Anger Management and Counselling in Fruitvale, BC.

Many people have an uneasy relationship with anger. I use Narrative and Internal Family Systems approaches to working through anger issues, where clients are helped to understand that anger is part of the normal human range of emotions, and serves a unique purpose in our overall mental and emotional health. Together, we explore the functional role anger plays in their lives, and how a better relationship with anger can be fostered. Clients learn that turning toward and understanding their anger, rather than fighting or denying it, gives them more, not less power and control.

Anger often stems from feeling so many emotions all at once. You lose a sense of control. You go from 0 to 100 in a blink of an eye. By getting angry you’re attempting to regain control that’s presumed lost. But instead, you’re full of guilt and shame. Feeling angry and reacting in anger, is simply exhausting. I’ll help you learn how to regain control, in a healthy way.

In anger management, we start with your story: understanding your concerns, what triggers your anger, and how it's impacting you and your loved ones. Often anger affects relationships, work, or your wellbeing in ways that feel out of control. Together we'll build awareness about the patterns and underlying emotions driving your anger. Sometimes it masks hurt, frustration, or feeling unheard. Then we work on practical strategies: recognizing early warning signs, reframing triggering situations, and developing healthier ways to express feelings. Our therapeutic relationship provides the foundation where you bring knowledge of yourself and I bring clinical perspective. You'll learn to respond rather than react, communicate more effectively, and regain control of your emotions.

When anger gets the best of us, we can say and/or do things that we later wish we could change or take back. Anger is an instinctive universal emotion, one in which we all have, but not all expressions of anger have to be hurt. In fact, anger works as a great informant and can motivate us to take action to improve our own lives and the lives of people that we care about.

My approach to anger management focuses on understanding the deeper emotions and unmet needs behind anger, while teaching healthy coping strategies. I help clients recognize triggers, process underlying pain (often tied to trauma or invalidation), and develop skills for emotional regulation—drawing from DBT, CBT, and somatic techniques. Together, we’ll practice communication tools, boundary-setting, and nervous system regulation to transform anger into constructive action. The goal isn’t to suppress emotions, but to cultivate self-awareness, assertive expression, and relational healing.

I view anger as a natural, neutral emotion with an important purpose—it signals deeper needs, boundaries, or unresolved feelings. In a supportive, nonjudgmental space, I help clients explore what their anger is communicating without shaming or pathologizing it. Together, we uncover its meaning and develop constructive ways to respond. This approach helps clients increase emotional awareness, strengthen relationships, and use anger as a guide toward growth, self-understanding, and healing.