Culturally Sensitive Trauma Counselling with Tanya in English & Tagalog

Counselling with Tanya Griffiths

Tanya Griffiths, trauma & attachment counsellor in Vancouver

Registered Clinical Counsellor
Master of Counselling
Adler University

“We are born in relationship, we are wounded in relationship, and we can be healed in relationship.”

— Harville Hendrix

book a free 15 minute consultation with Tanya

Tanya currently offers in person and online sessions for individuals as well as couples/relationship counselling

You bump into a friend you haven’t seen in a long time and they ask how you’ve been. Without pause, “I’m good” escapes your mouth. You smile, and it’s convincing. The talk is short, you make plans to have coffee that you doubt will happen, and then you move on through your day. 

But that isn’t a one-off interaction. It’s the baseline. Maybe a few people in your life actually know how you’re doing, and at some point, you started to believe it’s better to just tell yourself everything is okay. 

And yet, there’s a part of you that’s wanting so deeply to be seen. It comes knocking at your door, sometimes pounding, but you don’t know what to do and where to begin.

I intend to make our time together the landscape in which we can safely open that door, at a pace that feels right for you. To sit down with the part(s) that want to air out how hard it’s been. How life sucks, and how confusing, stressful, and exhausting it can be. 

Common counselling concerns, focuses & clients I love supporting:

  • Attachment and abandonment wounds

  • Guilt, shame, and doubt

  • Perfectionism

  • Trauma & Intergenerational Trauma

  • Relationship challenges (including monogamy, polyamory and/or ethical non-monogamy) 

  • Emotional Regulation

  • Major Life transitions 

  • Substance use and addiction 

  • Immigration and bureaucratic overwhelm

  • Neurodiversity - understanding and working with your brain

  • Anxiety, stress, and depression

  • Identity exploration 

  • Anger & fear

  • Grief and loss 

  • Burnout (including academia, career, caregiving, and societal expectations) 

  • LGBTQIA+ Clients

  • Black, Indigenous, People of Colour Clients

  • Multicultural experiences, acculturation, and belonging

  • Distress in familial dynamics and roles 

  • Healing the relationship between parents & adult children

  • Moving from “surviving” to “flourishing” 

  • Integrating religious, spiritual, and/or Land-based beliefs and rituals for resilience

  • Building deeper awareness and connection with the body

  • Tanya offers in person and online sessions:
    Sundays 10am-5pm
    Tuesdays 9am-2:30pm
    Wednesdays 3pm-8pm

    • Collaborative 

    • Welcomes humour

    • Authentic & human 

    • Gentle, warm & validating

    • Able to challenges clients

    • Focuses on offering skills & tools

    • Focuses on the mind-body experience

    • Focuses on emotional process & experience

    • Focuses on insight & understanding patterns

    • Offers a growth mindset / action oriented approach for those that desire

    • Great at listening with acceptance without offering an immediate fix or solution

    • Mind - body focus

Tanya’s Approach to Counselling

I hold a deep appreciation for human complexity, nuance, and resilience. Whether you’ve received counselling before or are completely new to it, I intend to co-create a resting place where you feel seen and supported in where you are now, and where your becoming will take you. From my lived experiences, intersecting identities, and studies, I understand how navigating life, and all it entails, can lead to feeling untethered; lost and alone. Maybe you relate to this, or maybe your experience is different. This may resonate if you’re in a season of deep anger and grief, of wishing things were different, of finding yourself stuck in roles or narratives no longer aligned with who you are or who you want to be.

Whatever season you’re in, I offer presence rooted in compassion, curiosity, and cultural sensitivity as you wring out what has weighed heavily on you. In accompanying you, I strive to honour feelings and experiences that have felt dismissed or unprocessed. Over time, we can collaborate on what moving forward looks like for you. 

The foundation of my approach is relational, as I believe healing happens there first. While I tend to work from a somatic and holistic lens (mind, body, heart, spirit), I also observe what naturally unfolds in our sessions. This helps me intentionally integrate modalities that may continue to support you and your intentions within the counselling space and beyond.

In my work with couples or family members, I often support the communication that takes place in untangling feelings, expectations, narratives, and old patterns. I integrate emotionally focused, psychodynamic, and Satir therapies, and am more directive than I usually am during my individual client sessions.

Regardless of who I meet with, I work towards embodying justice-centred, trauma-informed, and neuroaffirming care, as well as decolonial approaches to healing. It is my hope that through the relational foundation we build, you feel open and safe to let me know what works and what doesn’t during our sessions.

Your purpose for seeking counselling may be for yourself, your inner child, your relationships, the generations ahead, and/or the generations behind. This work isn't always easy and takes an immense amount of courage. Counselling is the last place for you to feel like a burden, and it is truly an honour for me to bear witness to you unburdening yourself - and perhaps, along the way, rekindling with the wisdom that has always been within you.

I received my Master's in Counselling Psychology from Adler University and am a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC).

I welcome diverse clients of all backgrounds, orientations, and beliefs. I work towards embodying justice-centred and trauma-informed care, as well as decolonial approaches to healing. 

I offer individual (adolescents aged 12+ & adults), couple/relationship, and family sessions.

COUNSELLING APPROACH

My integrative and client-specific approach to counselling includes the following education and approaches:

COUNSELLING FEES

50 min Individual Session: $165

50 minute Relationship/Couples Session: $175

50 min Sliding Scale Sessions: $110 - 150
- please inquire for availability -

We accept payments via e-transfer; in efforts to keep our overall rates lower, we also offer the option to pay by credit card with a 2.4% processing fee

To learn more about Tanya’s approach to counselling, ask questions about how she might be able to support you, please contact her below or book a consultation call.

book a free 15 minute counselling consultation with Tanya