From a young age, she has been amazed by others’ life stories and their resilience and realized in her adolescence that working as a counsellor was her calling. She spent the first 8 years of her counselling career specializing in anxiety, depression, grief and loss, life transitions, and relationship concerns, until she felt drawn to a new area of expertise. After confronting her own infertility, undergoing fertility treatment, and then experiencing postpartum mental health struggles, Leeya felt it was crucial to use these personal experiences along with her professional training to support others going through similar challenges.

 

Leeya understands that these experiences can feel incredibly isolating and unfortunately, still carry some stigma that can further exacerbate the isolation. Growing up, most of us were taught how common an unwanted pregnancy is, which led many of us to assume that getting pregnant (and staying pregnant) would be a simple straight-forward process. For 1 out of 6 couples in Canada, this is not the case. As an individual who has personally dealt with infertility, Leeya has experienced the anxiety, sadness, helplessness, grief, envy, shame, perfectionism, and anger that tracking cycles, managing the two week wait, and seeing others’ pregnancy announcements can trigger. She uses these experiences and her professional training to support her clients through deep empathy and understanding, helping them to process the complicated and conflicting feelings that come with these domains, as well as to develop coping strategies to manage this world of unknowns.

Leeya graduated with Honours from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Arts with a Psychology major.  She then went on to complete a Masters of Counselling degree from City University of Seattle.  She holds a Registered Clinical Counsellor designation with the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors.  She believes there is no one-size-fits-all approach to therapy and instead, sessions must be tailored to the unique needs of each client.  Leeya incorporates an array of counselling theories into her practice including Adlerian, Existential, Emotion-Focused, and Solution-focused counselling.  

 

Leeya grew up in Winnipeg but moved to the West Coast for her undergraduate degree.  After spending half her life in the prairies, she is still awestruck by the beauty of the mountains and ocean in BC.  She is an avid CFL football fan (Go Winnipeg Blue Bombers!), a proud leftie, a foodie, and lover of the outdoors.  When she is not with her clients, Leeya spends her time with her husband, her first-born Bernie (an adorable 6 year old labradoodle), and her son, who she understands is an absolute miracle.