Registered Clinical Counsellor

I support children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families in understanding emotions, improving relationships, and developing practical skills for lasting change. My approach combines compassion with evidence-based therapy grounded in neuroscience, attachment, and trauma-informed care.

Areas of Focus

• Trauma and complex trauma
• Anxiety and emotional regulation
• ADHD and executive functioning challenges
• Attachment and relationship difficulties
• Behavioural and developmental concerns in children and youth
• Family and parenting support
• Life transitions and stress

Therapeutic Approach

My work integrates evidence-based and trauma-informed modalities tailored to each client’s needs:

• Schema Therapy
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
• Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)
• Emotion-Focused Family Therapy (EFFT)
• Family Systems Therapy
• Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT)

Therapy is grounded in an attachment-focused and neurodevelopmentally informed framework, recognizing how the nervous system, early relationships, and lived experiences shape emotional wellbeing.

What to Expect

I aim to provide a safe, respectful, and collaborative space where clients can explore challenges at their own pace while building emotional flexibility, self-understanding, and resilience.

Registered Clinical Counsellor I support children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families in... Read More

About me: I have over 25 years of experience supporting a wide range of individuals in different capacities. My experiences included significant time working with those with Diversabilities, children, youth and Indigenous communities. My roles have included supporting youth and children in care, withdrawal management, employment counselling, advocacy, and leadership.

I use an individualized approach to assisting those in need. These individualized approaches can be informed by a number of approaches including narrative, CBT, experiential, existential, and IFS, and tailored to you, your child or your families counselling goals.

About me: I have over 25 years of experience supporting a wide range of individuals in different ... Read More

Lurline is a registered clinical counsellor, child psychotherapist, registered play therapist, an approved clinical supervisor and a parenting coordinator.

Although she has two decades of experience as a psychotherapist, today she specializes in sand tray therapy and trauma resolution therapies for people of all ages. She has been working with couples, parents and families for many years and draws from a wide variety of models such as Gottman, Emotion-Focused Family Therapy, Attachment-Focused Family Therapy, ACT, Mindful Self-Compassion and Trauma-Informed Neurobiology.

Lurline is also the Clinical Director for Allius Counselling Services.

Lurline is a registered clinical counsellor, child psychotherapist, registered play therapist, an... Read More

Hi, I’m Julia, a Registered Social Worker and Registered Clinical Counsellor in Nanaimo, BC, offering counselling for children ages four and up. I also offer depth psychotherapy for sensitive, introspective women who experience anxiety, self-doubt, and self-criticism who long for greater emotional well-being, embodiment, insight, and connection to their true selves. For all people, I provide a warm, relational approach to therapy, supporting individuals and families as they navigate emotional challenges, life transitions, and personal growth.

In my work with sensitive, introspective women, I offer gentle, body-oriented counselling grounded in the humanistic tradition. I believe meaningful change happens through connection, self-awareness, and listening closely to the innate wisdom of the body. Therapy is collaborative and paced with care, creating space to explore emotions, patterns, and experiences in a way that feels respectful, supportive, and transformative.

My approach with sensitive, introspective women is primarily informed by the Hakomi Method, a mindfulness-based form of psychotherapy that helps uncover how early experiences and unconscious beliefs shape emotional responses in the present. By slowing down and working with present-moment awareness, women can develop greater emotional regulation, insight, and self-trust. This approach is particularly supportive for women experiencing anxiety, stress, relational difficulties, or the lingering effects of past experiences.

Alongside my work with adults, I offer child counselling in Nanaimo using Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT). Play-based therapy is a developmentally appropriate and research-supported approach that allows children to express emotions, experiences, and needs through play rather than words.

As a child counsellor, I provide a safe, accepting, and non-directive therapeutic space where children are free to lead the process at their own pace. Through a warm and trusting therapeutic relationship, children naturally explore their inner world, process difficult experiences, and build emotional resilience. Child-Centered Play Therapy has been shown to support children experiencing anxiety, emotional regulation challenges, behavioural concerns, grief, trauma, and family transitions. This approach helps children strengthen self-confidence, develop healthy ways of expressing emotions, and feel more secure within themselves and their relationships.

Whether I am supporting a child through play-based therapy or working with an introspective client seeking greater emotional balance and authenticity, my intention is to meet each person with openness, compassion, and respect. I trust in the natural capacity for healing and aim to support that process in a way that feels safe, natural, deeply attuned, and meaningful.

If you are looking for a child counsellor, play-based therapist, or somatic counsellor in Nanaimo & Duncan, BC, I invite you to reach out. I would be honoured to support you or your child

Hi, I’m Julia, a Registered Social Worker and Registered Clinical Counsellor in Nanaimo, BC, offe... Read More