Tara's Services
Tara Hope Counselling offers professional emotion-focused, trauma-informed mental health counselling and consulting services to individual adults, couples, and parents in downtown Courtenay with online and telephone options for national and international clients. Tara is an experienced, down to earth, inclusive therapist with specializations in neurodivergence (ADHD), grief and loss, mild to moderate addictions, couples counselling, and parenting.
Tara is an experienced Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) with the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors (License #11323). Her RCC services are available to residents of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon and are covered by many insurance plans.
Areas of
Specialization
In addition to credentials as a Registered Clinical Counsellor and Certified Master Emotional Freedom Technique Practitioner, Tara also specializes in the following areas. Even if you are unable to identify your specific mental health needs, Tara has the expertise to work with you to recognize the source of your struggles and help you build effective strategies to manage your challenges, build resilience, and live a more emotionally balanced life.
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Tara has a remarkable ability to connect with parents of children living with exceptionalities like neurodivergence and behavioural and mood challenges. Her understanding from lived and professional experience allow her to offer guidance3 that is both grounded and empowering. Parents consistently feel seen and supported in her presence.
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In addition to her work with parents, Tara has a gift for with working with individuals and couples as they navigate disconnect from self and other due to things like rejection sensitivity, emotion dysregulation, substance use issues, grief and loss, and any number of the many manifestations of the fight, flight, or freeze response so many of us humans have.
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Tara's approach is warm, open, and down-to-earth making clients feel accepted, heard, seen, and understood.
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Neurodivergence/ADHD
I work with adult clients (individuals, couples, parents) who want help with this neurodivergence, whether they (or their loved one) have a formal diagnosis or not. I offer a variety of therapeutic modalities with a strength, acceptance, and mindfulness based perspective. This work is collaborative, individualized, and aimed at creating positive change and personal empowerment. ADHD is not something to be "cured", it is a neurotype that brings great strengths and challenges. I help clients set up systems to address the challenging bits and help them release any shame and grief that may hinder their progress.
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$150/hour Individual Counselling
$150/hour Parent Consultations
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Addictions (Mild-Moderate)
If you are struggling to moderate or stop using a substance or engaging in a troubling behaviour (e.g., binge eating, compulsive eating, cannabis, alcohol, nicotine, excessive online activity, infidelity, hyper sexuality, and so on), I offer talk and behaviour therapy and an individualized, collaborative plan customized for you. Increasing your awareness, acceptance, and capacity to engage in ongoing positive action-steps to help you meet your goal is often part of this work. Together, we get the monkey off your back and strive to prevent others from hopping on.
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$150/hour Individual Counselling
$150/hour Parent Consultations
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Emotions, Anxiety, Grief...
People tend to seek help for emotions when they begin to interfere with their ability to manage some aspect of their lives (e.g., going to work or school, driving, leaving the house, managing relationships). Anxiety can be so intense, it causes panic attacks. Intense anger can derail relationships and erode self-esteem. Grief and sadness can weigh very heavily on us and make us feel like we're walking through mud. When people feel stuck, I use different techniques to help release the emotion(s), including Emotional Freedom Techniques which I describe in greater detail
in this blog post.
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$150/hour Individual Counselling
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Couples Counselling
Tara uses relationship-focused counselling to support couples to strengthen communication, deepen emotional and physical intimacy, and navigate life transitions with empathy, compassion, and actionable strategies with the aim of building trust, resilience, and lasting connections in partnership.
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$200-$175/hour Couples​