Counselling
Counselling
with Registered Clinical Counsellor JoAnn Hill
Treatment Hours
- Wednesday 10-6:30pm
- Saturday appointments available by request
Let’s be honest, all of us have something that isn’t working in our lives. It could be behavioural patterns that no longer serve us, anxiety, depression, stress management, a tendency to brush off emotions or compartmentalise things and never look at them or their impact. Many of us have experienced grief or have had a life experience that has caused us some kind of suffering or change in our self-concept. Counselling offers space and time to look at these things in a supportive way. It offers tools to aid you as you move through the issue you are dealing with. It can help one unlearn unhelpful patterns and learn new ones or it can help move you towards emotional regulation or another goal. Sometimes it offers a safe space to express grief and work towards acceptance. Counselling isn’t about thinking the world isn’t a challenging place it is about helping you to create an individual toolbox that will serve you while you face life’s challenges.
One of the most important components of counselling is the therapeutic relationship, the relationship between you and the counsellor. It is key to have the right fit, you have to feel comfortable with the person you are working with. This allows for trust to build and the relationship to be a supportive one.
Book a 15 min complimentary consultation.Let’s see if my style is a fit for you.
Specialties- Issues
- Self-esteem and identity
- Stress management
- Anxiety
- Grief/loss
- Life transition
- Divorce
- Boundaries and self-care
- Developing self-compassion
- Discovering the Inner Critic
- Discovering the Inner Coach
Specialties- Modalities
- Somatic Experiencing
- Internal Family Systems
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Solution Focused Brief Therapy
- Existentialism
Client Focus -
Women and men looking to change patterns that no longer work and those wanting to work on themselves in order to cope with life challenges. Couples with communication issues or intimacy issues.
Message Us Here to Book
About Me
JoAnn Hill - RCC, MA, Somatic Experiencing
I am an integrative therapist, which means that I use various approaches with clients. There are several theoretical approaches to draw from to make sure that the techniques match what it is you are looking for. I use a person-centered approach; I believe the client is the expert on the client. I am also incredibly passionate about the mind body connection. After being a massage therapist for 18 years I have seen how stress and emotions can get stored in the body, and how ignoring information from the nervous system can cause issues for people.
One of my favourite sayings is “the relationship between you and you is the most important o e you will ever have” I believe this and enjoy working with people to unlearn things that are no longer helpful and replacing those ideas or patterns with new ones. Learning how to regulate the nervous system and getting reacquainted with the body in order to understand yourself better has changed my life. I hope to help people develop a toolbox that works for them. Some of the things that we can look at are ones inner critic and inner coach, work towards an increase in self compassion and a kinder inner voice, creating self-awareness, examining thoughts,patterns,and narratives to see which ones are helpful and which are not, using somatic experiencing tools to understand how your body speaks to you as well as aiding in the noticing of the nervous system responses, working with boundaries and communication and many others. I am a parent, a step-parent and have had a variety of life experiences that have taught me a great deal and have allowed me to walk my talk, well most days, I am after all human, and still learning.
My journey has been deeply intertwined with a person-centered approach. In my world, I firmly believe that the client holds the keys to their own expertise. Having spent 18 years as a massage therapist, I’ve witnessed the profound impact of stress and emotions on the body. It’s fascinating how our nervous system, when ignored, can lead to a myriad of issues.
A mantra close to my heart is, “the relationship with yourself is the most important one you will ever have.” Embracing this philosophy, I relish guiding individuals in unlearning outdated patterns and replacing them with new, empowering ideas. My own transformative experience in learning to regulate the nervous system and reconnect with the body has been life-changing, and I’m eager to share this journey with others.
I aspire to equip people with a personalized toolbox, tailored to their unique needs. Together, we explore facets like the inner critic and inner coach, fostering self-compassion, nurturing a kinder inner voice, cultivating self-awareness, and scrutinizing thought patterns and narratives. Employing somatic experiencing tools allows us to decode the language of the body and understand the nuances of nervous system responses.
About modalities
Somatic experiencing is a type of therapy that focuses on physical sensations in the body to address symptoms of trauma and overcoming the effects of experiencing extremely stressful events. Unlike other forms of mental health therapy that focus on thoughts, feelings, and emotions, somatic experiencing involves bringing awareness to how the body is responding to stress and the effects of the trauma response. This allows for a learning to interpret information about the body’s response to internal and external environments.
When a person experiences a stressful or traumatic event, the body and mind respond. This response is the fight, flight or freeze impulse, it is a self-protective response that allows us to fight back, run away from danger or freeze to avoid being seen. These are hard wired into our system and help to keep us alive. Somatic Experiencing is based on the theory that traumatic responses can get trapped in the physical body and lead to symptoms long after the danger of that traumatic event has passed. The idea is that by becoming more aware of the sensations in the body, those traumatic responses can be processed and released, relieving the symptoms.
While in practicum trauma work is not something that I can focus on, Somatic Experiencing work can be valid for those looking for another way to understand how they are responding to stress and work with the body to understand how to create new patterns for life.
I am also studying Internal Family Systems therapy and hope to add this to my skill set in May 2024.
This therapy looks at the parts of your internal working system that are no longer helpful. These are the pieces of yourself that have been wounded and are trying to organise life in a way that allows them to feel safe, the parts are often contradictory to one another, and this can create problems for the individual. Say for example when you were 5 you created a pattern of throwing a tantrum in order to get the need of attention met, this part could remain within your system and try to continue to use this strategy in your current life at the age of 45, it may not be as helpful at this stage of life. This therapy helps heal the wounded parts of us and allows us to become a more functional whole person.
Somatic experiencing is a type of therapy that focuses on physical sensations in the body to address symptoms of trauma and overcoming the effects of experiencing extremely stressful events. Unlike other forms of mental health therapy that focus on thoughts, feelings, and emotions, somatic experiencing involves bringing awareness to how the body is responding to stress and the effects of the trauma response. This allows for a learning to interpret information about the body’s response to internal and external environments.
When a person experiences a stressful or traumatic event, the body and mind respond. This response is the fight, flight or freeze impulse, it is a self-protective response that allows us to fight back, run away from danger or freeze to avoid being seen. These are hard wired into our system and help to keep us alive. Somatic Experiencing is based on the theory that traumatic responses can get trapped in the physical body and lead to symptoms long after the danger of that traumatic event has passed. The idea is that by becoming more aware of the sensations in the body, those traumatic responses can be processed and released, relieving the symptoms.
While in practicum trauma work is not something that I can focus on, Somatic Experiencing work can be valid for those looking for another way to understand how they are responding to stress and work with the body to understand how to create new patterns for life.
I am also studying Internal Family Systems therapy and hope to add this to my skill set in May 2024.
This therapy looks at the parts of your internal working system that are no longer helpful. These are the pieces of yourself that have been wounded and are trying to organise life in a way that allows them to feel safe, the parts are often contradictory to one another, and this can create problems for the individual. Say for example when you were 5 you created a pattern of throwing a tantrum in order to get the need of attention met, this part could remain within your system and try to continue to use this strategy in your current life at the age of 45, it may not be as helpful at this stage of life. This therapy helps heal the wounded parts of us and allows us to become a more functional whole person.
Client Feedback
Our Client Reviews
Read about what our clients think about our staff and their experiences in our office.
Local Guide
Friendly staff, wonderful chiropractors, acupuncturists and massage therapists. Your one-stop wellness centre!
Love this place - reception is very nice and always feel very welcomed. Get amazing acupuncture and chiro here!
Local Guide Victoria
Always greeted by their super friendly staff, all their chiropractors are amazing. I also love how they have numerous amazing RMT's available and acupuncture is incredible!!! I would definitely recommend their services and love how they have 2 locations to choose from. One on Lagoon Road ans one on Goldstream, very convenient.
Dr. Bob is really good, professional and experienced. Me and my spouse both had back pain consistently and after 2-3 sessions I was feeling good. Just a wait time is little more even after taking appointment. I highly recommend this place.