Shawna Dash

Hi, I’m Shawna.

I believe that therapy should feel human, like a conversation that invites curiosity, laughter, insight, and sometimes even surprise. While therapy is a place to learn more about your inner world and experiment with strategies, it also tends to come with a lot of unlearning and re-writing. People often come in feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or like they’re not doing enough for themself or others. My role is to provide a soft landing where you can both rest and rise in your own way, to  be with you while you remember and return to yourself. With compassion and slowness, we honour the wisdom you already hold and start to notice new options, new directions, and sometimes even new stories.

My approach is gentle, non-directive, and rooted in the belief that you are the expert in your own life and know best about what you need to heal. I work from a humanistic, strengths-based, and anti-oppressive lens. That means we’ll explore what’s hard, but we’ll also recognize the systems around you, the resistance already alive in you, and the parts of you that have been doing the best they can. I often say: I can offer you some colours, but only you know how to paint the picture of your life.

Whether we’re working through anxiety, grief, anger, or uncertainty, my focus is always on presence. On reconnecting with what’s true for you in the here and now. I work with individuals navigating life transitions, women exploring identity shifts, folks living with physical health challenges, and youth who are rewriting their stories around substance use. I also support couples in reshaping their connection and reimagining how they communicate and relate.

Therapy with me often includes narrative work, body-based awareness, and a willingness to look not just at what’s happening, but at the wider context it lives within. I draw inspiration from social justice-oriented thinkers and am guided by the belief that healing happens in connection, with each other and with ourselves.

You might leave a session feeling lighter, more grounded, or simply more yourself. And while therapy can be serious work, it can also be playful, alive, and even a little bit fun.

If you’re curious, I’d love to meet you.