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I strongly believe that each person has the potential to reach its own Optimal Personal Transformation. This deeply resonates with my core values, and it is something well translated into my work. With that in mind, I started OPT Counseling recognizing the growing therapeutic needs in our community. My personal goal is to share my passion and contribute to positive changes in clients.
I worked in the field of human services throughout my professional life. I started with displaced refuges and numerous social programs supporting them with their difficult situations. There I learned how existential thought can be essential in shaping one’s life, how such a spiritual device can help. Finding meaning after all the meaning has seemingly been lost and all human dignity has been stripped is powerful. Exploring the ways in which people construct meaning and purpose in their lives is one of my passions. Life often throws us into agonizing situations, but our freedom to make the most of the situation is empowering. This experience inspired me to pursue career in counseling and earn my degree with the City University of Seattle.
In my therapeutic work, I am always driven by my clients’ goals and their motivation to accomplish the objectives they set for themselves. OPT Counseling is the right place for you if you are looking to improve your overall quality of life. We provide a therapeutic voyage within a safe and non-judgmental environment to explore your thought patterns, behavior, and feelings, with the direction of professional therapists that motivate you. Our aim is to provide insight into how your thoughts shaped by various experiences (both positive and challenging) influence your decision making and emotions. Understanding yourself is an integral part of the overall journey.
Listening about different life journeys clients have, understanding their unique experiences, having opportunity to be a part of their therapeutic voyage, and supporting them along the way is both a privilege and an honor.
Thank you for placing your trust with us. We are looking forward to being a part of your journey towards your optimal self and your new positive reality.
I am a trauma therapist with more than 20 years of experience in Canada and abroad. My specialty is assisting individuals who are carrying a burden of past or present trauma, which hinders their ability to connect more deeply with themselves and people around them. Often times past traumatic memories make people feel stuck. I have noticed that unprocessed trauma may look like self-doubt, anger, fear, procrastination, overwhelming shame or anxiety. I believe that unhelpful behavioural and thinking patterns we learned earlier in life helped us to survive, but may no longer be serving us and have gradually become a source of our struggles. With that awareness, I build working relationships with the clients in which we approach the wounded parts of self with curiosity and compassion so they can be healed, and regain trust.
As a clinician, I am particularly interested in the extraordinary human capacity to heal, and the processes of resilience. I am curious to learn what makes people thrive despite adversity, and what makes them connect with their inner strengths and resources so they can create new experiences, restore trust, and make positive changes in their lives. Through my research and my clinical practice, I have learned that resilience is a continuous journey that is built on safety, trust and growth, embracing vulnerability and imperfections, and especially the courage to feel complex feelings.
My practice is greatly informed by an anti-oppressive, trauma informed, somatic and attachment based therapies. I am a licensed Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapist. I have noticed that EMDR informed interventions prove to be a very effective treatment for clients who experienced trauma.
I was born and raised in Lithuania. I have a Masters in Social Work degree and started my clinical social work practice in Europe. I am completing my PhD in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies at the University of British Columbia. I also work as an Instructor at the Counseling program at Vancouver Community College.
