番茄社区

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Zach T

Practicum counsellor

Counsellors

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About

I have lived in Victoria (on the traditional lək̓ʷəŋən territory) for the last 10 years. While living on the island, I have studied writing, education, and counselling at the 番茄社区 and have worked as a community leader, youth support worker, rehabilitation assistant, and school district educator.

Some of my personal passions include photography, digital art, creative writing, climbing, boxing, swimming, road trips, being in nature, and learning new ways that we can be kinder to ourselves and others.

Counselling approach

In counselling, I aim to provide care and support that encourages self-love, self-discovery, and self-acceptance. I begin with a person-centred approach, utilizing motivational interviewing techniques to create room for clients to select the concerns that they want to address, the goals that they want to accomplish, and the type of support that matters most to them. This involves taking the appropriate amount of time to establish trust and safety by means of curiosity, compassion, and collaboration. In so, my hope is that a strong therapeutic alliance is built that allows for co-facilitated insight, healing, growth, resilience, and positive self-regard.

I see every therapeutic journey as its own unique process, integrating and utilizing modalities, theories, and interventions that best suit each individual client and concern. In later work, when suitable, I incorporate attachment, parts, and inner child work; narrative and emotional focused (EFT) approaches; and acceptance and commitment (ACT), dialectical behavioral (DBT), and cognitive behavioral (CBT) techniques.

Areas of interest

In my work, I am especially interested in grief, guilt, shame, and the many diverse components of self-actualization work. I enjoy working with adults and young adults, and I am especially excited to work with the university student demographic, addressing the many issues and concerns that I myself have experienced and witnessed in recent years.