Venture Counselling & Therapy Inc.

12/31/2025

✨ Happy New Year from Venture Counselling & Therapy Inc. ✨

As we step into a new year, we want to pause and express our deepest gratitude for the year behind us. To our clients—thank you for trusting us with your stories, your healing, and your growth. It is truly an honour to walk alongside you during some of life’s most vulnerable and courageous moments.

This past year has been filled with meaningful conversations, brave work, and powerful transformations. We are continually inspired by the resilience, strength, and hope we witness every day within our therapy rooms.

As we welcome the year ahead, we remain committed to providing compassionate, ethical, and client-centred care, and to creating a space where individuals, children, and families feel safe, supported, and empowered.

Wishing you a New Year filled with peace, healing, connection, and possibility. Thank you for being part of the Venture community—we are so grateful for you. 💙

12/19/2025

🎄 Holiday Closure Notice 🎄

Venture Counselling will be closed for Christmas from December 22–26.
We will be back in the office on December 29.

Wishing everyone a warm, restful, and meaningful holiday season.
Merry Christmas from our team to yours! ✨

12/18/2025

Finding Calm & Connection This Holiday Season ✨

The holidays don’t have to be perfect—or packed with pressure—to be meaningful. In our latest blog, Rose Degenhardt shares a refreshing perspective on shifting from “doing it all” to focusing on what truly matters: presence, connection, and care.

From choosing memories over gifts, to creating simple winter traditions and gentle self-care practices, this piece is a reminder that the best gift you can give yourself (and others) is time and compassion.

Whether your holidays are joyful, complicated, or somewhere in between, you’re allowed to create traditions that bring peace—not pressure.

👉 Read the full blog on finding calm, connection, and meaningful moments this season.

By Rose Degenhardt, MA, RCT, CCCFounder & Clinical Director, Venture Counselling & Therapy Inc.Posted: December 18, 2025A Different Kind of ChristmasAs I write this, I’m sitting in the Dominican Republic with my family, soaking in the sunshine and treasuring the time we have together. A few years ...

12/17/2025

🤝 Repairing Trust After Conflict

Conflict happens in every relationship — but what truly strengthens a connection is how we repair afterward. Trust isn’t rebuilt through perfection; it’s rebuilt through consistent, honest effort.

Key steps in repairing trust:
• Take accountability — owning your part creates safety and opens the door to healing.
• Validate feelings — acknowledging someone’s hurt fosters connection, not defensiveness.
• Communicate openly — clear, calm conversations help rebuild understanding.
• Follow through on commitments — reliability over time rebuilds confidence.
• Practice empathy — seeing the conflict from the other person’s perspective deepens compassion.
• Give it time — trust grows in small, steady moments, not instantly.

Repair doesn’t erase the conflict, but it can create a stronger, more resilient bond moving forward.

At Venture Counselling, we help individuals and couples navigate conflict, rebuild trust, and reconnect with healthier, more compassionate communication.

Healing is possible — one honest step at a time. 💛

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12/16/2025

🎨 Why Play Is Healing for Children

Play isn’t “just play” — it’s how children make sense of their world. Through play, kids express emotions, build confidence, and practice skills that help them grow into resilient, connected, and emotionally aware adults.

🌱 Why Play Matters for Healing:
• Emotional expression – Children often communicate through play long before they can put feelings into words.
• Sense of control – Play allows kids to explore choices, solve problems, and feel empowered.
• Stress relief – Creative and imaginative play naturally lowers tension and helps regulate big emotions.
• Attachment + connection – Playing with trusted adults strengthens bonds and builds safety.
• Processing experiences – Play can help children work through difficult or confusing situations at their own pace.

In therapy, play becomes a powerful, evidence-based tool for healing. It creates a safe, child-led space where emotional understanding, resilience, and confidence can take root.

At Venture Counselling, we honour the wisdom in a child’s play. Their imagination holds clues, stories, and incredible potential for growth.

Play is how children speak — and how they heal. 💛

12/15/2025

🌿 Recognizing Signs of Compassion Fatigue in Helping Professionals

For those who support others every day — therapists, nurses, educators, social workers, first responders, caregivers — compassion is at the heart of your work. But constantly holding space for others’ pain can take a toll. Compassion fatigue is real, and noticing the signs early is an act of self-care and professional integrity.

Common signs include:
• Emotional exhaustion — feeling drained, numb, or “checked out.”
• Decreased empathy — struggling to connect or feeling detached from others’ experiences.
• Irritability or overwhelm — small stressors feeling bigger than usual.
• Reduced job satisfaction — questioning your impact or feeling ineffective.
• Sleep disturbances — difficulty falling asleep or feeling unrested.
• Physical symptoms — headaches, muscle tension, or ongoing fatigue.
• Boundary challenges — feeling responsible for problems outside your role.

Compassion fatigue doesn’t mean you’re weak — it means you’ve been carrying a lot, often quietly, for a long time.

At Venture Counselling, we support helping professionals in reconnecting with their resilience, boundaries, and sense of purpose through trauma-informed, restorative care.

Your wellbeing matters just as much as the care you provide.

12/12/2025

✨ Mental Health During the Holidays ✨

The holiday season can bring joy, connection, and celebration — but it can also stir up stress, loneliness, grief, and pressure to “hold it all together.” If this time of year feels heavier than expected, you’re not alone.

Many people experience:
• Increased stress from schedules, finances, or expectations
• Grief resurfacing around loved ones who aren’t here
• Family dynamics that feel overwhelming
• Loneliness, even when surrounded by others
• Pressure to appear cheerful, even when you’re struggling

At Venture Counselling, we believe it’s okay to slow down, set boundaries, and honour your emotional reality — not the one you feel you “should” have. Taking care of your mental health is just as important as any holiday tradition.

✨ A few gentle reminders:
• Rest is productive.
• Saying no is healthy.
• Your feelings are valid.
• Connection can be found in small, meaningful moments.
• You deserve support, compassion, and space to breathe.

If this season is challenging, we’re here to walk alongside you with trauma-informed, compassionate care.

You don’t have to navigate the holidays alone.

TraumaInformedCare YouAreNotAlone

12/11/2025

🎄 The holidays aren’t easy for everyone.
In her new blog, Rose Degenhardt, MA, RCT, CCC, explores the hidden stress, grief, financial pressure, and substance-use triggers that can make this season tough—and shares her own story of navigating the holidays while growing up in care.

It’s a reminder to honour our feelings, set boundaries, and offer compassion to ourselves and others. 💛

Plus: a cozy Gingerbread Energy Bite recipe and a festive alcohol-free Venture Sparkle mocktail.

✨ Read the full post for supportive tips and gentle holiday guidance.

By Rose Degenhardt, MA, RCT, CCCFounder & Clinical Director, Venture Counselling & Therapy Inc.Posted: December 11, 2025The Holiday Season Isn’t Easy for EveryoneDecember is often painted as a season of joy, family, and togetherness. Holiday songs, movies, and advertisements show us warm gathering...

12/06/2025

What an amazing night with our Venture team! ✨

Last night’s staff Christmas gathering was one for the books. 🎄 Instead of our usual big restaurant dinner with spouses, the team voted to switch things up this year — dinner and axe throwing! 🪓

We laughed until our cheeks hurt, celebrated another year of hard work and heart, and enjoyed such meaningful time together outside the therapy room.

So grateful for this incredible team and the energy, compassion, and dedication they bring to our clients and community every single day. ❤️

Here’s to connection, joy, and many more memories together.
Merry Christmas from all of us at Venture Counselling & Therapy Inc. 🎁✨

12/05/2025

What Does Self-Care Mean to You? 💛✨

Self-care isn’t one-size-fits-all.
For some, it’s a quiet morning coffee before the world wakes up.
For others, it’s setting boundaries, asking for help, going to therapy, or simply remembering to breathe.

At Venture Counselling, we believe self-care is anything that supports your emotional, physical, and mental wellbeing — big or small, loud or quiet.

💬 We’d love to hear from you:
What does self-care look like in your life right now?
What fills your cup, grounds your nervous system, or helps you reconnect with yourself?

Share in the comments and let’s inspire one another. 💛

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12/04/2025

The holidays can be… a lot. From packed schedules to big expectations, it’s easy to lose sight of what really matters. Our new blog explores simple, mindful ways to be present—so you can reconnect with yourself, your loved ones, and the magic of the season. ✨
Written by Lindsay McMullin, BSc, MA, RCT-C

By Lindsay McMullin, BSc, MA, RCT-CPosted: December 4th, 2025 It's that magical time of year when the air is full of cheer... or something like that. At the risk ofsounding cynical, the holidays, and December in general, can be a challenging time for manypeople. The increasing social commitments, ex...

12/03/2025

How Attachment Styles Shape Adult Love 💛

The way we connect in our adult relationships is often rooted in our earliest experiences with caregiving. These patterns — known as attachment styles — influence how we give and receive love, how we handle conflict, and how safe we feel with others.

Understanding your attachment style isn’t about blame — it’s about awareness, healing, and choice.

Here’s a gentle breakdown:

💛 Secure Attachment
Comfortable with closeness and independence. Communicates needs openly and builds relationships on trust and stability.

💛 Anxious Attachment
Craves closeness, but often worries about being unloved or abandoned. May seek reassurance or feel heightened sensitivity in relationships.

💛 Avoidant Attachment
Values independence, sometimes to the point of emotional distance. May find vulnerability difficult and rely heavily on self-sufficiency.

💛 Disorganized Attachment
Longs for connection but fears it at the same time. May fluctuate between closeness and withdrawal, often linked to unresolved trauma.

✨ The good news? Attachment styles aren’t fixed. With awareness, therapy, and healthy relational experiences, we can grow beyond old patterns and build secure, fulfilling connections.

At Venture Counselling, we support individuals and couples in exploring their attachment patterns, healing old wounds, and creating relationships grounded in safety and connection.