About Spela
Hi, my name’s Spela. I’m a registered a clinical counsellor that works with individuals experiencing anxiety, depression, self-doubt, self-injury, academic stress, obsessive compulsive symptoms,* and struggles with emotional regulation and/or relationships.
I offer in-person, online, and walk and talk therapy in Kelowna, BC. I am also offering online therapy throughout BC, and walk and talk sessions in Sicamous and Revelstoke, BC.
Our lives, relationships, feelings, and thoughts are messy. And sometimes, it can all feel like it’s just too much. I know what that’s like. I also know it’s just a little bit easier, when, instead of turning away, someone chooses to sit with you in those moments and says: “This isn’t too much. You’re not [insert terrible thing you fear is true about you], and, you don’t have to hold this alone.”
I believe that’s my job as a therapist – to sit with you in the midst of all that messiness and help you hold the painful and overwhelming parts. From there, we can work together to untangle it and get curious about what works and what doesn’t, what’s helpful and what isn’t, what kinds of relationships you’d like to have with yourself and others, and what we need to do to help you get there.
MY MODALITIES (Modalities are ways of thinking and working through what brings people in.)
As a therapist, I don’t draw on any one modality. I blend and mix and match different strategies and approaches depending on who you are, what’s brought you in, and what works for you.
You know yourself and your life best. My job isn’t to give you advice or tell you what I think. It’s to sit with you and join you in, as mentioned above, getting curious and exploring what works and what doesn’t, and how we can build on that.
Some of the things I might be curious about are:
– What are your best hopes for our work together and your life?
– In what ways are you already, and have in the past, overcome challenges and shown up for yourself in a way that aligns with the person you’d like to be? How can we build on that?
– What thoughts and feelings do you have, and how do you relate to these?
– How do emotions feel in your body? How do your thoughts, actions, and external circumstances impact these — and vice versa?
– What stories do you hold about yourself and others? Where are these stories from? Do they work for you? Do they miss things? Would they look different if these missed things were included?
– What kinds of relationships do you have with yourself, your thoughts, your feelings, your body, and others? What would you like those relationships to look like? What steps can we take to get you there?
– What are your values?
– What are you doing or not doing to avoid discomfort? Is that helpful or not helpful? Both?
These questions are informed by strengths-based, solution-focused, narrative, cognitive-behavioural, acceptance and commitment, mindfulness, compassion, Gestalt, and emotion-focused approaches to therapy.
If all this sounds like it might be a fit, send me an email at [email protected] to book a free consultation. If you think you’d like to go ahead and book an appointment, you can also do so here: https://alivecounselling.janeapp.com/locations/alive-counselling-307-banks-rd-in-the-banks-centre/book#/staff_member/51
And finally, if my listed availability doesn’t work for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I have some flexibility in my schedule and may be able to find an alternate time that works for both of us.
*A quick note on OCD: One of the most effective ways of working through OCD is to do exposure work. I do exposure work with clients, and have done a lot of it myself, but I tend to gravitate more towards values-based exposures and sprinkle them in as experiments. When working with OCD, I rely more heavily on mindfulness and acceptance and commitment therapy (where you identify your values and commit to taking actions towards them regardless of how uncomfortable they may feel). I also take a relational approach. That is, I want to know what kind of relationship you currently have with your OCD and what kind of relationship you’d like to have to your OCD.
