A collective gives us the opportunity to bring together counsellors with different backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and areas of focus while sharing a common approach to the work.

Rather than trying to create one way of doing counselling, we want to make space for different counsellors to bring their own strengths to the room.

That means you can find a counsellor whose experience and way of working feels right for you, while still knowing that you're part of a practice with shared values.

Our counsellors don't all work in exactly the same way.

We may draw from different therapeutic approaches and have different areas of experience, but there are some things we have in common.

We believe counselling should be:

• Collaborative — You should have a voice in what you're working on and how you work on it.

• Strengths-based — Your struggles matter, but they aren't the whole story.

• Practical — Insight can be important, but so is having things you can actually use in your everyday life.

• Individualized — You shouldn't have to fit yourself into a particular therapy model.

• Non-judgmental — You deserve a space where you can talk honestly without being reduced to a diagnosis, behaviour, or difficult experience.

• Curious — We want to understand what's happening before deciding what might help.

• Respectful of autonomy — Our role isn't to tell you who to be or how to live your life.

These values shape how we work, while leaving room for each counsellor to be themselves.

There isn't one kind of person who comes to the Sholinder Counselling Collective.

People seek counselling for many different reasons and at many different points in their lives.

You might be working through something specific, trying to understand a pattern that keeps showing up, navigating a major change, or simply feeling like the way you've been managing things isn't working anymore.

You may have been in counselling before or be completely new to it.

You may know exactly what you want to work on, or have no idea where to begin.

You don't have to fit a particular picture of what someone seeking counselling is supposed to look like.

Being part of a collective means you don't necessarily have to start over if your needs change.

You may begin working with one counsellor and later realize that a different approach or area of experience would be more useful.

You may also be looking for counselling for more than one person in your family, or for support at different points in your life.

When appropriate, the Collective gives us the ability to help you find another counsellor within the practice whose experience may be a better match.

The goal isn't to keep you with one person at all costs. It's to help you find the support that makes sense for you.

No — and we think that's a good thing.

Each counsellor brings their own personality, training, experience, interests, and way of connecting with people.

You can learn more about each counsellor on their individual profile, including the areas they work with and the approaches they draw from.

What connects us isn't that we all practise identically.

It's that we share a commitment to doing thoughtful, ethical, person-centred work.

You can expect us to take your concerns seriously without assuming that we already know the answer.

We'll ask questions.

We'll listen.

We'll offer perspectives and therapeutic tools when they're useful.

We'll talk with you about what is and isn't working.

And we'll adjust when something needs to change.

You don't need to perform being “good at counselling.”

You can come as you are, and we'll start from there.

Sholinder Counselling Collective is a Canada-wide counselling practice, with counsellors providing services from different locations across the country.

Because counselling requirements, professional regulation, privacy legislation, and availability can vary by province and territory, we'll confirm that we're able to provide services where you are located before counselling begins.

Our goal is to make accessing thoughtful, professional counselling easier, while respecting the requirements that apply wherever we're working.

The people who make up Sholinder are at the heart of the practice.

Each counsellor brings their own experience, perspective, and way of working.

Take a look at our counsellor profiles to find someone whose approach feels like it might be a good fit for you.

And if you're not sure who to choose, that's okay too. We can help you think it through.