Counselling for First Generation Immigrants and Clients with Immigration & Refugee Experiences
Support for Clients with Personal and Familial Experiences of Immigration and Refugee Backgrounds
The process of immigration and settlement is inherently stressful. Separation from family and home culture, language barriers, differences in social norms, career change/loss, discrimination and prejudice, lack of support, changes in family structure and relationships can put one’s socio-emotional wellbeing at increased risk. Theimpact on family members’ mental health is often profound and lasting across generations.
New Tides recognizes diverse and complex cultural factors in the helping/healing processes and the necessity of a culturally sensitive, trauma informed approach, especially when working with clients of immigration and/or refugee backgrounds.
Know you want support but not sure where to start?
Come take your shoes off, curl up with some tea and let’s make a plan. You’re not broken, you’re just wonderfully human, which can be complicated (and sometimes frustrating) to navigate.
Our Find a Counsellor form can guide you in connecting with a counsellor who is the best fit for you.
Our Counsellor’s Training and Experience with Immigration
Many of our counsellors hold specific training, experience and lived experience with immigration and refugee backgrounds.
In counselling that recognizes the importance of cross-cultural experiences, our team value each client’s unique lived experience and worldview and continuously reflect on their own cultural values and biases. In session, we can help clients navigate difficulties directly or indirectly related to their (or their family’s) immigration/refugee experience and cultural heritage, including:
Life transitions
Identity and self-esteem issues
Loss and grief
Multi-layers of challenges in acculturation and integration as newcomers or descendants of immigrant/refugee families
Racism, discrimination and microaggression
Enmeshed family and lack of boundaries
Parenting difficulties
Intergenerational trauma and conflicts
Childhood attachment wounds (e.g. separation from parents, neglect, and/or abuse) and developmental trauma
Spiritual or existential distresses
Interracial marriage/relationship and raising mixed-race children
Conflict with traditional ideals of gender, marriage, and parenthood
Meet Our Counsellors who Work With First Generation Immigrants, Clients with Refugee Experiences, or Other Experiences with Immigration
Finding the right counsellor matters.
The following counsellors on our team have availability for new clients and bring different personalities, experiences and approaches to therapy.
We offer free 15-minute consultations so you can connect and ask questions first.
You can browse our counsellors yourself or have our intake team help you find a potential fit.
RCC, She/Her
Esther supports clients with self-worth, relationships, attachment, childhood experiences, neurodivergence, family dynamics and burnout, creating space for clients to better understand themselves and the patterns shaping their lives. Esther also has a background as teacher and school counsellor and loves supporting teens, other educators, caregivers and those with BIPOC experiences or who have lived outside of Canada
Main Approaches:Somatic · Mindfulness · Attachment-Focused · IFS · Narrative · DBT · Emotion-Focused · AEDP