Our Beginnings – Little Counsellor, Big Dreams

Long before Parallel Wellness, my counselling practice started as a desire to serve clients in my community. In 2012 I jumped at the chance to join a new holistic clinic in Burnaby, BC and begin my journey into private practice. The practitioners I worked with at the clinic were all eager, motivated and passionate about helping their clients. I was excited for the opportunity to work closely with like-minded professionals. For me, working as a therapist in private practice was an opportunity for more freedom in how I worked with clients that community program mandates cannot permit. I also wanted to be able to provide evening and weekend sessions for clients with busy daytime schedules and expand my practice to work with families and couples.

In my practice, I view therapy as an opportunity to connect with clients in shared human experiences. I believe that human connection/disconnection and emotion are what drive our thoughts and behaviours. As a result, I’ve strived to develop genuine, professional relationships with my clients so they can achieve their goals and personally grow into their best selves. I’ve taken a special interest in working with couples, families, and individuals dealing with eating disorders. I’ve also worked with clients experiencing relationship conflicts, depression, anxiety, life transitions, and other related challenges. It’s been incredibly fulfilling work for me, and I’m inspired on a daily basis by my clients. (Thank you!)

Adding a New Path – Expanding the Practice

As the practice continued to grow and I received the amazing opportunity to pursue a PhD, I began to realize that I couldn’t do it all on my own anymore. For those that know me, I have a tendency to try to do it all on my own. If I can learn it, I can do it – and I love to learn. No challenge seems unachievable. However, in order to offer our community quality counselling and therapy services I needed the expertise of other qualified therapists and allied health professionals.

As I developed the name, Parallel Wellness, I envisioned a practice where clients and professionals worked side-by-side to achieve their goals. Counselling is a collaborative process, with the therapist providing the safe space for clients to explore themselves. Here, clients are able to get to the root of what is challenging them. I wanted our clients to experience the benefits of empathy, security, and understanding, along with caring encouragement in the areas that they wanted to make changes. I envisioned a practice where clients truly felt like their therapist and they were “in this together”.

Christine Skwarok

When I first met Christine Skwarok, I knew she was the perfect fit for Parallel Wellness. She was warm and friendly, while also being tenacious and self-assured. I knew that she would work well with the clients who seek services at my practice. Christine provides clients with a safe and reassuring space, with just the right amount of caring challenging to encourage clients to make meaningful change. Like me, Christine works with clients collaboratively, in parallel. Christine’s proven to every bit as wonderful in her role as a therapist as I’d hoped she’d be!

 

Kim Bruce

Kim Bruce and I worked together at a community clinic that treats children and youth with eating disorders. She was not only a great teammate, but the connections she had with her clients and their families were sincere and genuine. The progress clients and families made together were unparalleled. As Parallel Wellness has grown to work with a greater proportion of clients who suffer from eating disorders, Kim was the first person I thought of when looking for a qualified counselling therapist. We’re lucky to have her.

 

Parallel Wellness – Future Directions

My vision for the Parallel Wellness practice doesn’t end here. Our next step is to expand the practice to combine counselling and therapy with complementary services. We will aim to meet the needs of our clients beyond the therapy office. I believe therapy can help clients to create amazing changes in their lives, while also recognizing that sometimes it takes the help of other allied professionals to make changes holistically.

At Parallel Wellness, we believe in the power of the mind-body connection. In the near future, we’ll be adding allied professionals to the practice. We will be able to expand to work with clients on nutrition, massage and body work through yoga and meditation. Clients may achieve greater well-being when they develop awareness and acceptance of their mental and physical selves. When clients address their concerns holistically they have a great chance of success. Thus, these allied professionals will also add to our view of parallel wellness – professionals working together with the common goal of supporting client well-being.

Parallel Wellness is the ideal avenue to achieve these goals. We look forward to working with our clients as they develop greater personal and interpersonal well-being. Stay tuned, as big changes will be coming in 2017 as we grow!

~ Meredith of Parallel Wellness

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