We direct bill counselling services to Pacific Blue Cross, GreenShield, Canada Life & Sun Life! For a full list of direct billing providers, click here.
We direct bill counselling services to Pacific Blue Cross, GreenShield, Canada Life & Sun Life! For a full list of direct billing providers, click here.
No one taught us business practices in life, let alone grad school! (Unless you did a business or accounting degree, but I digress.)
Having a thorough understanding of how your business structure and practices are impacting your work is crucial to building a sustainable practice that has space for you to prioritize your justice-oriented projects in both paid and unpaid work.
As today’s systemic landscape becomes even more difficult to navigate — it can feel overwhelming when faced with decision making that has impact on not just your business but also the larger oppressive system.
This is where the intersection between business and ethics collide.
By engaging in justice-oriented business consulting, you’ll be supported with both the practical skills and in unlearning default indoctrinations of oppression affecting your practice. Let’s co-create structures and procedures that align with your liberatory ethics.
No worries, I gotchu. With justice-oriented business consulting, you’ll not only get a crash course in business management from a fellow business operator, but also generative exploration that deconstructs capitalism and connects you with community so that your practice is grounded in justice-doing.
MA, RCC-ACS (she/her)
I’m an avid explorer of wonder and possibility, aspirational human database for systemic awareness, co-creator with the magic that still manages to survive in this dumpster fire world, lover of all things with faces that probably shouldn’t have faces on it & cat-reel aficionado.
I navigate the world as a cisqueer, working-turned-middle class, straight-sized settler from Hong Kong who lives with chronic pain and ADHD. My ancestors come from roots in Chaozhou and Nanjing, and a lineage of creating sneaky practices to survive necropolitics, and refugeeism.
founding and running Venturous Counselling and Reflecting on Justice, a virtual community for therapists to unlearn systemic oppression together through free resources, a community membership, and various training programs. As well as co-founding and co-running Prospect Counselling, a Queer, POC-led, radical training practice that redirects proceeds from services to provide further training so that SDQTBIPOC+ communities can access justice-oriented counselling, while funding projects for collective healing within communities. I am also part of the operations team at Healing in Colour and clinically supervise/provide business consulting to various local non-profit agencies and group practices.
Fun fact: Before becoming a therapist, I was formally trained in graphic design, marketing, and business management!
These resources are born from real questions and challenges faced by practitioners like you, shaped by our community’s needs, and offered freely as part of our vision for transformative change in mental health care.
Let’s dream up something so, so much better.
The biggest guiding force in our work together is co-creation. Instead of only asking you questions about what you would do in a particular circumstance or telling you the “right way” to move forward, we’ll explore, together, what your practice can look like.
Not only will we dream up a better way to approach business practice, I will also support you from a practical standpoint as a business operator myself.
From starting up and managing your team, accounting and developing business structures, to branding and design support — know that you are not alone in this work. Together, we can workshop and create through a systemic, political lens that recognizes the messiness of being complicit, and how we can move forward.
Client love
Hear what your fellow therapists are saying about their experience with the Happening Project and/or business consulting supports.
How we work
Justice-oriented business consulting in Vancouver supports mental health practitioners in building sustainable practices that align with their liberatory ethics. Unlike traditional business consulting that focuses solely on profit maximization, our approach recognizes the intersection between business and ethics, helping you co-create structures and procedures that challenge oppressive systems while building a thriving practice. Through co-creation and generative exploration, we deconstruct capitalism and connect you with community so that your practice is grounded in justice-doing. We provide both practical business skills and support in unlearning default indoctrinations of oppression affecting your practice. Sessions can be virtual across BC or in-person at our Vancouver and Port Moody locations.
Our justice-oriented business consulting rates vary depending on the scope of the work. We also offer package options and group consulting at reduced rates per participant. Each session focuses on co-creation and systemic analysis rather than traditional business consulting models that prioritize profit over people. We understand that many practitioners are seeking business support that aligns with their values while building sustainable practices. Book a free 30-minute consultation to discuss your business consulting needs and explore how our approach might support your practice development goals.
The biggest guiding force in our work together is co-creation. Instead of only asking you questions about what you would do in a particular circumstance or telling you the “right way” to move forward, we’ll explore together what your practice can look like. Not only will we dream up a better way to approach business practice, I will also support you from a practical standpoint as a business operator myself. From starting up and managing your team, accounting and developing business structures, to branding and design support – know that you are not alone in this work. Together, we can workshop and create through a systemic, political lens that recognizes the messiness of being complicit and how we can move forward.
Justice-oriented business consulting is ideal for helping professionals (therapists, social workers, doctors, physiotherapists, non-profit management, teachers, etc.) who want to build practices that align with their values and challenge oppressive systems. This includes therapists starting private practices, established practitioners wanting to transform their business approaches, group practices seeking to align their operations with justice principles, and folx feeling overwhelmed by traditional business models that prioritize profit over people. Whether you’re a new graduate launching your practice or an experienced practitioner wanting to integrate anti-oppressive frameworks into your business operations, this approach supports your professional and ethical development.
We provide comprehensive business support including practice startup and structure development, team building and management, accounting and financial planning, branding and design support, sliding scale and accessibility policy development, community partnership building, marketing that aligns with your values, and navigating the tensions of working within capitalist healthcare systems. We also help with developing sustainable business practices, creating anti-oppressive intake and assessment processes, and building systems that support both practitioner wellbeing and client accessibility.
Traditional business consulting often focuses on profit maximization, competitive advantage, and individual success metrics. Justice-oriented business consulting shifts the focus from symptom-reduction to world-building, examining how business practices can challenge rather than perpetuate oppressive systems. We integrate political analysis into business decision-making, prioritize community benefit alongside financial sustainability, and explore liberatory practices like sliding scale models, community partnerships, and collective care approaches. This approach recognizes that business practices are political choices that can either reinforce or resist systemic oppression.
Yes, we offer group consulting for practices, organizations, or groups of practitioners who want to collectively explore justice-oriented business approaches. Group consulting allows for peer learning, shared accountability, and community building around ethical business practices. This format is particularly powerful for teams wanting to align their practice values, organizations seeking to transform their business approaches, and practitioners who want to build solidarity with others doing similar work. Group consulting rates are reduced per participant and can be customized to your organization’s needs and goals.
Absolutely! We provide comprehensive support for practitioners starting their private practice, including business structure and legal considerations, financial planning and budgeting, branding and website development, developing sliding scale and accessibility policies, creating intake and assessment processes, building community partnerships and referral networks, and navigating insurance and billing systems. We approach practice startup through a justice lens, helping you build systems that align with your values from the beginning rather than trying to retrofit ethics into existing structures.
Abby Chow (MA, RCC-ACS) brings over a decade of experience in both clinical practice and business operations. She founded Venturous Counselling and Reflecting on Justice, co-founded Prospect Counselling, and is part of the operations team at Healing in Colour. Before becoming a therapist, she was formally trained in graphic design, marketing, and business management. Abby has extensive experience building and running multiple justice-oriented practices and provides business consulting to various local non-profit agencies and group practices throughout Vancouver and BC.
We acknowledge the messiness of being complicit in capitalist systems while working toward liberation. Rather than pretending these tensions don’t exist, we explore them directly and help you navigate the contradictions of running a business within oppressive systems while maintaining your ethical commitments. This includes developing sustainable financial models that don’t exploit clients or practitioners, creating accessibility without burning out, building community partnerships that share resources, and finding ways to resist and transform systems from within while meeting your own needs for survival and sustainability.
We offer both one-time consultations for specific questions and ongoing support for practitioners building or transforming their practices. Many clients work with us intensively during practice startup or major transitions, then return periodically for support with new challenges or growth phases. We can also provide ongoing monthly or quarterly check-ins to help you stay aligned with your values as your practice evolves. The frequency and duration of support depends on your needs, goals, and the complexity of what you’re building.
Yes, we provide virtual justice-oriented business consulting sessions across British Columbia. Virtual consulting can be particularly effective for practitioners in remote areas, those with mobility challenges, or during times when in-person sessions aren’t possible. The co-creative and exploratory nature of justice-oriented business consulting translates well to virtual formats, and many clients appreciate the flexibility and accessibility of online sessions. You can always switch between virtual and in-person sessions based on your needs and preferences.
Building a practice that holds your ethics and sustains your livelihood asks something different than what most business advice offers. These resources explore the tensions and possibilities of justice-oriented private practice.
occupying the stolen, ancestral territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), Qayqayt, and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) peoples. Our relationship with these lands dictates our commitment to understanding and responding to the ongoing impacts of colonization in our practices in and out of the counselling room.
Learn more about the land you’re occupying at native-land.ca
No one taught us business practices in life, let alone grad school! These resources were born from real questions and challenges faced by practitioners just like you. No more reinventing the wheel on your own, we’ve gotchu!
