Inclusive Cancer Counselling for Patients & Caregivers
A cancer diagnosis changes everything — not just physically, but in how you see yourself, your relationships, and your future. Whether you’ve just received a diagnosis, are in the middle of treatment, or are navigating life on the other side of it, counselling can offer a space to process what you’re carrying.
Who This is For
Our counselling services are for patients at any stage of the cancer journey: newly diagnosed, currently in treatment, in remission, or facing a terminal prognosis. It’s also for caregivers — partners, family members, health care professionals, and close friends — who are often deeply affected but rarely have a place to put that.
What You Might Be Experiencing
Cancer brings a specific and often overwhelming mix of emotional challenges. You might be dealing with shock, anger or disbelief after a diagnosis, fear and anxiety about treatment, recurrence, or the future, grief over the life you had or the plans that have changed, changes to your identity and sense of self, strain in your relationships, or the strange disorientation of survivorship or survivor guilt. You are not alone in any of this, and these experiences deserve support.
How we can help
Our counsellors work with cancer patients and caregivers using approaches tailored to what you’re facing. This includes Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which is particularly effective for managing fear of recurrence and treatment-related anxiety, trauma-informed care, which recognizes that cancer treatment itself, and narrative therapy which supports clients in exploring and reshaping the personal stories they hold about illness, recovery, and identity in a way that fosters resilience and empowerment. Sleep disruption is extremely common during cancer treatment and recovery. If this is something you’re struggling with, CBT for insomnia (CBT-I) may be helpful alongside other supports.
For those supporting a loved one, counselling for caregiver fatigue offers dedicated space for the unique exhaustion and emotional weight of that role. Couples facing cancer together can also access couples counselling to support communication, intimacy, and connection through an incredibly difficult time.
Anxiety and depression are among the most common experiences for cancer patients and those who love them. Our counselling for chronic illness-related anxiety and depression services are also available to you.
Our counsellors have a special focus in cancer care, reflecting the central role it has played throughout our careers in massage therapy. We bring a deep understanding of the physical impacts of cancer and its treatments, and now extend that expertise into comprehensive counselling support.
The Connection Between Mind and Body
Our practice has deep roots in manual lymphatic drainage, and many of our clients come to us managing lymphedema or other physical effects of cancer treatment. We understand the body’s role in healing and we understand that emotional and physical recovery are deeply intertwined. Counselling and manual therapy can give you integrated support if that’s the right for you. We are certified lymphedema therapists with extensive experience managing this condition. As lymphedema is often associated with cancer treatments and can significantly affect a client’s emotional well-being, we are uniquely positioned to provide informed, compassionate care that addresses the psychological needs.
You don’t have to be in crisis to reach out.
Counselling isn’t only for the hardest moments. It can also be a place to think, to adjust, and to find yourself again.
About Your Counseller Elli
Elli respectfully acknowledges being a settler on the unceded, traditional lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nations of the Coast Salish peoples.
Elli enters the counselling profession after almost two decades of working as an RMT with a focus on supporting clients through complex health issues, cancer treatment and post-surgical recovery. She is experienced in supporting clients and their caretakers dealing with systemic conditions, such as chronic pain and fatigue or other chronic health issues. Elli aims to help clients better understand their stories within a framework honouring cultural diversity and enduring race, gender, ethnicity, and class-based power structures. Special areas of interest include but are not limited to, medical/religious trauma, eco/global anxiety, anger, grief, and the destructive impact of neo-liberalism on our mental health and communities. Elli’s approach aims to be de-pathologizing, and collaborative, and it honours the fact that all parts of our story matter and deserve to be valued and heard. Elli is particularly interested in exploring sessions through a relational, strength-based and narrative lens. Her counselling style is compassionate, accepting, open-minded, and direct, and she strives to assist clients in tapping into their own skills and knowledge.
Anyone already working with Elli in an RMT setting is respectfully asked not to book counselling sessions.
Elli is currently only available for virtual counselling and offers a sliding scale pricing range for her sessions.