Marita Poll Counselling Services

Welcome

Photo of Marita Poll
My name is Marita Poll and I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor and an Approved Clinical Supervisor with BC Association of Clinical Counsellors (registration # 2589) practicing in Victoria, BC. I provide individual counselling either in-person, by telephone, or virtually.

Covid Safety

Appointments are currently taking place via Zoom, telephone, or in-person. Let me know what your comfort level and preference is, and this can be changed up to 1 hour before your appointment.
My office has enough space for physical distancing. Masks and hand-sanitizer are available.

Approach

I can help you to explore areas of your life where you might be experiencing difficulty. My clients have told me that the work we did together helped them to gain clarity, feel supported, feel less alone or stuck, gain skills and information that enhanced their coping, and create change. I believe that when you and I work together, this can assist your psychological and physical system to heal itself. When I have gone to see a counsellor, it has helped me to explore, adapt, and support my own clarity, coping and healing.

Using a holistic approach, we will work with your emotions, body, mind and spirituality to assist you in overcoming difficulties, creating change, and fostering personal growth. Counselling can help you create positive, lasting change in your life.

I draw primarily from four main counselling approaches: Somatic Therapy, Attachment-Focused EMDR, Emotion-Focused Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. These approaches assist you and I, as a team, to work with your emotions, thinking, and felt sense in the body to process experiences and areas that are difficult for you. I am also a Reiki Master , and while this is a different field than clinical counselling, energy work can be an asset, especially with pain, and prolonged difficult experiences.

I can help you use counselling to...

  1. Gain clarity and insight, for support and to have a chance to talk and be truly heard. Many people experience a sense of relief, closure, and increased resiliency from supportive counselling.
  2. Make some type of specific change or problem solve a particular issue. For example, learning stress reduction tools and communication strategies, or processing grief due to the loss of a family member. For example, making a personalized relaxation recording to decrease stress, anxiety and sleep difficulties.
  3. Work on more complex issues such as recovering from childhood abuse or a recent assault. Many people find trauma counselling to be healing and transformative. I can assist with reducing overwhelm and promoting your natural self-healing. Over time, and with practice, we can work together to increase your understanding of the impact of trauma and provide ways to work with your body and perspective.

Areas of Specialization

  • Living with cancer
  • Living with an advanced or terminal disease
  • Grief and loss, including loss related to medical assistance in dying
  • Caregiver burnout for healthcare providers and family caregivers
  • Navigating caregiving for a loved one living with an advanced or palliative disease
  • Adjustment to change and life transitions
  • Personal growth and exploration
  • Stress, depression and anxiety
  • Stabilizing and reducing the impact of traumatic events (recent and past) through education, skill development and counselling
  • We can make personalized relaxation recordings (e.g. muscle relaxation, breathing exercises, vizualization etc) in session for your use when stressed, anxious or having sleep difficulties
  • Clinical supervision for counsellors