Dace Mars

Dace Mars: Integrating the Opposing Sides of Self

Dace Mars is a Canadian Certified Counsellor and the Clinic Director at Thrive Downtown, whose work centres on one idea: much of our suffering comes from being at war with ourselves, and healing comes from integrating those opposing sides into a greater whole. This guide explains the approaches Dace draws on, the experiences Dace specializes in, and what to know about working together, including Dace’s current intake note.

Why Integration Sits at the Heart of Dace Mars’s Work

Thought versus emotion, pleasure against duty, love opposing fear. Dace describes these inner tugs of war on this page, and the cost of either agonizing between them or picking one side and repressing the other. The underlying invitation is to stop spending life energy on the fight, and to redirect it toward what you actually want to build.

This theme is deeply personal. Dace is the child of three very different cultures, Canadian, Croatian and Japanese, has lived in a dozen countries, and has studied many ways of healing the mind, heart and soul. Integration is not an abstract concept in this practice. It is a lived one.

What integration can mean for you

• Letting reason and feeling inform each other instead of competing for control
• Understanding the parts of you that were pushed aside, and what they may be offering
• Holding cultural, family and personal values that seem to conflict, without betraying any of them
• Freeing up energy that was locked in inner conflict for relationships, creativity and goals

Signs you may be caught between two sides of yourself

• You make a decision, then spend weeks second-guessing it
• You feel driven toward goals yet resentful of the pressure they bring
• You long for intimacy but pull back whenever someone gets close
• You follow the “responsible” path while a quieter part of you feels unlived
• You swing between harsh self-discipline and collapse

Wisdom that grows from experience

The Terry Pratchett line on this page carries a wry truth: wisdom comes from experience, and experience often comes from the mistakes we made without it. In counselling, this becomes a compassionate reframe. The choices you regret, the patterns you fell into, and the paths that did not work out are not simply failures. They can become the raw material for a deeper understanding of yourself.

Jungian Analysis with Dace Mars

Jungian analysis grows out of the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, who saw the psyche as reaching far beyond conscious thought. Jung believed that psychological growth, which he called individuation, involves gradually bringing unconscious material into awareness and integrating it into a fuller sense of self. Few approaches fit Dace’s theme of uniting opposites so closely.

Key Jungian ideas

• The persona: the social mask we present to the world, useful but never the whole story.
• The shadow: the qualities we disown or cannot see in ourselves, both difficult and gifted ones.
• Archetypes: universal patterns, such as the hero, the caregiver or the trickster, that show up in myths, dreams and lives.
• Symbols and dreams: images from the unconscious that can shed light on what the conscious mind has missed.
• Holding the tension of opposites: Jung suggested that when we can bear two conflicting sides without forcing a choice, a new, third possibility can emerge.

Working with dreams and symbols

In Jungian work, a dream is not decoded with a fixed dictionary. Instead, you explore your own associations with its images, notice the feelings it stirs, and sometimes compare its themes with patterns found in myths and stories across cultures. A recurring image might point to a part of life that wants attention, or to a quality in yourself that is ready to be reclaimed. Many people find this approach opens doors that everyday conversation cannot.

Jungian work tends to be exploratory and reflective. It often suits people who feel their struggles have a deeper meaning, or who have tried more structured approaches and want to go further.

Emotion Focused Therapy: Working with the Inner Split

Emotion Focused Therapy, developed by Leslie Greenberg and colleagues, pays close attention to how emotions organize our experience and our sense of self. One of its best-known methods is designed specifically for the “two minds” Dace describes: situations where one part of you criticizes, pressures or blocks another.

Two-chair dialogue

In this technique, the conflicting sides of self are given a voice, often by speaking from one position and then another. The inner critic might say “you should be further along by now”, and the experiencing self gets a chance to respond with how that actually feels. Over time, many people find the critic softens and the deeper need beneath the conflict becomes clear. It can feel unusual at first, and it is always an invitation rather than a requirement.

The Tao and the Enneagram as Maps for Growth

Dace also lists the Tao and the Enneagram among approaches. Neither is a clinical technique in the usual sense. Both offer frameworks for understanding yourself and the patterns you live by.

The Tao

Rooted in Chinese philosophy and texts such as the Tao Te Ching attributed to Laozi, Taoist thought sees apparent opposites, like the familiar yin and yang, as complementary parts of one whole. Concepts like wu wei, often translated as effortless or non-forcing action, can be surprisingly practical in counselling, especially for people exhausted by pushing against themselves.

In practice, a Taoist lens might invite questions like: where am I forcing something that wants to unfold in its own time? What would it look like to work with my nature rather than against it? Which “opposites” in my life are actually partners? These questions can soften rigid thinking and make room for more natural, sustainable change.

The Enneagram

The Enneagram describes nine personality patterns, each organized around core motivations, fears and habitual strategies. Research support for it as a scientific personality measure is limited, but many people find it a useful mirror for reflection. Used thoughtfully, it can help you notice your default reactions and imagine healthier ways of meeting the same needs.

The Enneagram is never meant to put you in a box. Its value lies in the moment of recognition, when a pattern you have lived for years suddenly has a name, and with it, the possibility of choosing differently.

Specialties of Dace Mars

Healing disorganized attachments

Attachment research, beginning with John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth and extended by researchers including Mary Main, describes how early relationships shape our expectations of closeness. Disorganized attachment can develop when the people who were meant to provide comfort were also a source of fear or confusion. In adulthood, it may show up as craving closeness and fearing it at the same time. Counselling can help build what is often called earned security: a steadier inner base developed later in life through safe, consistent relationships.

In adult relationships, disorganized attachment patterns can include:

• Intense swings between pursuing a partner and pushing them away
• Difficulty trusting kindness, or waiting for it to turn into something else
• Feeling flooded or shutting down during conflict
• A deep wish for connection paired with a sense that closeness is dangerous

Third culture identity

The term “third culture kids” describes people raised in a culture different from their parents’ or across several countries. Many feel at home everywhere and nowhere, fluent in multiple worlds yet unsure where they belong. With a background spanning three cultures and a dozen countries, Dace brings an insider’s understanding to questions of belonging, identity and grief for places left behind.

Psychosomatic illness

Psychosomatic illness refers to physical symptoms that are influenced by psychological and emotional factors. It does not mean symptoms are imaginary. The body and mind are deeply linked, and stress, unexpressed emotion and inner conflict can affect physical health. Counselling can work alongside, never instead of, appropriate medical care.

With Dace Mars, exploring psychosomatic symptoms might involve:

• Noticing when symptoms flare and what was happening emotionally at the time
• Giving voice to feelings that may have had no other outlet
• Exploring inner conflicts that keep the body braced or on alert
• Building a more respectful, curious relationship with your body’s signals

Psychospirituality

Psychospirituality explores where psychological healing and spiritual life meet. For some people, questions of meaning, soul, ritual or connection to something larger are central to their suffering and their growth. Dace’s many years studying different healing traditions make room for these conversations without imposing any particular belief.

Who the Work of Dace Mars May Suit

Given Dace’s current intake note and the depth of the approaches involved, this work tends to fit people who are looking for something beyond a first round of therapy. That might include people who:

• Have already worked through standard therapies and feel they have reached their limit
• Sense that their struggles have roots in identity, culture, spirituality or meaning, not only in symptoms
• Feel pulled between cultures, countries or value systems and want to integrate rather than choose
• Are curious about the unconscious, dreams, symbols or personality frameworks
• Live with physical symptoms that seem closely tied to stress or emotion

If this does not describe you, that is completely fine. Thrive’s counsellors practise together as a group, and the about us page explains the shared philosophy that runs through the whole team.

Psychedelic Guiding and Integration Experience

Dace shares on this page having trained in multiple forms of psychedelic guiding and integration for 7 years, across psychotherapy, medical and shamanic models from different parts of the world. At Thrive, psychedelic-related support focuses on preparation and integration: helping people make sense of experiences and carry insights into daily life. Thrive does not supply or administer illegal substances.

The legal status of psychedelics in Canada is evolving, so it is important to follow Canadian law and medical guidance. You can learn more about Thrive’s psychedelic integration team, and MAPS shares information on psychedelic research. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911 in an emergency.

Working with Dace Mars at Thrive

A note on current availability

As the note on this page explains, Dace is currently only taking clients who have already gone as far as they can with standard therapies. If that describes you and you have a strong sense that you should work together, the page shares how to reach out directly. If you are just beginning therapy, Thrive’s team includes many counsellors who may be a great fit, and a free consult can help you find one.

How getting started at Thrive works

1. Free 15 minute consult: book a consult or use the contact form to be matched with a therapist who suits your needs.
2. Choose your own therapist: browse our team if you prefer to pick a counsellor yourself.
3. First session and collaborative plan: you and your counsellor explore what brings you in and agree on a direction together.
4. In person or online: sessions take place at 470 Granville St. in downtown Vancouver or online by secure video.

Fees vary by counsellor and service. Many extended health plans reimburse counselling with Canadian Certified Counsellors or Registered Clinical Counsellors, so check which designations your plan covers.

The Thrive Formula and integration

• Regulate: creating enough steadiness to look at inner conflict without being overwhelmed by it.
• Reveal: using Jungian, emotion-focused and other lenses to see the sides of self in tension.
• Reclaim: directing the energy once spent on inner battles toward the life you want.

Dace Mars FAQ

What is a Canadian Certified Counsellor?

The Canadian Certified Counsellor designation is granted by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. Dace holds this designation along with a Master of Education.

Is Dace Mars taking new clients?

Currently, only clients who have already gone as far as they can with standard therapies, as noted on this page. Other Thrive counsellors are available for anyone else.

I have tried therapy before, but I am not sure I qualify. What should I do?

Read the note on this page and trust your sense of it. If you are unsure, a free consult with Thrive can help you think through your options, including other counsellors whose approaches may suit where you are now.

Does Dace work with couples?

This page lists individual and couples counselling. Ask about current availability when you reach out.

Do I have to believe in anything spiritual to benefit from this work?

No. Spiritual frameworks like the Tao are offered as lenses, not beliefs you must adopt. The work follows what resonates with you.

Do I need to know my Enneagram type or understand Jung first?

Not at all. No background knowledge is needed. These frameworks are introduced only when they are helpful, in plain language, and always as tools for reflection rather than labels.

Does Thrive provide psychedelic substances?

No. Thrive offers preparation and integration support only, and encourages everyone to follow Canadian law and medical guidance.

What does “Clinic Director” mean for me as a client?

It means Dace helps lead the clinic where Thrive’s counsellors practise together and support each other as a group.

Take the Next Step Toward Wholeness

Whether you are ready to work with Dace Mars or just beginning to explore therapy, you make sense, you are not broken, and connection heals. Book a free 15 minute consult with Thrive to find the right counsellor, or call 604-227-0297 with any questions.