Andréa Dorrans, Student Counsellor

Andréa Dorrans, Student Counsellor (she/her)

AREAS OF FOCUS:

• Trauma and Post-Traumatic Growth

• Anxiety and Social Anxiety 

• Burnout 

• Grief and Loss 

• Relationships and Attachment Patterns 

• Chronic Illness and Disability 

• Perimenopause and Life Transitions 

• Neurodivergence 

• Belonging and Identity

THERAPY MODALITIES:

• Trauma Informed 

• Somatic Approaches 

• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) 

• Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT informed) 

• Narrative Therapy (Informed) 

• Existential Therapy (informed)

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT informed)

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT WHEN WORKING WITH Andréa

Many of my clients are creative, insightful people who feel exhausted, isolated, or unfulfilled  after years of trying to conform. Over time, they have learned to edit or minimize themselves to stay safe or accepted. When you share your story, I consider both the wider context and your  unique patterns: how struggle can reflect a mismatch between a person and the systems  around them, and how your coping strategies have helped you and what they have cost you. 

As your therapist, I show up as an authentic person. I’m present and curious, and willing to name what I notice, at a pace that supports your safety and self-trust. I’m interested in work that is felt, and happens in real time. 

Often, meaningful change can look like bringing forward the parts of your story that have been  concealed, including beliefs and feelings that may have felt too tender, unsafe, or complicated to name. When we make space for what has been guarded and explore it with care, the relief can be palpable. Sometimes it’s even joyful. 

With time, our work together can support you to live more fully, for yourself and in your  relationships.

Andréa’S EXPERIENCE & TRAINING

I am currently completing my Master’s in Counselling Psychology at City University and am a  student counsellor in practicum under the supervision of Sarah Pullman. 

I bring years of counselling experience in community settings, including as a volunteer  counsellor at Citizens’ Counselling Centre in Victoria and in youth-focused crisis support,  helping young people through acute distress. These roles shaped my commitment to ethical  practice and my belief that meaningful change can occur even in brief moments of feeling  connected and understood. 

Outside of clinical training, I draw from lifelong personal practices in yoga and meditation.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE

I bring much lived experience to my therapeutic practice. While each person’s story is unique, my own includes chronic illness, grief and loss, and surviving interpersonal violence. It also includes post-traumatic growth and embracing my neurodivergent identity. 

In my personal life, I cherish connections with loved ones, all forms of art, deep rest, and simple  pleasures. I find solace and celebration in nature, play and beauty in creative expression,  comfort and joy in my chosen and inherited family, and great pleasure in doing very little. I adore  nothing more than reading a novel in a sunbeam with my darling cat, ZaZa.

FEES

Individual sessions with Andréa are $70 per 50-minute session. Limited sliding scale spots may be available, please inquire.

HOURS

Andréa is available in person on Sunday afternoon/evening, Friday afternoon/evening, and virtually on Mondays from 9-3.

Education and Professional Development:

• Master’s in Counselling Psychology, City University (in progress) 

• AEDP Immersion (April 2026)

• Citizens Counselling Centre Training Program (2023)

• Mental Health First Aid (2023) 

• Indigenous Perspectives Training (2023) 

• Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) (2022)

• Anti-Racism Response Training (ART) (2021)

• Suicide Prevention (QPR Gatekeeper) (2021)

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All of the counsellors at Bodymind Counselling gratefully live and practice on the lands of Lekwungen peoples, the Songhees and Esquimalt, and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.

August Waite, Intern Counsellor

August Waite, Intern Counsellor (they/them)

AREAS OF FOCUS:

• Anxiety and social anxiety

• Shame and self esteem

• Complex trauma and attachment wounds

• Body image and gender dysphoria

• Couples therapy (including non-monogamy)

• Sexuality, coming out, and transition/post-transition experience 

THERAPY MODALITIES:

• AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy)

• Body-Centered and Somatic Approaches

• Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples

• Developmental Model for Couples Therapy

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT WHEN WORKING WITH August

Whatever we are carrying becomes lighter when we’re connected to, and witnessed by, caring others.

I believe in experiential work, and in the power of something new happening in each session. In our work together, I strive always to create an environment that is safe enough to honour and hold your struggle, your courage, and your joy. My approach incorporates techniques to help us show up compassionately to all our parts and all aspects of our emotional experience, including the ones we may struggle to be with. I also work to create opportunities to return to the body, while honouring the reasons we may have had to leave it. As a trauma-informed counsellor, sessions with me always explicitly invite collaboration and choice, and I work with an eye turned toward the collective wounds we each carry from the trauma of social injustice.

In my work with couples and relationships, I am passionate about understanding the culture that your relationship exists within, and the culture which has been created between you. I work to see and mirror the patterns you elicit in one another, and experientially work with moments of connection and disconnection in the here-and-now.

I believe that when we ground into emotional safety and connection with one another, we can unlock our inherent capacity to grow and to heal.

August’s EXPERIENCE & TRAINING

My curiosity about the ways in which we are impacted by culture, communities, and social structures led me from initial study in Gender Studies to a B. A. in Psychology. I then began my Masters degree in Counselling Psychology at City University.

I have worked for years as a community volunteer counsellor at Citizens’ Counselling Centre, where I’ve experienced working with a diverse array of individuals and couples. Prior to this, I worked as a crisis line volunteer with trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming folks across North America. I also provide training to novice counsellors in gender and sexuality affirmative counselling. I am passionate about working with trauma, shame, grief, anxiety and social anxiety, body image and self esteem, gender/body dysphoria and euphoria, transition and post-transition experience, and relationship challenges (including non-monogamous/polyamorous relationships).

Beyond my Masters of Counselling Psychology coursework, I have also completed professional training in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Emotion Focussed Therapy for Couples, the Developmental Model for Couples Therapy, and will be completing training in Lifespan Integration Therapy this year.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE

I’ve lived and worked as an uninvited settler on unceded Lekwungen territories for the past 10 years, and grew up in Nogojiwanong (so-called Peterborough), Ontario. I’m always striving to live in closer alignment with the teachings and decolonizing calls-to-action which the indigenous stewards of these territories so generously extend to us.

My counselling work is inspired by my lived experiences and desire to bring my whole self to the work. My experience as a queer, trans, and non-binary person has informed my interest in community, relationship, and our experiences of the self and the body. I’m an enthusiastic collector of art practices, and my time-tested art loves include poetry and music making. In times of challenge and times of celebration, I am grateful to be accompanied by my weird and wonderful chosen family and by my relationship with the land and water.

FEES

Sessions with August are $105 per 50 minute session for individuals, plus GST ($110.25). Couples sessions are $110 plus GST for 50 minutes ($115.50).

HOURS

August is available Mondays 2:30 - 8pm and Tuesdays 8am - 12pm.

Trainings:

• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Therapy Immersion - AEDP Institute 2024 - with Diana Fosha

• AEDP Portrayals: The Dyadic Experiential Processing of Trauma to a Corrective Emotional Experience - 2024 - with Diana Fosha

• AEDP for Trauma and Attachment Wounds - PESI 2024 - with Diana Fosha

• Introduction to AEDP - AEDP Institute 2024 - with Diana Fosha

• Intensive Course in Emotionally Focused Therapy: Attachment-Based Interventions for Couples in Crisis - PESI - with Sue Johnson

• The Developmental Model for Couples Therapy Intensive - Adaptive Counselling Seattle 2023  

• Creating Well-Functioning Polyamory - Queering Mental Health Conference 2022 - with Martha Kappi

• Introduction to Couples Counselling Training - Citizen’s Counselling Centre 2022

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All of the counsellors at Bodymind Counselling gratefully live and practice on the lands of Lekwungen peoples, the Songhees and Esquimalt, and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.