staying on track and that the process is helpful for you.  Counselling helps people start feeling better sooner,  the setting provides a comfortable & objective space where people can hear themselves think out-loud, without judgment or criticism, & navigate their challenges in different ways, through insight, perspective shifts, and unlocking potential with new tools.  

Talking helps, & while family & friends can provide much needed support, counselling is a different type of conversation, with a trained listener, and trained helper. 

Common client concerns include:

• feeling overwhelmed by life challenges
• experiencing a lack of support from their usual network
• feeling stuck in rut or without direction, like a ship without a rudder
• unable to stop self defeating or self sabotaging patterns of thinking or behaving
• using alcohol, drugs, gambling, or other measures as a coping strategy for life challenges, and starting to experience consequences

Counselling elicits insight - seeing situations in a different light, thinking about situations in a different way. Through counselling, the way people carry their challenges changes: problems start to feel manageable again and people gain a different awareness of themselves.  The experience of counselling should be empowering, as understanding 'why we do what we do' gives us the choice to start doing things differently, changing patterns or habits that may no longer be serving us well. 

Counselling is a relationship, and research indicates the best predictor of success in counselling is the relationship between therapist and client.  I offer a free 15 minute consultation to assist in your sense of us being a good fit.

I'm an approved Crime Victim Assistance Program Counsellor (CVAP) – the Crime Victim Assistance Program pays for counselling services for victims of crime, their close family members, and some witnesses. More information about CVAP can be found on their website.

I work with Mental Health and Addictions,  my specialty is Behavioural Addictions - Problem Gambling/Gaming, Technology, Sex, to name a few.   

If using Extended Health Benefits, I may be able to direct bill for you, check my website for current Insurers