Anger Management and Counselling in Ladysmith, BC.

Through groups and individual counselling, we use cognitive behaviour therapy to help clients learn about the cues and triggers connected to anger outbursts. Awareness of one's experience of anger is the first step to making change. After this, we work on new responses that are more effective than uncontrollable anger. If this is something you would like to work on then Island Clinical Counselling has solutions to your difficulties.

If you find yourself snapping at loved ones and feeling awful afterward, I help you step back, understand what’s underneath your reactions, and respond with greater clarity and control. When you keep saying, “I should be able to handle this,” but can’t, I help you stop hiding and start healing. And if your relationships feel like walking on eggshells, I guide you toward deeper trust, safer communication, and genuine connection. Real change begins here.

“Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” Ambrose Bierce Anger is often an intense emotional response that can negatively affect people’s lives. Many people struggle to manage and express their anger effectively due to often intense and overwhelming feelings. Families, work, friendships and one’s personal well-being can be destroyed unintentionally along the way. Although we cannot control anger provoking situations, we can learn step by step techniques for successfully and efficiently managing them. Through counselling we will work to access the issues provoking anger and outbursts, and develop tools to identify and effectively manage emotional triggers. When needed, we will also work with families and...(view profile to read more)

Individuals struggling to manage anger can be exhausting and overwhelming; often there is a significant negative effect on others in their life. We will work to uncover where the intense anger is originating from and heal. We will also wok to develop new skills and tools to manage emotional situations in a more positive an effective way. It is also important to work to heal the damage to loved ones whom have been affected.

We all experience difficulties from time to time in managing our emotions. We feel anger, frustration, anxiety and irritation. When not properly managed we may experience stress, burnout, and feel unsatisfied with life. Our relationships and parenting skills may suffer. Sometimes this is due to us having too many issues to deal with at once, lack of supports in our lives; and when not taught to us, a lack of skills or resources to cope. Seeking the support of a counsellor can help. I have facilitated anger management workshops, and provided one on one counselling to teach coping and management skills. As a former Forensic Therapist, I am qualified to provide court ordered treatment.

Have you found that anger has started to ruin relationships, interfere with your job, and negatively impact your life? Anger has a way of spreading and infecting day-to-day interactions. If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. I work with many people who are controlled by their anger. Typically, anger is influenced by other underlying causes. In counselling, we will work together to learn new coping mechanisms to limit anger while also looking at what is causing anger. If you want to take the next step, reach out to me, and we can begin to change how you react to anger.

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.

Anger often signals something important trying to be expressed. Rather than focusing only on triggers or control, therapy can help you understand what the anger is protecting or responding to, and to slow the movement from impulse to action. I work with anger in a way that supports awareness, regulation, and responsibility, helping you respond rather than react. I offer a grounded, nonjudgmental space to explore anger safely, and I bring extensive experience working with anger in both individual and relationship contexts, including previous leadership of a relationship violence program.

Anger, although a completely healthy human emotion, can also turn destructive and become a powerful unpredictable emotion. Expressing anger in an assertive non aggressive way, making clear what your needs are and to get them met respectful of both self and others is imperative. Working together to determine the underlying cause of the anger. earning how to calmly and respectfuly have these needs met, learning relaxation, problem solving and better communication skills are what is needed to be learned. Unexpressed anger can cause hypertension, high blood pressure and depression as well as highly explosive behaviour. With committment these new skills can be learned.

As I work with clients struggling to navigate anger management, I like to gather information about how anger presented itself in the home while they were children. I view anger as a symptom for a problem (or problems) that are deeper rooted and anger has become the default reaction. I like to find ways to address the underlying emotions that are being displayed through the anger.

Anger often masks other emotions such as sadness, and shame. I work to uncover what is behind acting out in anger to address the root cause. At the same time, I provide ample opportunity for the learning of new skills in order to master how to regulate intense emotions. Benefits include no longer feeling burdened by anger and resentment as well as improved relationships with those around you.

Anger is a normal healthy human emotion. When people allow it to get out of control it can turn destructive, it can lead to problems at work, personal relationships, and the overall quality of life. I like to think of anger using the metaphore of a hammer. You can do a lot of things with a hammer. You can build things and you can tear things apart. The hammer is just a tool just like anger can be a tool. Anger isn't the problem, it's what you do with it. I help people learn the skills they need to use their anger and the underlying hurt and feelings of injustice to make positive choices that lead to positive relationships and experiences.