What if anxiety is internal applause?
Anxiety isn’t always a warning that something is wrong. Sometimes it’s nervous system energy responding to uncertainty, care, or risk. Reframing anxiety as “internal applause” can reduce shame around anxious sensations and help you relate to future-focused “what if” thoughts with more steadiness and choice. There was a moment, scrolling Instagram, the way so many […]
What if Time Can’t Be Wasted? Time Anxiety & Reclaiming Time
Before You Rush Ahead: Let 2025 Breathe It’s that season again—vision boards, resolutions, and declarations that “2026 will be my year.” It’s tempting to treat the year we just lived as a prelude, something to move past quickly. But 2025 wasn’t a placeholder in your story. It was made up of genuine effort, subtle changes, […]
I couldn’t sleep so I cancelled Spotify – An anti-oppressive therapist’s imperfect alignment
There’s a particular quality to sleeplessness that I’ve come to recognize. Not the anxious kind that has you rehearsing conversations or catastrophizing about tomorrow. Not the physical kind where your body simply won’t settle. This was the liminal kind—the kind where you exist in the space between waking and dreaming, too conscious for rest but […]
A Call for Community: AI & Mental Health
Table of Contents Recently, I came across a podcast on AI and mental health that really spoke to some of the trends we’ve been seeing in our work, and a weariness for what is happening to the state of community and beingness. The conversation lingered with me for days, not because it introduced anything that […]
Finding the therapy that works for you
No one knows your wellness All too often we think of specific goals we want to accomplish in the new year – things we think will make us happy, milestones we think will finally ease us into contentment, accomplishments we think will finally make us feel like we’re enough. In the pursuit of happiness, contentment, […]
The Revolution Will Be Playful: Radical Play Therapy in Vancouver
We create this content from the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish Nations. As settlers providing therapy in Vancouver, we acknowledge that play practices have existed in Indigenous and BIPOC communities long before colonial systems tried to regulate and commodify them. This post explores anti-oppressive therapy approaches that center joy as genuine resistance. […]
EMDR and Somatic Therapy Through an Anti-Colonial Lens: Reconnecting with Embodied Wisdom
We create this content from the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish Nations. As settlers providing therapy services in so-called Vancouver, we’re committed to moving beyond acknowledgment into active accountability. In This Guide: Understanding EMDR & Somatic Approaches Let’s talk about how these fancy-sounding therapy approaches actually connect with ancient wisdom (spoiler alert: […]
Community Care & Anti-Oppressive Therapy in Vancouver: Beyond Individual Self-Care
As spring unfolds, many of us feel called to declutter not just our physical spaces, but our mental and emotional landscapes as well. At Venturous Counselling, we understand that true healing extends beyond individual self-care—it’s about fostering community well-being through anti-oppressive therapy and collective care practices. In This Article: Beyond Candles and Bubble Baths: A […]
Anti-Colonial Mental Health Care: Anti-Oppressive Approaches to Healing
We create this content from the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish Nations. As settlers providing therapy services in so-called Vancouver, we’re committed to moving beyond acknowledgment into active accountability and supporting Indigenous sovereignty. In This Guide: Understanding Colonial Impacts On Mental Health The mental health system, like many institutions, carries the legacy […]
A Guide to Anti-oppressive Therapy for BIPOC Communities
We create this content from the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish Nations. As settlers providing therapy services in so-called Vancouver, we’re committed to moving beyond acknowledgment into active accountability and supporting Indigenous sovereignty. In This Guide: Understanding Anti-oppressive Therapy Traditional therapy often centers Western perspectives and individualistic approaches to healing. For BIPOC […]