Janet Shim

About Janet

My name is Janet Shim (she/her/hers) and I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor. My past role as a public servant has allowed me to experience meaningful engagement with citizens from various abilities, life stages, cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. This invaluable experience has shaped my personal journey towards helping diverse individuals and couples seek clarity and direction, find balance and deeper self-understanding.

I hold a Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology and an Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations. Outside of counselling, I enjoy travelling, playing piano, and spending quality time with my family, friends and two pups. During my leisure time, you will find me walking on the seawall or soaking in the sun amongst the trees at a local trail with my dogs.

I strive to provide a safe, non-judgemental, and compassionate environment for you to share your personal stories and experiences. I hope to accompany you along your journey to explore any stuck or ambiguous feelings that many of us encounter throughout various phases in our lives. From a person-centered approach, we will work together to illuminate your existing strengths and internal resources of resilience that can be harnessed in your healing journey. We will collaboratively discover what you need, as I draw from evidence-based strategies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Gottman Theory, Somatic, Existential and Mindfulness approaches.

Having personal lived experience with childhood and relational trauma as well as challenges with cultural gender role expectations, I hope that my healing journey provides a source of solace and inspiration to those navigating a similar path. Our sessions will progress in tune with your level of comfort and I invite you to provide me with feedback at any point throughout therapy as we co-create the best care for you.

From a trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and socially just lens, I support you in bringing awareness to the social, cultural, and economic context affecting your mental, physical, and spiritual health. My goal is to support individuals and couples to overcome patterns, emotions, and behaviours that may be hindering the potential to live a connected, authentic, and meaningful life.