Hello! My name is Bina (she/her). Thank you for reaching out for counselling. I am glad you are here. Finding a counsellor you feel comfortable with is important.
I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) with the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC). I have a Master of Counselling degree and a Diploma in Wellness Counselling. I have over 12 years of experience supporting people through difficult childhood experiences, strained family dynamics, shame, self-esteem and self-worth struggles, patterns of people-pleasing and self-abandonment, relationship conflicts, and life transitions such as career change, marriage, parenting, separation, custodial issues and co-parenting, immigration, and chronic health conditions.
Another area of my work is supporting people who want to understand how experiences from previous generations may continue to shape their lives today. This can include patterns of suffering, loss, silence, disconnection, or ways of relating that have been carried through families and communities over time. Sometimes these patterns are not clearly understood or even spoken about, yet they can influence our relationships, choices, identity, work, and emotional and physical well-being. Counselling can help bring these patterns into awareness, unburden what was unconsciously carried forward, and support new ways of relating to ourselves and others.
Shame, Self-Worth, and Difficult Family Influences
Our early family experiences can shape how we see ourselves and what we expect from others. Growing up with control, conflict, favouritism, enmeshment, mental health, substance use, emotional unavailability, abuse, or difficult family dynamics can leave lasting patterns.
For some, especially in immigrant families, children may take on adult responsibilities supporting parents, caring for siblings, translating, or managing practical matters. What helped you feel safe and function as a child can continue into adulthood. It can show up as people-pleasing, perfectionism, self-abandonment, fuzzy boundaries, hyper-independence, difficulty trusting yourself, relationship struggles or feeling that something is missing. You may find it hard to speak about what you have been through.
In counselling, I offer a compassionate space to explore these experiences, deepen self-understanding, and connect with your own sense of trust and worth.
Immigration, Cultural Identity, and Belonging
Immigration can bring significant changes, from financial and work pressures to family expectations, cultural differences, and navigating unfamiliar systems or visa uncertainty. Even when migration is a choice, it can feel lonely to build a life without the support of family or community. New experiences such as dating, relationship choices, breakups, food habits, employment issues, and visa tensions can be difficult for family back home to fully understand or relate to.
Counselling can offer a space to explore these experiences, what you value, who you are becoming, and build a sense of belonging that feels true to you.
Relationship Counselling
I support individuals navigating relationship challenges, including intercultural relationships where differences in cultural roles, family expectations, communication styles, and parenting can bring tension. These differences can become especially difficult during major life transitions such as parenting, career changes, caregiving, menopause, and midlife.
I also offer counselling support to individuals experiencing relationship conflicts, breakdown, separation and divorce, custody and parenting challenges, parental alienation, or involvement with the legal system or Ministry of Child and Family Development.
Living with Chronic Health Conditions
Living with a chronic health condition can change how you work, relate to others, care for yourself, and imagine the future. I offer counselling support to process the emotional impact of living with ongoing health challenges, limitations in social engagements, grief, uncertainty, fatigue, frustration, and changes in identity. In counselling, we can explore ways to care for yourself, adjust to change, and find meaning while living with your health condition.
Depression, Grief and Loss
I support people experiencing depression and grief following the loss of a loved one, pet, relationship, or job. I also support people through less-recognized forms of loss such as regrets, relational damage we may have caused, a childhood shaped by trauma or difficult circumstances, changes that come with aging, or the loss of green spaces, trees, and natural habitats. I offer counselling space to acknowledge these losses and their impacts on you.
Historical Trauma Counselling
This work offers an opportunity to look at our histories, geopolitics, and religions with curiosity and honesty, and to explore what we have inherited beyond simple ideas of right and wrong.
I offer cultural counselling for Hindu-identifying clients who want to explore historical and generational trauma, family patterns, cultural identity, and belonging through Hindu history and worldview. I also work with people of other ancestries who wish to explore collective experiences of trauma, displacement, conversion and acculturation, and cultural disconnection.
At the heart of my historical trauma work is the belief that ancestry, geography, and history can hold memories, healing, and belonging. I draw from historical trauma understandings in Western counselling and Hindu traditions. This work supports you to discover your own relationship to what has been inherited or silenced in your cultural history and understand how your families and communities adapted to forced change through your cultural lens. The process honours chronology, ancestors, land, cultural connections, and memories passed down through stories, folktales, archetypes, sacred symbols and visuals, and rituals. I use cultural and historical resources as invitations for reflection, grieving what was lost or changed, and reclaiming your cultural connection in meaningful ways.
Counselling Approach
My counselling approach is relational and person-centred. I believe that healing happens through safe connection. I work with compassion, honesty, curiosity, and self-awareness in our therapeutic relationship, creating space for you to explore your experiences without shame or judgment. I value lived experience as an important source of insight and healing.
My approach draws from attachment and family systems, with a feminist and cultural perspective. I also incorporate mindfulness, DBT, and Vedic/Yoga-based body and breath practices. In practical terms, this means we may explore how your childhood and family experiences, culture, and the systems around you have shaped your identity, sense of safety, ways of relating, and ways of coping with stress. Body- and breath-based practices can help you notice your reactions and develop practical ways of responding when things feel stressful or overwhelming.
More About Me
I am from India and have been living in Vancouver for 26-plus years. I enjoy nature, history, geopolitical narratives, gardening, food, and travelling. I love being a mother.
I came to counselling through lived experience. I have navigated difficult childhood experiences and life transitions such as immigration, intermarriage, separation and co-parenting, career changes from engineering to counselling, caring for a loved one with mental health challenges, and the loss of a parent. I also live with a chronic health condition that has required me to adapt. These experiences have made me more aware of how life can call us to make changes, break generational patterns, and sometimes question our sense of self and direction. I bring this understanding to my counselling while recognizing that every person’s experience is unique.
I am relaxed by nature and strive to create a counselling relationship that helps us to relate as humans, reflect, exhale, and find humour in our lives. For me, it is about creating a safe space where you can come as you are, feel heard, and have an honest and human conversation about what is happening in your life.
I offer episodic, short-term, and long-term counselling. If you are curious about working together, I invite you to book a free consultation with me and ask any questions that might help you decide whether I could be the right counsellor for you.
You can contact me via email at: binasalimath@gmail.com
Take a look at my Informed Consent Form here.