Therapy Modalities
How We Support Healing at Katharine Hansen Counselling
Compassionate, individualized support in Kelowna, helping you move forward with clarity, resilience, and hope.
When you begin counselling, one of the first questions people often ask is,
“What kind of therapy do you use?”
The answer is not always simple. Healing is not one-size-fits-all, and neither is counselling.
At Katharine Hansen Counselling, the focus is not on fitting you into a specific model, but on understanding you as a whole person. The approaches used in therapy are simply tools that help guide the process. What matters most is creating a safe, supportive space where you can explore your experiences, process emotions, and reconnect with hope.
Together, we’ll create a path toward healing, personal growth, and resilience.
– Katharine Hansen
Why Therapy Modalities Matter
Therapy modalities are different ways of understanding human experience and supporting healing. Each one offers a unique lens, helping us explore thoughts, emotions, relationships, and patterns in different ways.
You do not need to understand these approaches to benefit from counselling. However, knowing a little about them can help you feel more confident in the process and understand how change and growth happen over time.
A Flexible, Whole-Person Approach
Rather than using a single method, Katharine draws from a range of therapeutic approaches to support your individual needs. This allows therapy to remain flexible, responsive, and deeply personal.
Your experiences, your story, and your goals guide the process. The modalities below are simply ways of supporting that journey.
Person-Centered Counselling
Person-Centered counselling is at the heart of this work. This approach is grounded in the belief that you are the expert in your own life. Therapy becomes a space where you are deeply heard, understood, and accepted without judgment. From this foundation of safety and trust, healing begins naturally. You are not being fixed. You are being supported in reconnecting with your own inner clarity and strength.
What it Helps With
Navigating self-doubt, emotional overwhelm, and feeling unheard or misunderstood
What You Might Notice
A growing sense of being truly heard, accepted, and safe to explore your thoughts
The Result
Stronger self-trust, clarity, and confidence in your own inner guidance
Humanistic Therapy
Humanistic Therapy focuses on your potential for growth, healing, and self-discovery. It recognizes that life experiences, including those from childhood, can shape how you see yourself and the world. Together, we gently explore how past experiences may still be influencing your present thoughts, emotions, and relationships. This work is not about blaming the past, but about understanding it so you can move forward with greater awareness, compassion, and freedom.
What it Helps With
Understanding how past experiences, including childhood, are shaping your present
What You Might Notice
Deeper awareness of patterns, beliefs, and emotional responses rooted in your history
The Result
A more compassionate relationship with yourself and the ability to move forward with intention
Gestalt Therapy
Gestalt Therapy brings attention to the present moment. Rather than only talking about what happened in the past, this approach helps you notice what you are feeling, experiencing, and holding onto right now. It can reveal patterns that developed earlier in life and are still showing up today.
By becoming more aware of noticing recurring dynamics, you can begin to shift them and create new ways of responding to yourself and others.
What it Helps With
Becoming aware of unresolved emotions and patterns that may stem from earlier life experiences
What You Might Notice
A stronger connection to your present-moment thoughts, feelings, and bodily awareness
The Result
Greater emotional clarity and the ability to respond to life more consciously and authentically
Attachment-Based Therapy
Attachment-Based therapy focuses on how your earliest relationships shape the way you connect with others. These early experiences can influence your sense of safety, trust, and emotional closeness, often showing up in patterns within your current relationships. By understanding these recurring dynamics with compassion, you can begin to create a stronger sense of security within yourself and in your connections with others.
What it Helps With
Understanding relationship patterns shaped by early experiences and attachment
What You Might Notice
Greater awareness of how you respond to connection, closeness, and emotional needs
The Result
A deeper sense of security and more balanced, trusting relationships
Emotionally Focused Therapy
Emotionally Focused Therapy helps you better understand and connect with your emotions. It recognizes that emotions play a central role in how you experience yourself and your relationships, even when they feel overwhelming or difficult to express. By learning to identify and work with your emotions, you can begin to respond with greater clarity and create more meaningful connections.
What it Helps With
Understanding and expressing emotions that influence your relationships and experiences
What You Might Notice
A clearer connection to your emotions and how they shape your reactions
The Result
Greater emotional awareness and stronger, more meaningful connections
Experiential Therapy
Experiential Therapy focuses on feeling, not just thinking. Sometimes emotions are difficult to access through conversation alone. This approach helps you connect with your emotional experience in a deeper way, allowing you to process feelings that may have been held or avoided. This can create powerful shifts and a greater sense of emotional release and understanding.
What it Helps With
Accessing emotions that may be difficult to express through words alone
What You Might Notice
Emotions surfacing through guided experiences, creative expression, or body awareness
The Result
Deeper emotional release and a more integrated understanding of yourself
Family Systems Theory
Family Systems Theory looks at how your family environment has shaped the way you think, feel, and relate to others. From a young age, we take on roles within our family, and these roles can influence our behaviours, beliefs, and emotional responses in adulthood. By understanding these patterns, you can begin to shift them and create healthier, more balanced relationships.
What it Helps With
Understanding family patterns and roles that continue to influence your life today
What You Might Notice
Increased awareness of recurring behaviours and how they connect to your upbringing
The Result
Healthier boundaries and more balanced, intentional relationships
Relational Therapy
Relational Therapy focuses on how you experience and navigate your relationships in the present. It brings awareness to how you communicate, respond to others, and manage emotional closeness or distance. By understanding these recurring dynamics, you can begin to build more authentic and meaningful connections.
What it Helps With
Improving communication and understanding patterns in your current relationships
What You Might Notice
Greater clarity in how you relate to others and respond in different situations
The Result
Stronger, more authentic connections and a deeper sense of belonging
Somatic Experiencing (In Training)
Somatic Experiencing focuses on how the body holds stress and trauma. Even when we understand something mentally, the body can still carry tension, anxiety, or overwhelm. This approach gently brings awareness to physical sensations and helps the nervous system return to a more balanced state. Katharine is currently in advanced training in somatic experiencing, integrating this work thoughtfully into sessions where appropriate.
What it Helps With
Releasing stored stress and trauma held within the body
What You Might Notice
Increased awareness of physical sensations and a gradual sense of nervous system regulation
The Result
A calmer, more grounded body and an improved ability to cope with stress
Transpersonal Therapy
Transpersonal therapy acknowledges the deeper, more meaningful aspects of life. This may include exploring purpose, identity, spirituality, or a sense of connection beyond ourselves. For some, healing involves not only emotional work but also a deeper understanding of meaning and life direction. This approach creates space for those conversations in a way that feels supportive and grounded.
What it Helps With
Exploring meaning, purpose, and connection beyond day-to-day challenges
What You Might Notice
A deeper sense of reflection, curiosity, and connection to something greater
The Result
A more meaningful, aligned life experience with a stronger sense of purpose
How These Approaches Work Together
When grief feels insurmountable, it’s essential to have a space where your emotions are welcomed and understood. At Katharine Hansen Counselling, I provide more than therapy—I offer a sanctuary where you can express your deepest feelings without fear of judgment or expectation. As your counsellor, I am here to listen, support, and validate your experiences, creating an environment of comfort and understanding as you process your emotions at your own pace.
Moving Forward with Support
If you are feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or ready for change, counselling can provide a supportive space to explore what you are going through and what comes next.