Lena Orlova
Registered Therapeutic Counsellor (RTC) #2709
About Lena
I began my personal work in my "dark night of the soul."
I did-did-did, performed, achieved, gone through the motions, all the while silently dying of grief. I felt like an island lost at sea, and all the people in my life far away lighthouses I could never reach. My family lived by the words “Life is Pain,” a deep-set belief they inherited from living through war, displacement, immigration, poverty, violence, depression, and suicide.
Through therapy, connection, and time, I learned that I could embrace my past and find peace too. I learned that life unravels itself in a mysterious, unpredictable, and miraculous way that none of our efforts can control. Yet, we can decide who we are in the middle of it and who we let into our inner worlds. We all have this power.
I believe in human connection, in healing, in silver linings, and I believe in YOU. My therapeutic strength is in helping my clients form more meaningful, deeper connections with themselves, others, and the world.
My approach is warm, relational, and focused. I'm trained in multiple modalities which include: trauma-informed practice, experiential processing, humanistic-existential therapy, emotion-focused therapy, Family Systems, Gestalt and Rogerian therapy, Transpersonal Psychology, and A Course in Miracles philosophy. I hold a three-year diploma in Transpersonal Therapeutic Counselling.
My experience includes one-on-one therapy, facilitating support groups, and assisting personal growth workshops. In 2020, I spent a year as a Teacher's Assistant with Clearmind International Counsellor training program, teaching budding therapists counselling and leadership skills.
As a first-generation immigrant from Eastern Europe, I'm bilingual and offer sessions in English or Russian.
Currently, I live and work on the ancestral lands of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh.