IN-PERSON COUNSELLING IN VANCOUVER & ONLINE ACROSS BC
Anxiety & Depression Counselling
Let’s put the inner-critic on mute, so life can truly feel like yours .
feeling like you’re not good enough, no matter what you do?
You’ve lived your life on auto-pilot, always terrified of saying ‘no’ to anyone. You can’t imagine letting anyone down, and now you find yourself stuck running in circles, always being the person taking taking care of everything while keeping everyone’s peace. Nothing feels like enough, even as you quietly drown underneath all your obligations.
You used to think you’d be happier being the person everyone else likes. Now you’re running on empty. No matter how much you do, your efforts go unnoticed. You wonder if you really matter to anyone, but you feel guilty for feeling this way. It’s hard to keep going when no one else seems to mind the way things are. All you want is for life to be a little less overwhelming, but you have no idea where to start.
Maybe you…
are stuck in a cycle of self-loathing and people-pleasing, but wish you had the courage to say ‘no’
are stressed out and have no time for yourself, always feeling sad, stressed, and worried
don’t feel confident in your own decisions and no longer feel like you have the energy or joy for the things you used to love
feel stuck and don’t know how to go forward
You don’t have to be alone in how you’re feeling. Moving past patterns that no longer work for you is possible, and you don’t have to do this alone — let’s help you get there.
What Anxiety and Depression Counselling makes possible…
Nourish authentic relationships
Move past simply understanding your patterns & cultivate the courage to set healthy boundaries and feel more ease and authenticity within your relationships.
Cultivate self-compassion
Separate toxic shame and signals for healthy and necessary change, to help you recognize, accept, and feel confident with your own needs and decisions.
Bloom into calm and resilience
Expand on the resilience you already have by learning the skills to regulate your emotions, tailored for your unique nervous system.
You’ve spent a long time holding things together, and I want you to know that your feelings aren’t overreactions, they are real responses to the constant pressure to be at your best. Moving forward from anxiety and depression is not about learning to manage stress — it’s about getting you to a place where making changes and saying ‘no’ feel less impossible.
time to stop pretending you’re fine and actually feel good for real
frequently asked questions
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Anxiety is a common mental health condition and often shows up as persistent feelings of worry, unease, or fear. Anxiety commonly stems from being overwhelmed by situations beyond your control. Anxiety can be a symptom of trauma and is commonly experienced by neurodivergent individuals.
Anxiety can show up as the following emotional symptoms:
nervousness in social settings, severe worrying and overthinking, decision paralysis, overwhelm, constant fear and doubt about your relationships, conflict avoidance.Anxiety can show up as the following physical symptoms:
difficulty sleeping and concentrating, muscle tension such as chest tightness or heart palpitations, shortness of breath, fatigue. -
What is depression and what does depression feel like?
Depression is typically experienced as persistent low mood and loss of interest or motivation, and can also be felt as irritability and anger. Depression can be experienced as “burnout” following periods of continued over-exertion. Depression can be a symptom of trauma. Depression is commonly experienced by neurodivergent individuals.
Depression can show up as the following emotional symptoms:
sadness and hopelessness, low self-esteem or self-worth, having thoughts of self-harm or suicide, loss of interest in daily activitiesDepression can show up as the following physical symptoms:
difficulty sleeping, exhaustion, decline in memory, appetite change, unexplained physical pain -
Anxiety and depression are similar, and are both rooted in the nervous system being overwhelmed and unable to regulate distressing emotions. Depression is usually associated with low energy and mood, while anxiety is not.
Anxiety and depression are both normal reactions to lived experience. Many people who experience repeated trauma or are neurodivergent experience both anxiety and depression.
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Yes. Many people are diagnosed with both at the same time.
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People-pleasing and perfectionism are both forms of anxiety.
Perfectionism is the tendency to constantly strive for unrealistic goals and being highly critical of self and others. Perfectionism is often the cause of stress, anxiety, and fear of failure. Perfectionism stems from societal and cultural pressure, as well as personal experiences that lead to the underlying desire for control over the outcomes and feelings of fear surrounding judgement or rejection.
People-pleasing is the tendency to put the happiness of others ahead of one’s own. Those who people-please are typically highly attuned to others and appear agreeable, kind, and helpful, however do not prioritize their own needs. People-pleasing is not a form of genuine kindness or care, and rather is concerned with earning and maintaining the approval of others, to fulfill safety needs and to control feelings of fear related to social rejection.
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I work with Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy. AEDP is a flexible framework, and I may choose to add interventions from other counselling approaches to truly tailor our sessions to your needs. Learn more about my approach on my about page.
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Schedule a free consultation with me. In the consultation, we can discuss the kind of help you are looking for, and see if we will be a good fit going forward.
Consults don’t mean commitment, it’s a chance for you to ask me questions and get a sense of I’m the right person for you. My goal is to give you a sense of clarity, relief, and confidence that healing is possible.
Your sessions are personalized, and you can choose to work on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, whichever feels the best for you.
Counselling With Wren
Specialized counselling services for anxiety & depression, neurodivergence, and trauma, available in-person in Vancouver and online across BC.
As an uninvited guest on stolen, ancestral territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), I commit myself to the continued work of assessing and responding to the ongoing impact of colonization.