Christopher Simons

Are you able to get on with life to some degree, yet it seems there are parts that are longing to be healed?  Perhaps the past is intruding on the present, overwhelm is a frequent unwanted visitor, or you're unsure how it is you've ended up here yet again and want to move on.  Perhaps you feel ready to sort out the confounding influences that return you again and again to suffering.  

Together, we'll honour the strengths and strategies that have helped you get this far.  With compassionate care, we'll unpack and deactivate what seems stuck, counterproductive or unclear.    

We'll collaborate on establishing the goals for counselling that will get you closer to the life you want to be living.  For example, I work with many folks who want both immediate solutions to pressing daily issues such as unhelpful habits, and slower deeper work to explore old wounds, long-held pain and learned beliefs.  Whether you want to reorient to a new way of being, revisit the past, or clear up nagging doubts, you set the focus of our sessions and your sense of safety will set the pace.  

Our counselling sessions may involve:

• slowing things down to notice and respond to the body's messages 
• uncovering how unwanted behaviours and thoughts seem to get stuck on repeat
• exploring insights about past and present
• grieving what has been lost and what was not previously permitted to be
• tending to the fears, outcasts and shadows in your system
• strategizing for a more easeful daily experience  

We will hold everything that arises in session with loving kindness.  And we might find our way to celebration of the unique expression of life that you are. 

Many of my counselling conversations touch on issues of attachment, reactivity, and patterns of intimacy in close relationships.  I hold a non-judgmental space for your intimate connections, inclusive of your definition of ‘relationship.’       

I warmly welcome all genders and affection orientations.   Previously, I worked in a culturally collectivist environment for almost 20 years and appreciate a diversity of cultures and world views.  I aspire to a non-dual vision of reality and honor the supportive role of all spiritual outlooks, religions and cosmologies.  I acknowledge the intersectionality of identity within socio-cultural paradigms that marginalize and oppress, such as heteronormativity, patriarchy, colonialism, and white supremacy.         

I practice a trauma-informed, attachment-based somatic approach to address issues arising from past neglect, abuse, and violence.  I also have training and applied practice in IFS (Internal Family Systems), narrative therapy, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, motivational interviewing, and solution focused therapy.  

Where we can meet:

• In a character house on Upper Fort Street in Victoria (NB: there are stairs)
• Outdoors at Pkols/Mount Doug (or another park if you have a favourite)
• Online (I use an encrypted platform with no sign-up or login required from you)

You're welcome to schedule a consult.