Helps Counselling

Helps Counselling Our focus is on helping people to understand themselves better.

We work with individuals, couples and families dealing with anxiety, anger, depression, grief, self-esteem, boundaries, stress and relationship problems.

04/23/2026

Stress and physical illness has a complicate relationship.

Through my own health journey, my work as a counsellor, and my new project HealthStoryLab.ca, I have been exploring that relationship.

Sometimes stress contributes to symptoms.

But symptoms can also create stress.

If you are exhausted all the time, in pain, unable to sleep, struggling to think clearly, or no longer able to function the way you used to, that creates real stress.

You may not be able to work the same way. You may worry about money. You may lose confidence in yourself. You may have to keep explaining yourself to other people.

The fact that stress is involved does not make the symptoms less real.









04/22/2026

Through my own health journey, my work as a counsellor, and the work I’m doing with HealthStoryLab.ca, I’ve been noticing a pattern:

People struggling with very real symptoms, but feeling dismissed because there is no clear diagnosis.

One of the hardest things is when people begin to believe that if they do not have a diagnosis, then what they are experiencing is not real.

But bodies can struggle long before there is a clear label.

People can keep working, parenting, showing up, and functioning from the outside while their body is compensating and working much harder than it should.

High functioning is not the same thing as being well.

You do not need a diagnosis for your experience to be real.







04/21/2026

Through my own health journey, my work as a counsellor, and my new project HealthStoryLab.ca, I have been exploring the many layers of complex health and why so many people end up feeling dismissed or misunderstood.

One of the things that bothers me about “it’s just stress” is that it often implies the person should simply reduce stress or cope better.

But many sources of stress are not fully within our control.

Caregiving. Poverty. Racism. Discrimination. Unsafe housing. Chronic illness. Grief.

These are not things people can simply think their way out of.

That does not mean stress is not affecting the body.

It means we need a deeper and more compassionate conversation.









04/20/2026

IG Clip: When “It’s Just Stress” Shuts You Down

Through my own health journey, my work as a counsellor, and my new project HealthStoryLab.ca, I have been exploring the many layers of complex health and why so many people end up feeling dismissed or misunderstood.

Being told “it’s just stress” can sound harmless or even reassuring.

But for many people, what they actually hear is:

“Nothing is really wrong.” “You are overreacting.” “You just need to try harder.”

After hearing that enough times, people often begin to question themselves, even when deep down they know there is more to the story.

That is one of the most painful parts of being dismissed.







04/18/2026

One of the things I hear most often from clients with complex health struggles is that they have been told it is “just stress.”

Stress does affect the body. But stress and illness can also feed into each other, and the fact that stress is involved does not make the symptoms less real.

This is part of a larger conversation I have been exploring through HealthStoryLab.ca because so many people are left feeling dismissed, confused, or like they need to prove that something is wrong.







Work shouldn’t be a barrier to getting support. 💬On World Mental Health Day, we’re reminding professionals and employers...
10/10/2025

Work shouldn’t be a barrier to getting support. 💬
On World Mental Health Day, we’re reminding professionals and employers: mental health care is health care.

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220 Brew Street
Port Moody, BC
V3H0E5

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Monday 10am - 8pm
Tuesday 10am - 8pm
Wednesday 10am - 8pm
Thursday 10am - 8pm
Friday 10am - 6pm
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