The Happening Project:

The Happening Project is a comprehensive program helping justice-oriented therapists in so-called Vancouver and across BC build therapy practices that not only support individual sustainability, but also contribute to collective liberation and care. This program was built by a practicing therapist committed to anti-oppressive practice, specifically for justice-oriented mental health professionals.

The Happening Project is designed primarily for self-directed use. There is no required group participation. Rather than a linear course you move through once, it functions as a body of applied material you return to when practice decisions arise.

You can expect structured guidance around fees, policies, capacity, sustainability, and the business conditions therapists are working within — without prescriptive formulas or growth-at-all-costs frameworks.

The program covers eight comprehensive sessions including Vision & Indicators (defining the principles that will guide your decision-making), Niching Your Practice & Business Model Co-Creation (defining your practice niche and core ethics), Branding & Website Set-Up (creating effective websites without huge costs), Operations, Accounting & Legal set up (all the nitty gritty operational building blocks), Marketing Strategies (creating marketing that aligns with your values), and The Personal is Political (reconciling the messiness of operating within the medical industrial complex while maintaining ethics). No question is off-limits, and we look at all topics through a systemic, political lens.

Unlike traditional business courses that focus on profit maximization, The Happening Project integrates justice-oriented frameworks into every aspect of practice building. We examine the messiness of being complicit in the medical industrial complex while dreaming up liberatory practices for collective wellness. The program was built by a practicing therapist committed to anti-oppressive practice and addresses the unique challenges faced by justice-oriented practitioners who want to align their business practices with their values.

The Happening Project is specifically designed for justice-oriented therapists, counsellors, social workers, and mental health professionals who want to build practices that align with their liberatory ethics. This includes practitioners starting new practices, established professionals wanting to transform their approaches, those working with marginalized communities, and anyone seeking to challenge oppressive systems through their practice. Whether you’re a new graduate or experienced practitioner, this program supports your professional development through an anti-oppressive lens.

That depends on how you built your practice! This program is rooted in our liberatory ethics and provides a framework to align our practice to this work. I go through these processes regularly to tweak my practice and address complicities in capitalism and the medical industrial complex and have found it helpful even though I established Venturous many years ago.

In particular, I find the group processes especially nourishing as I’m always left with seeds of reflection I hadn’t considered before.

It could! The program was designed to get everything up and running by the end of it. That being said, ableism and urgency under capitalism is rampant. Please take care of your bodyminds as you go through the program.

You receive ongoing access to the material so you can return to it as your practice, capacity, and circumstances evolve. Many people revisit different sections multiple times as new questions come up.

Yes! The program was built as a overarching framework for you to fill in your own personalized details. The only instance where location may be an area of consideration is in session 6 where we talk about tax and legal obligations. Through the program we’ll support you in verifying this information for your particular context anyway, so it won’t affect your experience with the program.

Recorded modules are about 30-minutes to an hour long each week. The rest depends on the time you spend on action-guides and processing prompts. Some weeks are more intensive than others, particularly the website and branding sessions and business model co-creation session. The program was designed to get everything up and running by the end of it, though you can work at your own pace. 

There are three enrollment options: The Self-Study provides access to all recorded modules and materials to work through at your own pace. The Commons includes the self-study content plus a monthly voice note Q&A for support and workshopping. The Intensive offers the most comprehensive support with additional one-on-one strategy sessions and personalized guidance. Each option is designed to meet different learning styles and support needs.

For therapists who want additional support with specific decisions, optional 1:1 sessions are available separately or in the Intensive. These are not required to benefit from the material and are intended as intentional support rather than ongoing participation.

The Happening Project offers three enrollment options: The Self-Study option provides access to all recorded modules and materials for $497+gst, The Commons includes the self-study content plus a monthly voice note Q&A for $750+gst, and The Intensive offers the most comprehensive support with additional one-on-one strategy sessions for $1250+gst. Payment plans are available for all options. 50% of all proceeds go towards mutual aid and collective healing initiatives in so-called BC. Contact us to discuss pricing and payment options that work for your situation.

This answer might surprise you given the gatekeeping that happens in capitalism, but YES. Absolutely!

Depending on your proximity to privilege and experience of systemic barriers, I ask that you use your own counsel to decide how many enrollments to purchase. Your tuition goes towards keeping this program sustainable and towards mutual aid and collective healing initiatives in so-called BC. 

I will not be policing this self-reflection process and trust that you and your community are accountable to your positionality. 

For many folx who face significant systemic barriers due to race, disability, incarceration, etc. taking me up on this offer may be a difficult process. If there are any feelings of shame or accusations of undeservingness arising for you, I want you to know that this is exactly what the Happening Project was built for. This is not charity or benevolence, but one messy attempt at equitable practice and ethical alignment in the midst of capitalism.

If you’d like to discuss reciprocal resource sharing options outside of monetary exchange, please email [email protected] and let’s chat!

Yes! Please do! You can book with me directly here. or email [email protected] for support or to arrange an individual session. If you purchase the self-study option and gather your own group, you can also invite the facilitator into your group if you get stuck. The Commons and Intensive options include built-in community support and facilitated sessions to help you work through challenges.

Yes, Abby works as a business coach for therapists and counsellors across BC and beyond, bringing both clinical experience and formal training in design, marketing, and business management to her consulting work.

Yes. While the program welcomes all regulated therapists, much of the content is built around the realities of RCC private practice in BC, including sliding scale frameworks, fee setting for therapists, and navigating the BCACC code of ethics alongside justice-oriented values.

Aside from extenuating circumstances like family crisis and the onset of long-term medical concerns, the return policy for the program is 14 days. For the Commons and the Intensive enrollment options, we will not be able to offer a refund for sessions you’ve already taken part in. In these cases, I recommend deferring your enrollment to the next cohort or gifting your enrollment to a community member.