About
Sandigan Wellness was created to bring a holistic, culturally sensitive, and creative take to counselling that embraces a person's own individual intersectionality.
Our Story
Who We Are
Life brings us to many places as we journey ahead and cultural lenses (age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, faith, (dis)ability, social class) play a part in who we are and in turn our own individual experiences.
Sandigan Wellness was created to bring a holistic, culturally sensitive, and creative take to counselling that embraces a person's own individual intersectionality. Many forms of therapy have been created for and by, as well as researched for and by, people of cultural majority groups; Sandigan Wellness seeks to adapt these approaches to embrace all parts of you – even the parts that don't fall into those categories.
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Sandigan Wellness is a safe space for marginalized individuals and communities to find the support and healing they too deserve.
Sandigan Wellness:
Esther Chu, M.A., RCC, CCC
Being faced with challenges is a normal part of life, but that doesn't mean you need to face them alone. I am a counsellor who is familiar working with and navigating areas such as intergenerational and interpersonal trauma, bi-cultural stress and healing, identity exploration, grief, as well as various mental health challenges. My work is grounded by the understanding that we, as people, are a walking mosaic of our lived experiences as well as the experiences we did not receive.
As a Counsellor...
I work to learn your own individual strengths and how we can reach your goals in a way that makes sense for you. I view counselling as a collaborative process as we explore different ways to get you where you'd like to be.
My work is grounded in a person-centred approach and draws upon various therapeutic modalities such as:
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Narrative Therapy
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Experiential Therapy
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Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)
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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
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Attachment-Based Approaches
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Sand Tray Therapy
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Somatic-Based Approaches
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Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) ​​
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Emotionally-Focused Therapy
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I hold a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University and I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors. I also am a Canadian Certified Counsellor with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association as well as an approved ICBC Service Provider for counselling. Outside of the counselling office, I am playing ultimate frisbee, training in the gym, playing video games or listening to music!