Cicada Counselling

The Metamorphosis Begins.

Welcome - you’ve made it 😊

If you've found your way here, it means you are on a quest to transform and tap into the resiliency I believe has always been within you - and I believe you are already halfway there through taking the leap and looking up a therapist.

My name is Louis (pronounced: Lou-ee. He/Him/They/Them), a storyteller, a therapist, and a potential companion here to join you on your healing journey.

Like race cars, we are often expected to navigate the turbulence of life and race to the finish line, no matter the cost. I see counselling as a pit stop for us: to slow down, reflect, and tend to the parts that need fine-tuning and updates.

Being human is challenging, but we are not meant to face life alone! It is perfectly okay to reach out and need support - please remember that your feelings are valid, no matter what you are seeking help for. You have come so far in processing things on your own. We all need a helping hand from time to time; we all want our stories to be heard and validated. No issue is too big or too small - we all need a companion on the complex journey to healing and being human.

Begin your journey with a 15-minute, complimentary consultation

In addition to drawing techniques from a variety of evidence-based theories, I approach therapy through an emotion-focused and relational-based lens, meaning that:

a) Together, we tune into your emotions and uncover the underlying needs our body is telling us

b) You will not be getting a distant therapist. Instead, we explore together, side-by-side, human-to-human.

My Areas of Practice/Speciality Include:

Anxiety and Depression
Attachment wounds, relationships, and ethical non-monogamy
Coming Out
Communication
Change and transition
Minority stress
Queer, trans, and/or gender-diverse identities
Racial Identity
Self-esteem/self-concept/ self-compassion
Social and interpersonal difficulties
Stress and Burnout
Trauma

I draw from the following approaches in my practice:

Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)
Attachment-based
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Emotion-focused
Existential
Experiential
Feminist
Narrative
Person-centred
Strength-based
Trauma-informed

Learn more about me and my approach

Currently accepting new in-person and virtual clients

Cicada

Growing up in Taiwan, I often fell asleep and woke up to the sound of cicadas. Cicadas in Taiwanese cultures are symbols of personal change, renewal, rebirth, and transformation.

Unlike butterflies or other insects that undergo complete metamorphosis, cicadas are unique in that they transform from one fully functioning state to another, undergoing a rapid and remarkable change within a relatively short time.

I think of cicadas’ transformation as comparable to that of humans. When we desire or want to make a change in our lives, we don't enclose ourselves in a pod and emerge the next spring. Instead, we tap into our innate resiliency and shed our old layers in response to life, ultimately transforming into a stronger, wiser version of ourselves. - Louis

As a settler and a storyteller, I am privileged to be facilitating, telling, and listening to stories on the ceded, unceded, ancestral, traditional, and shared territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.

I am dedicated to ongoing learning about Indigenous practices and the process of decolonization, and I extend an invitation for you to join me on this journey. Here is one of the resources I found helpful in my learning as a settler.