Katelin Knapp
M.A, RCC
Registered Clinical Counsellor
Fort Langley | Accepts CVAP | Please note that direct billing is not available at this time; however, you will receive detailed receipts that can be submitted to your insurance provider for reimbursement.
Emotional wounds most often involve relationships with others, yet the impact of these wounds leave us with an immense sense of aloneness. The relationship between therapist and client is an emotionally healing and profoundly meaningful agent of change. This is the foundation of my work.
I enjoy working with both individuals and couples in a collaborative way that honours my clients in their current situation while using my professional experience to tailor a unique treatment plan to help each client move towards their goals. One of my main priorities is to facilitate a safe environment made up of trust and authenticity. I feel privileged in being able to walk alongside my clients during their times of need, as well as being there to celebrate their important milestones along the way.
My primary areas of focus are in working with individuals who have backgrounds that include complex relational trauma and/or varying degrees of dissociative ability. In addition, I’m extremely passionate about working with women who have suffered from intimate partner violence and abuse. Within these areas of focus, there is a whole umbrella of symptom presentations that trauma can show up in. The most common trauma symptoms I support my clients with include, but are not limited to, shame/self esteem issues, emotional regulation (anxiety, depression, dissociation), relationship issues (couples and adult family counselling), and identity issues.
A newer (for me) area that I've been pursuing training in lately has been in the area of sex therapy. Through my work in supporting many sexual trauma survivors over the years, I have come to understand the importance of pursuing training in this area so that I am able to offer clients a more well-rounded therapy experience. While it's been incredibly meaningful to support clients in moving forward from painful events that have shaped their sexual histories, I'm very excited about incorporating relevant sex therapy interventions to support clients in moving towards a place where they can experience more sexual fulfillment.
For a lot of folks, acquiring some tools and gaining a bit of new insight surrounding their experience is all they are looking for (which can of course be profoundly impactful). However, for those who wish to go deeper in their work, it is always my honour to engage in more experiential modalities to give clients a chance to safely process their pain which can lead to what we call a corrective experience (i.e., experiencing the painful memory from a more regulated place with less shame and connect to inner resources that we have developed through our time together).
I have done training in several different evidence-based therapy modalities including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (Level 1 and 2), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST), Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)/AEDP for Couples, and Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy. In addition, In addition, I am in the midst of slowly but surely pursuing sex therapy certification. I draw mostly from relational/experiential models, that involve emotion and body-based techniques, as well as elements of cognitive-behavioural work.
I am a therapist that is trauma-informed, LGBTQIA+ allied, racially aware, fat accepting, and sex and kink positive. It is my privilege to practice on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, particularly the Kwantlen, Katzie, Matsqui, and Semiahmoo First Nations.
I attained my Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology at Trinity Western University. I have been working in the mental health field since 2013 in a variety of capacities including positions at Brookswood Counselling Services, Battered Women’s Support Services and Ishtar Women’s Resource Centre.
If you are reading this page, you may want to consider some reasons you might not like to work with me. I have provided a list below:
There will be times that I interrupt you (usually because you have expressed something that seems important and I want to ensure we do not rush past it).
I will request you to slow down and notice your body and/or emotions, which can feel foreign and uncomfortable.
I will almost always prioritize self-compassion and kindness over gaining cognitive insight (although I'm always enthusiastic to recommend helpful books to support your learning journey!).
I can be a little pushy and direct (once again the pushiness is usually towards taking a kinder approach to oneself to help move you towards a more resilient place to help accomplish your goals).
I bring a playful attitude (which you may have already gathered from the fact that I included this list in my bio) and love connecting with the imperfection of my own human experience as a way of supporting you. I am likely not the therapist for you if you want someone who will be serious and/or stoic at every moment.
I prioritize my own self-care (so that I can sustainably support my clients), which can look like me structuring vacation time into my schedule (I love to travel!).
The field of counselling psychology is an ever evolving one. As such, I make it a point as much as possible to stay up to date on current research and information on evidence-based practice, particularly in the areas of complex trauma and dissociation. In my experience, maintaining a lifelong learner stance has a humbling and grounding impact that keeps me connected to the human experience of my clients.
Being able to open up and work through one’s pain can be a scary thing for many, which I can relate to from personal experience. On top of my professional training, the commitment I have made to understanding and working through my own traumatic experiences has helped me to develop personal insight into abusive relational dynamics. Furthermore, it has helped me immensely in developing a sense of compassion both toward myself and others. This in turn has inspired me to strive to be an outlet of security and trust whereby my clients can enter into both their places of darkness and light with strength and self-compassion.
I look forward to being able to accompany you on your journey at whatever point you invite me to do so.