Colette Mrazek

My counselling career began over 25 years ago and since then, I have worked in a variety of settings with many different populations, such as youth at risk, children who have been orphaned, young parents, GLBTQ, disordered eating, mental health, HIV/AIDS, employment counselling, post-secondary, special needs, family education and parenting support.

While Youth and Family Therapy is my area of focus, I also work with children, adults and couples addressing a variety of personal issues, such as substance use, addictions, grief and loss, death and dying, chronic pain, trauma, domestic violence, communication, anger, assertiveness, self-esteem, family conflict and relationship issues, career and identity, life transitions, anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicidal ideation/intervention.  I possess a B.A. in Child and Youth Care from the University of Victoria, a M.Ed. in Counselling Psychology from the University of British Columbia and am certified in Emotionally-Focussed Therapy with the International Centre for Emotionally-Focused Therapy (ICEFT).

I believe that change occurs when one begins to develop acceptance and compassion for oneself. I see emotions as an important source of information that can teach us much about who we are and what we value. I believe that our development is strongly influenced by significant relationships in our lives, especially those in our family of origin. Our experiences in these relationships often lead to core beliefs about ourselves.  I take a psychodynamic and person-centred approach, drawing heavily on emotionally-focused and compassion-focused psychotherapies as well as mindfulness-based, polyvagal and internal family systems theories.