Category: Newsletters

Who is Vancouver Island Counselling?Vancouver Island Counselling is your EFAP (Employee and Family Assistance Program) and is a very important component of your employee benefit package. Your EFAP encourages people with personal concerns to seek confidential counselling help as soon as possible before issues seriously affect family and work life and individual health and safety. This Read More

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. Although burnout is often associated with work and life imbalances, it has become associated now with the continuing nature of the COVID 19 pandemic. Burnout can be recognized Read More

Perhaps you have been thinking about seeing a counsellor for a while. Some days you feel really low or agitated or angry or trapped and feel like you need to speak to someone right away. Then the next day you feel okay and the thought of setting up a first appointment with a counsellor goes away.  But the issues Read More

“When we are no longer able to change a situation,  we are challenged to change ourselves.”  – Viktor Frankl We are over 10 weeks into the pandemic. Each one of us truly has their own unique and individual experience to overwhelming loss and transition; yet, a sense of relief may have occurred knowing we are Read More

Since the recent lock-downs, social distancing and other remote measures that have been implemented, people have been affected by it in various ways: anxiety, fear, grief, loss, even anger and irritability. For some, anxiety and fear comes up along with many difficult questions: “What will I do, now that I’ve been indefinitely laid off?” “How Read More

“When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it’s bottomless, that it doesn’t have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space”. -Pema Chödrön With the Read More

Human beings are social by nature and we need social connections to function at our best. Perhaps most noteworthy as a theorist on this topic is Abraham Maslow who created Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and conceived that after basic physiological and safety needs are met, loving connections to others is most important to the human Read More

Emotional regulation is critical in the middle of uncertainty. Feelings such as fear, anxiety, stress, boredom are all normal responses at this time. With the COVID19 global crisis, families face such things as indefinite suspension of classroom attendance, working from home, activity and event cancellations, and concern for loved ones; particularly the elderly. Many think Read More

As many of us are learning, working from home is more complex than it sounds! The first thing to recognize is just that: this is not easy! Be kind to yourself. We can cope by being extra gentle with ourselves and others. Second, work itself may feel different than before. For one, many rely on Read More

Anxiety is a normal reaction to uncertainty and things that may harm us. For so many of us, the COVID-19 virus is fueling our anxiety and our sense of vulnerability. What can we do to look after our emotional and physical well-being at this time? To begin with, it’s important to be kind to yourself. Read More