healing through relationship
Trauma-transformative online counselling for adults ready to feel safer in their bodies, relationships, and lives.
Maybe you’ve tried counselling before, but anxiety, trauma, or relational wounds still shape how you feel and relate. I offer a steady, relational space where safety—not fixing—inspires true healing and personal growth.
You’re not broken.
You adapted.
The ways you think, feel, and relate aren’t your fault. Anxiety, shutdown, people-pleasing, or emotional distancing are ways your nervous system learned to stay safe and connected through difficult experiences.
These adaptations can be exhausting to live with, especially when they no longer serve you. But you don’t need to fix them or push them away.
Healing starts when we meet these parts from a place of safety, curiosity, and relationship. From this starting point, it becomes possible to explore what’s true and what wants to shift.
all parts of you are welcome here.
You don’t need to show up calm, clear, or put together. You don’t need to know what to say or where things should go.
You can come just as you are, whether anxious, uncertain, shut down, angry, hopeful, or silent. However you arrive, you’ll be met with care instead of judgement.
There’s no pressure to fix, perform, progress, or move faster than you’re ready. Instead, we notice what’s present and cultivate enough safety for your nervous system to start relaxing. When safety is present, a clearer understanding and new possibilities can emerge.
Along with warmth and care, I bring thoughtful, attuned inquiry; the kind that helps reveal patterns without judgment or shame.
Whether you’re navigating anxiety, trauma, relationships, or a major life transition, you don’t have to do it alone. This work unfolds in relationship, side by side. Together, we’ll create the conditions where understanding deepens, and real shifts can happen.
hi, i’m heron.
You may know me as Colin. Heron’s the name I chose as part of a significant process of healing from complex trauma and relational wounding. This journey gave me a deeper understanding of what it takes to reclaim a sense of agency, safety, and self-trust.
I’ve lived through painful mental health crises. I’ve felt the impacts of trauma, the weight of a deeply critical inner voice, and experienced how anxiety can distort relationships over time. I also know how vulnerable it can be even to start therapy, let alone share parts of yourself that carry shame or fear.
This lived experience hasn’t given me all the answers or revealed any shortcuts. It’s gifted me the ability to offer my clients a deeply caring presence. I’ll meet you without judgment, rushing or needing you to be anywhere other than exactly where you are.
I bring my full, imperfect human self into this work, with warmth, humility, and authenticity. Because safety grows when someone shows up as real, steady, and attuned.
I’ll be a calm, steady presence by your side. That steadiness allows us to stay with what’s true, long enough for understanding, choice, and change to emerge.
testimonials
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Having Heron as a safe anchor during the past year and a half has been pivotal to my healing journey. I now find myself in a vastly more desirable place, thanks to the help of his astute questions, sensitive reflections, and ability to mirror me accurately.
KC - Peer Client
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Heron is a terrific listener. I feel very skillfully heard and that’s rare.
EL - Coaching Client
People often come to this work to explore:
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anxiety
Anxiety can feel like living on edge: managing, anticipating, holding it together just to get through the day. It’s often a result of how your system learned to cope with overwhelm at an early age.
In our work together, we can gently turn toward what’s held inside, creating enough safety for things to relax at your own pace.
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complex trauma
Complex trauma often comes from relationships where safety, consistency, or attunement were missing. Its impacts can be subtle and far-reaching, shaping how you feel in your body, how you relate, and how you see yourself.
I offer a steady, compassionate relationship where healing can unfold slowly, without pressure or re-traumatization.
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relationships
If relationships feel confusing, exhausting, or painful, you’re not alone. Early relational patterns can keep showing up long after they’re needed.
Together, we’ll explore how these patterns live in you now, and what’s possible when they’re met with awareness, care, and safety.
(I don’t offer couples counselling at this time.)
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insecurity
Self-criticism, low self-worth, and perfectionism often emerge as ways to feel safe or preserve relationships. Over time, they can become harsh and exhausting companions.
In our work, we’ll explore these patterns with compassion, helping you develop a kinder, steadier relationship with yourself and others.
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grief, illness and death
Loss, illness, and the awareness of mortality can shake the ground beneath us. These experiences can be isolating, overwhelming, and tough to put into words.
Through steady, compassionate presence, I offer a place where you don’t have to carry these experiences alone.
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spiritual/existential crisis or awakening
Questions about meaning, faith, identity, or purpose can show up suddenly, or unfold slowly over time. They can feel disorienting, unsettling, and deeply personal.
Together, we can explore where you are, what’s been stirred, and what wants to emerge next, without rushing to answers.
some lenses i look through
relational mindfulness coaching: another way to explore
Relational mindfulness coaching is a trauma-informed, body-aware approach that supports greater steadiness, clarity, and self-trust through mindful presence and relationship. Rather than offering quick fixes or advice, this work invites gentle awareness of what’s happening in your body and inner world. Over time, this creates space for choice instead of reactivity.
This is a great option for those who prefer a more practice-based, non-therapeutic way of working together, distinct from counselling.
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