SERVICES

Individual Counselling

No matter what big life challenges you, your child, or your family are facing at this very moment, you are not alone. At Bright Star Counselling we provide individual counselling and family therapy in a safe space where you and your family can be heard and understood.

What is individual counselling?

This form of counselling is you or your child collaborating one-on-one with a therapist to work on and toward goals with each session. We use various, evidence-based therapies to assist with your goals, whether it's to overcome stress, learn positive coping skills, improve body positivity or self-esteem, and improve overall quality of life.

What does individual counselling look like for children and youth?

Our staff at Bright Star offers individual counselling to children and youth and adults. What this all means is that our counselling for children isn’t going to look the same as it would for adults.

We take pride in the fact we only use therapeutic techniques that are based on years of evidence-based research. That means we only use techniques and interventions that are proven to work with children, youth, and adults.

Most children we provide therapy to learn best by doing things. They’re very hands-on, especially when they’re younger and understand the world through their senses and their need and love of play. That's why we frequently integrate play therapy into our counselling sessions. We provide art, crafts, toys, and even sensory swings in all the rooms.

For older children and youth, we share activities and ideas that concentrate on learning the skills they need. We give them a safe space and the ability to talk through their feelings and solve problems.

We may meet with your child alone or with you and your child together, depending on their age. We may also meet with you to help you with tips and ideas for how to help your child at home.

We consider treating children and youth a speciality on its own. All our therapists have received years of speciality training in pediatrics. We regularly attend conferences and seminars in the field and are often asked to speak in the community on various mental health topics. Many of us work outside of the clinic in school settings, community mental health agencies, hospitals, and with multidisciplinary treatment teams.

Simply put, we're all wildly passionate about all things related to child and youth mental health.

What does individual counselling look like for adults?

Our individual counselling for adults is an opportunity to confidently talk through problems or situations with a clinical therapist who works specifically with adults. Our therapists often work with parents individually, while their child is seen to help with overall improvement in family functioning.

By focusing on strengths, we help develop specific goals so you can go from where you are now, to where you’d like to be.

How does it work?

At Bright Star, we build on the strength of the family, whether it's short-term, solution-focused counselling or long-term counselling. Your needs are unique, as are your goals for a life of mental well-being. Our therapeutic modalities for individual counselling include, but are not limited to, the following:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) – CBT helps to understand how thoughts affect behaviours, with the goal to change behaviours by targeting unhelpful thoughts.
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) – DBT is an expansion of CBT and considered an effective therapy for adolescents and adults who struggle with self-regulation, maintaining stable relationships, and issues with self-harm. It includes four modules of psychological and emotional function including: mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, distress tolerance, and emotion regulation.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) – it is used for couples and family therapy, based on the premise that emotions are key to identity. EFT is especially helpful in helping couples and families find greater awareness of their emotions and then learn how to transform them.
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) – this therapy consists of eye movements or other two-sided stimulation (tapping, sounds, or visual movements) guided by your therapist. Our therapist uses this method to treat trauma in adolescents and adults.
Dog Therapy (Pet Therapy) - this is a guided interaction between children and a trained dog (or other animal) to help them cope with situations such as anxiety and depression. Our dog therapy is also very popular in teaching social skills to children, treating phobias, and practicing self-regulation and calming techniques.
Play Therapy - a variety of chosen play and other expressive materials (art, music, and toys) will help your child open up and express what they’re struggling with. Whether it's about challenging behaviours or about navigating complex feelings, it helps them feel they are seen and heard.

We're a family-centered clinic, through and through. Whether it's counselling for yourself or for your child or youth, we want you to feel you're surrounded by a circle of care.

Do you still have questions about our individual counselling services, or what they fully entail?

Book a free phone consultation with one of our family therapists today.