

Individual Counselling in Vancouver
Holly Kretschmer, Registered Psychotherapist
Hi, I’m Holly! Welcome to my website – a place where you can discover what I offer and decide whether this is what you're looking for.​
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Have you wondered what life experiences and core beliefs have impacted how you feel about yourself and in your relationships?
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Are you looking to curiously uncover and liberate yourself from:
* unconscious patterns
* negative core beliefs
* old perceptions
* charged emotions
* tension in the body
* reacting versus responding
* coping mechanisms
that no longer serve you in adult life?
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Do you want to feel more whole and alive? ​
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I have been in private practice for 20 years supporting clients in life-altering transformation. I specialize in the treatment of early life trauma, anxiety, depression, shame, loneliness, grief and relationship difficulties.
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I offer a space of abiding presence, safety, non-judgement, curiosity, compassion, everything you bring belongs, and a deep trust in your therapeutic process.
Areas of Expertise
Individual Adult Counselling
PHILOSOPHY AND APPROACH
Trauma begins in childhood and occurs when we do not have permission and support with an empathic person to feel through and integrate a difficult experience. Most everyone has experienced early life trauma to some degree and until it is healed, it affects our adult life. Trauma is what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you that has not been emotionally processed and integrated. When we bring unconscious pain into our awareness as adults and trust our own healing abilities to feel, we heal.
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As we gently explore, with curiosity and compassion, unconscious patterns that drive us, negative core beliefs that were establish in the early years of our lives, perceptions that do not reflect what's really happening in the present, charged emotions that keep popping up and ways of coping with our underlying pain leads us toward more joy, presence and clarity. Clarity in our "self", in our day-to-day experiences and having healthy relationships with others. We become more open to our authentic self and exercise self-care and hold compassion for our self and others. And we have more capacity to cultivate more meaningful, fulfilling, loving and joyful relationships with others.
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My passion as a trauma therapist is in holding space for individuals to discover with curiosity and compassion their inner truth and move toward healing and integration of wounding that is showing up as anxiety, depression, shame, loneliness, grief and relationship difficulties.
My therapeutic approach with individual's is client-centred, inquiry-based, emotion-centred, body-centred and compassion-based. Your therapy experience uniquely unfolds with the concerns that you bring to the session.
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Therapy experience that led me to become a Psychotherapist
Experiencing deep grief from the sudden death of my dad in my early 30’s caused me to seek therapy support. At the time, I was the parent of a daughter three years of age and I was seven months pregnant with my second child. Instinctively I knew that this was an important loss and one that I needed help with, especially being a new mom.
Before my father's death, I had been taking parenting and assertiveness training classes to better understand what my children needed from me to be emotionally and physically healthy. I experienced frustration and difficulty as I was putting the effective parenting practices I learned into place. This left me being hard on myself and feeling that I wasn't a good parent.
Once I began healing from my early life wounds with the unwavering support of my therapist, I began to heal. As I integrated my early life trauma, I naturally began to parent much more confidently, effectively and with more love and joy! My adult relationships with others changed too. Some relationships ended and some deepened. I began to seek out individuals who were supportive and on a similar path towards authenticity and desire to have a meaningful and satisfying relationship.
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Effective therapy begins when safety and trust is present in a caring and supportive environment. This allows us to open gently to our vulnerability and feelings that will help connect us with our inner truth on a deeper level. Our life difficulties change for the better when we engage in our own personal healing work.
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You can heal! You can feel better and you don't have to do it alone.

Credentials
Registered Psychotherapist (RP)
College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario
Registration #003136
Canadian Professional Counsellors Association
Member #3910
Family Life Educator
In Process: One year Training
with Dr. Gabor Mate Completion Date: January 2025
Master Practitioner in Clinical Counselling (MPCC)
Compassionate Inquiry Training
Registered Professional Counsellor (RPC)
Canadian Professional Counsellors Association
Member #3910
Certificate with Aware Parenting Institute, Dr. Aletha Solter, 2006
Parent Effectiveness Training Certificate with Gordon Training, 2004
What is a Registered Psychotherapist?
The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) license Registered Psychotherapists (RP). The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario regulates its registrants in the public interest. CRPO is established under the Psychotherapy Act, 2007 and the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991
Psychotherapy occurs when the Registered Psychotherapist (RP) and client enter into a psychotherapeutic relationship where both work together towards positive change in the client’s thinking, feeling, behaviour and social functioning. Individuals usually seek psychotherapy when they have thoughts, feelings, moods and behaviours that are adversely affecting their day-today lives, relationships and the ability to enjoy life.
CONFIDENTIALITY & PRIVACY
I am very aware of the importance of you feeling safe and protected as you share the details of your feelings and experiences. I take this seriously and actively work to ensure that information disclosed to me is kept confidential.
This means that I will not share or disclose this information to anyone without your consent, except as mandated by law under the following circumstances:
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If a client indicates that they may harm themselves or others
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If there is suspected or potential risk of childhood abuse
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When the court issues a subpoena for records or testimony
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Disclosure of sexual abuse by a health care provider
At your first appointment I will review the limits of confidentiality with you.
Emotional healing and integration occurs when we consciously process our feelings

Processing Feelings
Awareness of what we are feeling is the first step to identifying what is causing us discomfort and pain. By doing so we can then begin to open to and give ourself permission to feel what we are experiencing.
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Examples of feelings:
sad, happy, ashamed, fearful, angry
Our feelings are the essence of who we are and they reside in our body.
Society has mostly not understood the vital importance of consciously being in touch with our feelings and processing them for our emotional and physical health and wellbeing.
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Our feelings run us unconsciously when we are not allowing ourself to feel and connect our feelings to the root of our life experiences.
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Second step is to locate where we are holding our feelings in our body. For example, we may be experiencing ongoing tightness in our chest, or headaches or backaches or coldness, or tension in our shoulders or exhaustion.
Third step is to stay with our feelings as we can to process them. This might mean five minutes or less in the beginning as we increase our tolerance for difficult feelings we have been pushing or holding down in our body.

Fourth step is to be curious about our feelings and where they originate from and to
give ourself permission to express them safely and responsibly.
For example, cry in a safe private space, journal our feelings and experiences, write angry letters we do not send, speak to a trusted family member or friend or seek the support of a therapist who encourages feeling as a way to heal and integrate experiences.
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Fifth step is to nurture ourselves with self-care in a kind and compassionate way.
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Healing emotional pain and suffering is possible, one step at a time.
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individual adult COUNSELLING
Free,15-minute phone consultation —
Email info@hollykaycounselling.com to request. Please provide best days and times in your email along with your phone number. I will reply to your email to setup a time for us to speak.
60 minutes $161.90 plus 5% GST
or 90 minutes $242.86 plus 5% GST
Accepting new clients
Online appointments available Tuesdays and Wednesdays
In-office appointments are available on Thursdays
Call or Email to Book an Appointment
PARENT COACHING
Free,15-minute phone consultation —
Email info@hollykaycounselling.com to request. Please provide best days and times in your email along with your phone number. I will reply to your email to setup a time for us to speak.
60 minutes $161.90 plus 5% GST
or 90 minutes $242.86 plus 5% GST
Accepting new clients
Online appointments available Tuesdays and Wednesdays
In-office appointments are available on Thursdays
Call or Email to Book an Appointment
PAYMENT
INSURANCE
CANCELLATION
Payment for each session is due at the time of the session and can be made by Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Visa Debit, MasterCard Debit or e-transfer.
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If choosing to pay by credit card, you can set up your credit card number and information in the Jane Booking App once you setup your account.
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If choosing e-transfer, payment must be made the day of the session and prior to the beginning of the session time. Email e-transfers to: info@hollykaycounselling.com
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You will be provided a receipt upon payment to submit to your insurance provider or claim on your personal tax return as a medical expense.
Provincial Health Insurance Programs do not cover the cost of Psychotherapists, Counsellors, Psychologists or Social Workers. However, your workplace or personal insurance plan provider may cover the full or partial fee.
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It is recommended that you contact your insurance provider to inquire whether they cover Registered Psychotherapists or Registered Professional Counsellors and Master Practitioner Clinical Counsellors.
Your appointment time is reserved just for you. A late cancellation or missed visit leaves a hole in a therapists’ day that could have been filled by another client. As such, our policy is to charge full regular fees for missed appointments and cancellations made with less than 48 hours’ notice.
Online appointments offered on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and in Office appointments on Thursdays

Contact Me
Tel: 604.671.2951
Office location - Thursdays at:
Suite 610 at 1125 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2K8
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In-Office and Online appointments available.
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Please note: Do not include any personal health information in your email.
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