Hello and welcome.
I am Sarah Turner (she/her) and I have been practicing somatic psychotherapy for almost 15 years on xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) ancestral lands, colonially known as Vancouver.
My heart-centred approach is focused on resilience, connection and belonging. Understanding and supporting intersectional identities and varied positions of privilege and access to power are all essential to support the unfolding of culturally safe care and therapeutic work at large.
I am a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and Body-Mind Psychotherapist with extensive training in developmental modalities that emphasize the foundation of embodied presence in relationship. A fundamental principle of Bodynamic Somatic Developmental Psychology is posed as a question, if I am fully myself, and you are fully yourself, can we be together? I often share this with clients when a crisis emerges with a partner, a child or their family of origin. This relational map serves to underscore a developmental and biological imperative regarding the essential experiential learning to be one self in and through relationship.
How much are we able to bring our internal experience to the external world? The goal is to find the balance of self in connection, without loss of self or loss of relationship, in order to survive the inevitable gaps in attuned presence or worse, after traumatic events.
The invitation of a crisis then is to sift through, to discern what is important, to find what developmental task may be required. James Hollis
I am always looking for the hidden resilience that enabled each person to endure or manage traumatic experiences of suffering. I am also conscious of systems of family, culture and oppression, as well as the ancestral lines we embody in the present, even though we appear to be alone in a room.
My ongoing learning and training in anti-oppression work includes psychedelic justice and eco-consciousness. I am trained in psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy which encompasses everything I’ve outlined here. I provide guidance in preparation and harm reduction as well as therapeutic work to support psychedelic integration.
I’ve learned that consciousness-expansion, spiritual awakening and trauma integration share similar features. What is overwhelming for the human system to integrate gracefully requires somatic skills for self-regulation through titration of embodied presence, alongside active practices in daily life. I bridge these parallel processes through Somatic Experiencing and psychedelic integration.
Moving at the pace of trust, we include the wisdom of the body, mind, heart, and relationships. With practice and support, we discover existing and new resources to resolve trauma and expand consciousness while increasing resilience to stress. As core awareness deepens, we are able to connect with innate knowledge and capacities for healing, to restore wholeness and vital connections to self, each other, and the natural world.
Long-lasting change occurs through this process of body-mind integration to courageously move beyond the past and live more fully in the present. Braiding these streams of awareness, grounded in connection and developed through resilience, that’s my practice.
Services
I offer individual, relationship and family counselling, as well as consulting, clinical supervision, psychedelic preparation, harm reduction and integration.
I offer these services where I live, work and play on the unceded homelands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), colonially known as Vancouver. By honouring these territories and the ancestors who cared for them, I offer my immense gratitude and humility as a first-generation settler of European immigrant parents. In loving reciprocity, I centre Indigenous sovereignty with reverence for cultural resilience across Turtle Island and the Global South. Moving at the pace of trust, I am committed to embodied practice in right relationship with all life to decolonize and connect with each other in the natural and spiritual world, toward healing for all folx.
Heal yourself with the light of the sun and the rays of the moon. With the sound of the river and the waterfall. With the swaying of the sea and the fluttering of birds. Heal yourself with mint, neem, and eucalyptus. Sweeten with lavender, rosemary, and chamomile. Hug yourself with the cocoa bean and a hint of cinnamon. Put love in tea instead of sugar and drink it looking at the stars. Heal yourself with the kisses that the wind gives you and the hugs of the rain. Stand strong with your bare feet on the ground and with everything that comes from it. Be smarter every day by listening to your intuition, looking at the world with your forehead. Jump, dance, sing, so that you live happier. Heal yourself, with beautiful love, and always remember ... you are the medicine.
Advice from María Sabina, Mexican healer and poet
Sarah Turner, MA, MFA, RCC, SEP Registered Clinical Counsellor Somatic Experiencing Practitioner
Coast Salish Territories Vancouver, BC sarahturnercounselling@gmail.com
