Chris Russell

Chris Russell: Counselling for Meaning, Grief and Inner Wisdom

Chris Russell is a Registered Clinical Counsellor and AEDP practitioner at Thrive Downtown who offers a spacious, unhurried kind of counselling for people facing depression, grief, burnout, spiritual pain or a search for meaning. If you have been feeling lost, or simply want a place to slow down and listen inward, this guide explains how Chris works and what beginning together looks like.

Meeting in the Field: The Heart of Chris Russell’s Approach

The line from the poet Rumi on this page describes a field beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, a place where two people can simply meet. It is a fitting image for the way Chris describes the work: not leading, but walking alongside you, with deep respect for your story and your pace.

Many people arrive at counselling carrying a quiet verdict about themselves. They feel they should be further along, should have handled a loss better, or should not be struggling at all. Meeting in the field means setting those verdicts down for a while. The question shifts from “what is wrong with me?” to “what is this pain trying to tell me?”

What this stance can feel like

• Being received exactly as you are, including the parts you feel ashamed of
• Having room for silence, tears or uncertainty without feeling rushed
• Exploring your beliefs and values without being told what to believe
• Trusting that you carry wisdom of your own, even when it is hard to hear

Existential Therapy: Exploring Meaning and Purpose

Existential therapy draws on thinkers such as Viktor Frankl, Rollo May and Irvin Yalom. Rather than treating every struggle as a symptom, it recognizes that some pain comes from being human: facing loss and mortality, making choices without guarantees, feeling fundamentally alone at times, and searching for meaning in a world that does not hand it to us.

Big questions that often surface

• “Who am I now that this chapter of my life has ended?”
• “What actually matters to me, beneath what I was taught should matter?”
• “How do I live well knowing that life is finite?”
• “What do I do with freedom when every choice closes another door?”

Existential work does not offer tidy answers. It offers companionship while you face these questions honestly, which many people find less frightening than facing them alone. For Chris Russell, meaning and purpose sit alongside depression, anxiety and life transitions as core areas of interest.

Finding meaning after loss or upheaval

Frankl wrote about the human capacity to find meaning even in suffering. That does not mean pain is good or that everything happens for a reason. It means that, over time, people often discover what a loss has revealed about what they love, value and want to protect. In counselling, that discovery is never forced. It unfolds when you are ready.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with Chris Russell

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, known as ACT and developed by psychologist Steven Hayes and colleagues, helps people build psychological flexibility: the ability to stay present with difficult thoughts and feelings while still moving toward what matters. It pairs naturally with existential work, because both place values at the centre.

The six core processes of ACT

1. Acceptance: making room for uncomfortable feelings instead of fighting them.
2. Cognitive defusion: seeing thoughts as passing words and pictures rather than facts or orders.
3. Present-moment awareness: returning attention to what is happening now.
4. Self-as-context: noticing that you are more than any single thought, feeling or story.
5. Values: clarifying what gives your life direction and meaning.
6. Committed action: taking steps, even small ones, guided by those values.

For someone living with depression or burnout, ACT can gently shift the goal from “feel better first, then live” to “live in line with what matters, and let feelings come along.” Many people find that shift freeing.

A simple ACT exercise to try

Next time a painful thought shows up, such as “I am failing at everything”, try adding a short phrase in front of it: “I notice I am having the thought that I am failing at everything.” Say it slowly. Many people find that this small step creates a little distance, enough to choose what to do next instead of being swept along. Defusion is not about arguing with thoughts. It is about holding them more lightly.

AEDP and IFS: Listening Beneath the Surface

Chris describes listening closely to the signals beneath your emotions and the quiet voice within that already knows the way forward. Two approaches support that listening.

Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy

AEDP, developed by Diana Fosha, is built on the idea that people are wired for healing and that emotions, fully felt in the presence of a caring other, can lead to lasting change. One of its distinctive practices is pausing after a moment of change to reflect on it together, sometimes called metaprocessing. Noticing “something shifted just now, what is that like?” helps new experiences take root. The AEDP Institute describes the model further.

Internal Family Systems

Internal Family Systems views the psyche as a community of parts, with a compassionate core Self at the centre. In practice, that might mean getting to know the part of you that pushes through exhaustion, or the part still carrying an old grief, and listening to what each needs. Chris lists IFS among core approaches; the IFS Institute offers an introduction.

Somatic, Mindfulness-Based and Person-Centred Care

Chris draws from a trauma-informed and mindfulness-based lens, and lists somatic and body-focused therapy and person-centred therapy among approaches. Together, these keep the work grounded in your body and your lived experience, not only in ideas.

• Somatic awareness: noticing how grief, stress or fear show up physically, and letting the body settle at its own pace.
• Mindfulness: practising gentle, non-judging attention to the present moment, which is also one of Chris’s specialties of interest.
• Person-centred presence: offering warmth, genuineness and deep listening so your own direction can emerge.
• Trauma-informed pacing: keeping choice and safety at the centre of every session.

Who Chris Russell Supports

Spiritual trauma

Spiritual trauma can follow harm experienced in religious or spiritual settings, such as shame-based teachings, control, exclusion or losing a community after questioning faith. It can leave people feeling disconnected from meaning itself. Counselling offers a space to untangle what hurt from what may still feel sacred, without pressure to either return to or reject any belief.

People who carry spiritual trauma sometimes notice:

• Lingering fear, guilt or shame tied to old teachings
• Difficulty trusting their own judgment or desires
• Grief for a lost community, tradition or sense of certainty
• Confusion about what they believe now, and whether that is allowed

Grief and loss

Grief can follow a death, but also the end of a relationship, a career, a sense of identity or an imagined future. Chris Russell makes space for grief to be felt rather than fixed, trusting that tenderness toward pain can, over time, open new depths of being.

Depression, anxiety, stress and burnout

These often arrive together, especially after long periods of pushing through. Counselling can blend body-based settling, ACT skills and deeper emotional work to help you feel less burdened. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911 in an emergency.

Life transitions

Moves, retirements, breakups, becoming a parent, recovering from illness or leaving a faith can all unsettle your sense of who you are. Transitions are also openings, and counselling can help you choose what comes next with more intention.

Meaning, purpose and feeling lost

Sometimes nothing is visibly wrong, yet life feels flat or directionless. Chris welcomes people who are simply feeling lost. Counselling can help you reconnect with what lights you up, notice where you have drifted from your values, and take small steps toward a life that feels more like your own. The goal is not a perfect plan, but a clearer inner compass.

Couples Counselling with Chris Russell

Chris Russell also works with couples. Relationships are one of the places where meaning, grief and identity show up most vividly. A couple may be navigating a loss together, a transition like a move or new baby, differing spiritual paths, or a slow drift into distance and resentment.

• Relational presence: AEDP’s focus on safety and connection can help partners soften toward each other in the room.
• Parts in relationship: IFS can reveal how one partner’s protective part sets off the other’s, and what each is guarding.
• Shared values: ACT and existential work invite couples to ask what they want their relationship to stand for, and act from there.
• Room for difference: partners do not need to agree on every belief to feel respected and understood.

The aim is not to decide who is right, but to help both people meet in that field beyond blame. Learn more about couples counselling at Thrive.

What a Session with Chris Russell Can Feel Like

People are sometimes surprised by how unhurried counselling with Chris can feel. Rather than moving quickly through a checklist, sessions tend to make room for what emerges.

• Starting with a check-in about what feels most alive or pressing today
• Slowing down when an emotion appears, noticing it in the body before analysing it
• Pausing to reflect on moments that feel different, lighter or more true
• Connecting insights to values and small, meaningful next steps
• Closing in a way that helps you feel grounded before returning to your day

There is no need to arrive with an agenda. Some sessions are reflective and quiet, while others feel more active and practical. Both are part of the work, and you always have a voice in the direction it takes.

Beginning Counselling with Chris Russell at Thrive

Starting is straightforward, and you can move at whatever pace feels right. Here is how it usually works at Thrive Downtown Counselling Centre.

1. Book a free 15 minute consult. Book online and ask for Chris, or reach out through the contact form to be matched.
2. First session. Share what has been hard to hold alone and what you hope for, whether that is relief, clarity or a renewed sense of purpose.
3. Collaborative direction. Together you decide how to weave in AEDP, ACT, IFS, existential exploration or body-based work.
4. Ongoing sessions. Thrive offers sessions in person at 470 Granville St. in downtown Vancouver and online by secure video. Ask during your consult which options Chris currently offers.

The Thrive Formula through Chris’s lens

• Regulate: slowing down, grounding in the body and finding enough safety to feel.
• Reveal: listening to the wisdom behind your struggles with AEDP, IFS and existential curiosity.
• Reclaim: living in alignment with who you truly are, guided by clear values.

Rates for individual and couples sessions are listed near the top of this page, and the page notes that sessions are covered under most extended benefits plans. Check your own plan for details. You can also explore the rest of the Thrive team or read about individual therapy at Thrive.

Chris Russell FAQ

Does Chris Russell see couples?

Yes. This page lists rates for both individual and couples sessions.

Do I need to be spiritual or religious to work with Chris?

No. Spiritual trauma and meaning are areas of interest, but your beliefs, or lack of them, are entirely your own. The work follows what matters to you.

Is Chris Russell a registered counsellor?

Yes. Chris is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, a designation granted through the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors, and an AEDP practitioner.

How is ACT different from CBT?

Both are practical, but ACT focuses less on changing the content of thoughts and more on changing your relationship with them, while acting on your values.

My loss happened years ago. Is it too late to talk about it?

No. Grief does not follow a deadline. Many people find that an old loss needs attention during a new transition, and that is completely understandable.

Can counselling help with burnout if I cannot take time off?

Many people start counselling while still working. Sessions can focus on small, realistic changes, clearer boundaries and ways to recover within the life you have right now.

Will Chris give me advice or tell me what to do?

Chris describes the role as walking alongside you rather than leading. You can expect questions, reflections and practical tools when they help, but the direction of your life stays in your hands. Many people find that trusting their own inner wisdom becomes easier with that kind of support.

What if I do not know what I want from counselling?

That is a fine place to start. Feeling lost is one of the experiences Chris welcomes, and clarity often emerges through the work itself.

Meet Chris Russell in the Field

Whatever you are carrying, you do not have to hold it alone. You make sense, you are not broken, and connection heals. Book your free 15 minute consult to begin with Chris Russell, or call Thrive at 604-227-0297 to ask a question first.