Maybe you’re here for self-worth counselling because no matter what you achieve, it never feels like enough. The promotion at work, the degree on your wall, the carefully curated life – they’re all supposed to make you feel confident, but somehow the doubt always creeps back in.
You find yourself overthinking every interaction. Replaying conversations, wondering if you said the wrong thing. You hesitate to share your ideas as you wonder, “What if they’re not good enough? What if I’m not good enough?”
The perfectionism is exhausting.
Double-checking everything. Taking on more than your share of work to prove your value. Saying yes when you want to say no. Making yourself smaller to avoid criticism. Code-switching so much you sometimes forget your own voice – watching your tone, your appearance, your words, trying to navigate other people’s comfort while abandoning your own. Other days it’s the body image struggles – trying to find peace with yourself in a world that profits from your self-doubt and commodifies your insecurities.
The self-help books, the positive affirmations, the pep talks in the mirror. Sometimes they help for a moment, but then something happens – a pointed criticism, a missed opportunity, an awkward social interaction – and you’re back to questioning your worth. No amount of superman poses keep “Imposter syndrome” from showing up even in spaces you’ve earned through twice the effort.
Some days you wonder what’s wrong with you. Why can’t you just believe in yourself like others seem to? Why does it feel like everyone else got a manual for life that you somehow missed?
There’s nothing wrong with you. Your struggles with worth aren’t a personal failing – they’re a natural response to complex and contextual experiences. And while the journey might feel lonely, you don’t have to figure it out alone.
The world has a lot to say about who gets to feel worthy. The messages show up everywhere – in who gets celebrated in media, who gets promoted at work, whose pain gets taken seriously in healthcare, in the legal system, whose boundaries get respected in relationships. Be confident, but not too confident. Take up space, but not too much space. Love yourself, but keep working on yourself.
And beneath it all, there’s that deeper question: how do you trust your own wisdom when so many spaces have tried to convince you that you are not good enough?
Both confidence and self-doubt require a belief in something we cannot see. The difference? Self-doubt asks us to believe in our inadequacy, while confidence invites us to trust in our knowing.
What makes you believe self-doubt more than confidence?
Here’s the thing – self-worth isn’t something you achieve through endless self-improvement. It’s not about becoming more confident, more productive, or more acceptable. It’s about understanding how you came to question your worth in the first place, and finding your way back to yourself.
The idea that we should be able to generate worth independently, regardless of our connections and context, is part of the same system that profits from our self-doubt.
Think about it – how do we actually experience worth? It’s in the moments when:
The myth of individual self-worth tells us we shouldn’t care what others think, that we should be able to generate confidence in isolation. But we’re relational beings. When we struggle with worth, it’s often not because we lack “self-esteem skills” or haven’t tried hard enough at “loving ourselves.” It’s because we make sense of who we are through our connections with others, through being witnessed and understood, through belonging, remembering that we were never meant to carry “worth” alone.
How we work
At Venturous Counselling, we approach self-worth counselling in Vancouver with the understanding that building a different relationship with yourself isn’t just about positive self-talk or confidence exercises (though tools for navigating self-criticism are part of what we offer). We understand that self-worth counselling in Vancouver should happen in relationship – with ourselves, with others, with community. We won’t tell you to just “love yourself more” or give you a checklist for building self-esteem. Instead, we’ll explore together how to:
Reclaim Your Story
Understanding how your relationship with yourself has been shaped by systems, culture, and experience. Identifying what’s yours to carry and what isn’t.
Reconnect with Your Wisdom
Learning to trust your body’s knowing, your lived experience, your inherent capacity for discernment and growth.
Build Sustainable Self-Trust
Moving beyond temporary confidence boosts to develop a grounded, resilient relationship with yourself that can weather life’s changes.
Find Your Communities of Care
Build relationships that reflect your worth back to you, find communities where your humanness is celebrated, connect with others who share your experiences, and/or create spaces where collective care makes individual survival less exhausting.
Embrace Your Complexity
Cultivate your audacity to be imperfect, that your sensitivity might be your strength, that your humanness isn’t a problem to be solved.
whether that’s somatic practices, nature-based sessions, expressive arts therapy, or EMDR.
Our counsellors bring both professional and living experience to this work. We are Master’s level practitioners with specialized training in self-worth counselling, anti-oppressive, intersectional feminist, and anti-colonial frameworks. Most importantly, we understand firsthand the importance of finding therapy that doesn’t require you to explain or justify your identity and experiences.
Sessions are offered virtually across BC, and in-person in Vancouver and Burnaby. We are covered by most insurance providers (check for RCC or Registered Clinical Counsellor in your plan) and can provide direct billing to certain insurance providers.
You can also access sessions with us through CVAP, ICBC, WorkBC or FNHA.
Start with a free 15-minute video conversation to find out more
Q&A
If you find yourself constantly questioning your value, struggling with perfectionism, or feeling disconnected from your own wisdom and intuition, you deserve support. There’s no minimum threshold of struggle required to seek help.
We understand the frustration with oversimplified self-love narratives. Our approach acknowledges the complex systemic and cultural factors that impact self understandings of worth, moving beyond individual “fixing” to deeper understanding and transformation.
We approach body image through a justice lens, understanding how beauty standards intersect with systems of oppression. Our work focuses on building a relationship with your body that feels authentic and sustainable, rather than trying to conform to external ideals. Our practitioners have specialized training in body image counselling.
Many people come to us feeling disconnected from their own desires and needs. Part of our work together can be gently reconnecting with what matters to you, separate from what society has told you should matter.
Everyone’s journey is different. Rather than focusing on a timeline, we’ll work together to identify what healing looks like for you and celebrate the small victories along the way.
Both options can be equally effective. Virtual sessions offer convenience, accessibility, and comforts of being in your own space, while in-person sessions might feel more grounding for some. We can explore what feels right for you, and you’re welcome to switch between the two.
Life happens! We ask for 24 hours notice for cancellations or changes. This helps us maintain accessibility for our community and sustainability for our practice.
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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
Building reflexive and fulling relationships can be difficult without guidance, support, and effective communication strategies. Our Services Overview provides insights into various therapeutic approaches designed to help individuals and relationships navigate their journey toward deeper connections.
