Our Team
Meet Irene
Irene is a compassionate and thoughtful counsellor who offers a calm, grounding presence to the people she works with. She supports adults, older adults, and youth (15+) who are navigating life’s challenges—including anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, relationship struggles, and emotional burnout. Irene is especially passionate about working with individuals who are exploring the impact of their early relationships—particularly with mothers who were abusive, demanding, or emotionally manipulative. With empathy and curiosity, she helps clients untangle these complex dynamics and move toward greater clarity, self-worth, and healing. With a rich international background and fluency in both English and Russian, Irene brings a culturally sensitive lens to her work, helping clients feel seen and understood within the context of their unique life stories. She believes that healing begins when we feel safe enough to explore the parts of ourselves we’ve learned to hide—and that therapy can be a powerful space for coming home to who we really are.
Areas Of Treatment
Irene works with clients in the following areas:
- Anxiety and depression
- Trauma and PTSD
- Grief and loss
- Anger management
- Stress and burnout
- Self-esteem, shame, and self-loathing
- Self-harm
- Life transitions
- Parenting and partnership
- Dreamwork and nightmares
- Exploring difficult or painful mother relationships
Approach
Irene’s approach is collaborative, respectful, and client-centred. She believes healing happens in the context of a safe and supportive relationship, and she brings both structure and creativity to her work.
Her sessions may include talk therapy, mindfulness, art therapy, or metaphor work depending on what best supports the client’s goals. Irene draws from the following therapeutic modalities:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Narrative Therapy
- Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Mindfulness-Based approaches
- Art Therapy (including metaphorical cards and sand tray work)
Irene is especially skilled in creative and symbolic forms of therapy, using dreamwork, metaphor cards, and sand tray techniques to help clients access deeper layers of meaning and healing.
Education & Training
Canada:
Master of Counselling – City University
BA in English, Psychology & Counselling – Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Belarus
Pedagogical College – Teacher Training
MIU – Linguistics
Additional Training:
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for Individuals
Working with Shame, Self-Loathing & Trauma (sensorimotor lens)
