Downtown Vancouver Counselling

Heal your relationship with yourself.

Therapy to understand yourself better, learn to build healthy relationships, and restore your spark.

Our mission is to remind you that you make sense, you are not broken, and that connection heals.

Welcome to Thrive Counselling Center

Since 2013, our mission has been to help clients towards being their full, authentic selves. With this, we have seen that symptoms of depression, anxiety and traumatic distress transform—these being the side effects of living outside of who we truly are.

What allows this? The fact that our therapists are not performing the role. They are genuine, down-to-earth people who have done the work themselves. They put you at ease while you transform your greatest struggles into hope and purpose (no big deal).

Choose to Thrive

When we haven’t cleaned up leftover feelings from overwhelming times in life, they stack up. This leads to irritated, tired-but-wired anxiety and foggy depressive numbness. We may lose years of life on autopilot.

You aren’t broken though—this is just your body working hard to manage stress. We’re here to restore peace with effective therapies like EMDR, Internal Family Systems, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Emotion Focused Therapy.

Our team is diverse, representing a range of culture, gender expression, lifestyle and sexuality. We believe in freedom to be exactly who we are and are delighted to help you towards that same expressive freedom.

Thrive is here to empower you with knowing that you are whole.

This isn’t an empty statement! We mean that your body is brilliant and has been doing its best to find balance. Our job is just to nudge things so your inner wisdom starts to properly guide your health.

We are proud to provide science-informed therapy in down-to-earth human language. You will never be judged. Only cared for exactly how you are.

(This is Serena’s dog Chester. His therapeutic relationships are also chill).

Check Out Our
Counselling Services

Counsellors

Get to know our counsellors and find one that resonates with you.

Individual Counselling

Take charge of your emotional well-being with one-on-one therapy sessions.

Couples Counselling

Deepen the safety and connection of your relationship with couples-focused therapy.

Low-Cost Counselling

Affordable therapy through supervised sessions with our interns.

EMDR Counselling

Our EMDR-trained therapists provide this effective and research-supported approach.

Psychedelic Integration

Learn more about psychedelics and how to integrate your trips.

Meet Thrive’s
Counsellors & Therapists

We are a diverse team whose goals is to make you feel seen, heard, and understood.
Our counsellors also support each other as a group, ensuring that you’re always guided by someone who is emotionally healthy and connected themselves.

Andressa Taverna, Thrive's Registered Therapeutic Counsellor

View All

What our clients say about us

      
   Thrive Downtown Counselling Centre
   53 Google reviews 
  Write a review 
  
 
 
   
 
 
        
   elizabeth ericson 
 2023-08-08
 
 
  I have been doing counselling sessions with Giulia since June 2022 (25 sessions, 24 of which were online and 1 in person session). I never got past the introductory session with anyone else when I tried counselling before. Giulia is very caring and understanding, while telling the truth and pointing out things that I failed to notice on my own. If you are considering counselling, it really does make an impact when you seriously give it a try. My life has improved quite dramatically in the past year. I am so glad that I made the decision to finally prioritize my mental health and change my behaviours.  I always look forward to my sessions with Giulia and I highly recommended talking to Giulia.
  
 
       
   Kar Merr 
 2023-06-07
 
 
  Thrive clinic is a special place. You can tell how much love and care the team has for their clients. I met Jess at a difficult time in my life. She created a space filled with warmth and safety, a place I felt comfortable to be vulnerable in. She cares deeply about her clients and brings her thoughtfulness and intelligence into every session. Through our sessions she’s helped me learn how to love every part of myself, to have skills outside our sessions to regulate my emotions and to help process blocks that have been holding me back in life. I can’t recommend Thrive enough. My time with Jess has changed my life and I’ll forever be grateful to her and the clinic.
  
 
       
   John Harvey 
 2023-05-10
 
 
  I'll echo everyone else's extremely positive comments: Thrive is great. The process of being matched with someone is smooth and easy, the administrative side of things just works, but most importantly, the people are outstanding. I've worked with both Giulia and Serena and would recommend that anyone who thinks that they might benefit from talking to someone reach out. I'm very glad that I did.

(Also, Serena's dog is super cute and you might get to meet him.)
  
 
       
   Ariel Elise 
 2023-05-05
 
 
  I’ve been very fortunate to find incredible counselling services through Thrive - specifically when I was paired with Estairia. From the very beginning, I felt welcome and safe in the space. I knew I was paired with the exact right person, as connecting with Estairia was seamless and easy from the get-go. She’s an excellent listener and is always engaged in your topics. Most of all, she’s adaptable - what I mean by this is that she doesn’t stick to one therapy method or try to instill it upon you. For example, I don’t find CBT therapy incredibly helpful and I let Estairia know this from the start. What I needed were way deeper conversations that CBT therapy could not reach, and Estairia went above and beyond my expectations.

Estairia has a very grounding, down-to-earth presence and approach. She’ll meet you at each issue you bring up with compassion and validation. She’s particularly versed in LGBTQ+ contexts, trauma-informed therapy, and spiritual topics. When I came to Thrive, I needed therapy that accommodated difficult topics around existentialism and metaphysics and I was truly blessed when Estairia was prepared to engage in these topics.

I’m very grateful to have been connected with Estairia and coming to the actual counselling offices is a transformative experience in itself. I’ve noticed that every space I’ve entered so far has a colourful “theme” to it and honestly it makes me feel like I’m escaping reality to enter a beautiful safe haven for 50 minutes. I can assure you that these are not ordinary boring offices - these are extremely well-put-together spaces that really enhance the therapy experience.

For those who are tired of speaking for 40 minutes and only getting 10 minutes worth of actual “therapy” from their therapist, you don’t have to worry about that here. I’ve experienced nothing but fruitful, engaging, and RECIPROCAL conversations. Above all else, I always leave the office with new thoughts/ways of thinking that I didn’t have previously. I'm happy to say that Thrive's been a great contribution to my healing journey.

Highly recommend!
  
 
       
   Simone van Reeuwyk 
 2023-05-01
 
 
  I've know Andressa as a participant and facilitator of weekly women's circles over the years. Her grounded presence, her nurturing energy, and her gentle guidance make her an amazing counsellor. I would absolutely recommend her counselling services to anyone!
  
 
       
   Rachel Camara 
 2023-04-30
 
 
  I know Andressa from her time facilitating women's group. Andressa's passion and dedication towards personal development and empowerment is very clear and I believe she is excellent at providing a safe container for people to grow and open themselves up. I highly recommend Andressa as a counsellor!
  
 
       
   Nathalie Schipper 
 2023-04-30
 
 
  I know Andressa from leading a women’s group that I was lucky enough to be a part of.

Her guidance and intuition is profound. She has this deep wisdom and inner knowing that makes me feel incredibly safe.

I would highly recommend Andressa as a counsellor.
  
 
       
   Rémi Vuichard 
 2023-04-29
 
 
  I can't say enought good things about my experience with Thrive Downtown Counselling Centre in Vancouver ! I'm having sesssions with a very skilled, caring and wise counsellor called Fabiola Perez for a year and a half now (in presence and via Zoom as I live mostly in Switzerland). This therapy really helped and still helps me A LOT in my life. Thanks a lot Fabiola and Thrive Downtown Counselling Centre !
  
 
       
   Marika Ai-Li 
 2023-04-29
 
 
  I met Andressa in a local women's circle, and I'm so grateful we crossed paths. She emanates such an inviting energy - I feel so safe to bring my whole self when we work together.  Andressa has the natural ability to bring gentleness and boldness at the right moments as she guides you. Her wisdom, knowledge and integrity make her one of the best counsellors I've worked with. I highly recommend working with her!