Marita Poll Counselling Services

Helping you find steadiness, self-connection, support, and your own path through life's most difficult experiences

About Marita

Photo of Marita Poll
I am passionate about working with professional and family caregivers. This is a group of people for whom I feel a deep commitment. I also relate to many aspects of the caregiving experience. I am fulfilled by supporting people as they work on areas that are difficult for them.

I started in the helping profession in 1990 providing support services to people living with issues such as mental health difficulties, substance use disorders, HIV/AIDS, and homelessness. After completing a Masters in Counselling, I provided counselling to cancer patients and their families from 2004–2023 at BC Cancer in Victoria. In 2023, I retired from the cancer clinic and now work three days a week in my own private practice.

My Approach

My approach recognizes that difficult experiences not only affect our thoughts, but also our emotions, nervous system, body, and relationships. Together we work gently with all these parts so that healing can occur in a way that feels manageable and lasting. I will regularly invite you to do practices at home to build on and strengthen what you and I do in session.

I am also a Reiki Master, and while this is a different field than clinical counselling, energy work can be an asset, especially with physical and emotional pain, and prolonged difficult experiences.

Guiding Principles

  • Each person is unique
  • There is no one right or best way to “be” in the world
  • Each person is born with the intrinsic ability to heal – physically, psychologically and spiritually
  • Being seen, heard and valued for who you are can be healing
  • Our work together has the potential to empower you
  • The therapeutic relationship is an important building block to creating change within yourself and in your relationships
  • Counselling can help remove obstacles that impede healing
  • Counselling involves a unique therapeutic relationship created by the counsellor and client, and they each bring valuable knowledge and expertise
  • The counsellor is a guide, coach, facilitator, and educator that assists the client in doing their healing work
  • Practice and repetition can create new healthy patterns. If you want to create lasting change, using what you learn in session and working with it in your daily life is important.

Advanced Clinical Training

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Counselling. Listed below are the 4 advanced clinical trainings I have completed, followed by workshops

Somatic Psychotherapy

Through paying attention to and working with sensations taking place in the body, you become more aware of how you can regulate anxiety and distress. This work involves focusing on what is taking place in the moment in terms of physical sensations (including movement, gestures, and impulses), information from senses, thoughts, and images which allows for a new way to reflect on a previous experience. I completed a two-year Somatic Transformation Psychotherapy Program (2007-2008).

Attachment-Focused EMDR

During traumatic experiences, our brain processes and stores memories incorrectly. This incorrect storage can lead to past memories feeling very present, which is both upsetting to live with and makes everyday functioning difficult. EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. EMDR is a structured trauma therapy founded on the belief that our emotional well-being is interwoven with our physical state. For more information about EMDR, please look here. I am trained in Attachment-Focused-EMDR, an adapted form of EMDR. I completed Level 1, 2 and 3 through the Parnell Institute in 2023-2024. EMDR is one of the most researched therapies; it is an effective trauma therapy.

Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)

EFT is an empirically based approach, that uses methods designed to help people accept, express, regulate, understand, and transform emotion. Emotions tell us what is important to us in a situation, and act as a guide to what we need or want. EFT focuses on helping you become aware of your emotions and how to express them. Emotional intelligence is fostered through experiencing your emotions as they arise in the safety of the counselling session, which allows you to then discover the value of greater awareness and develop a more flexible management of emotions.

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy

The CBT approach focuses on understanding the links between thoughts, feelings, and behaviours impact the way you see the world and how this impacts your ability to change.

Additional Training

  • Supporting Families through the MAiD process, BCACC
  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Alice Houston-Mais, Victoria
  • San'yas Indigenous Cultural Safety, Provincial Health Services Authority, Victoria
  • Coaching outside of the Box, Provincial Health Services Authority, Victoria
  • Solution-Focused Counselling, N. McConkey, Victoria
  • B.C. Psychosocial Care of the Dying and Bereaved, Victoria Hospice, Victoria
  • Serious Illness Conversation (Training the Trainer, BC Cancer)
  • BC Spiritual Care, Victoria Hospice, Victoria
  • Grief and Bereavement Training for AIDS support Workers
  • Grief and Bereavement Project of Ontario, Toronto
  • Non-Violent Crisis Intervention, Canadian Mental Health Association, Ottawa
  • Suicide Intervention, Canadian Mental Health Association, Ottawa
  • BC Group Life Review Training, T. Black, Victoria
  • Community Mental Health Education Course, IHA, Victoria BC
  • Reiki, Master Level, L. Gervais, Ottawa