Katie Sawyer, RCC

Katie's approach is collaborative, client-centred, trauma-informed, LGBTQIA2S+ affirming, and grounded in social justice. She integrates narrative therapy with trauma-informed approaches, including EMDR, Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST), attachment-based approaches, parts work, and somatic practices. These approaches support clients in understanding their experiences, developing greater self-compassion, and, when appropriate, processing distressing memories and experiences that continue to shape their lives.

Katie believes that people are never defined by the challenges they face, nor are they passive recipients of their experiences. Even in the midst of trauma, loss, or hardship, people are continually responding in ways that reflect their values, intentions, relationships, and efforts to care for themselves and others.

Katie sees therapy as a space to slow down, make sense of life's experiences, and reconnect with themselves. She works collaboratively with clients to explore the stories, relationships, and experiences that have shaped their lives. Together, they make space to honour what people have lived through while also recognizing the strengths and intentions that have guided their responses. Through this process, clients can develop a more compassionate relationship with themselves and explore new possibilities for healing, connection, and growth.

Before becoming a counsellor, Katie spent more than 20 years teaching yoga locally and internationally, supporting people in cultivating embodied awareness through movement, breath, and mindfulness. Her experience as a yoga teacher, along with her training in Somatic Attachment Therapy, continues to inform her appreciation for the wisdom of the body and the importance of safety, connection, and presence in the therapeutic relationship.

Katie holds a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University. Her academic background also includes studies in Comparative Religion and Peace & Conflict Studies, which continue to inform her interest in meaning-making, healing, and the ways people understand themselves within broader cultural, relational, and social contexts.

Katie strives to offer a compassionate and respectful therapeutic relationship where clients feel genuinely seen, supported, and accompanied as they explore their experiences, reconnect with themselves, and move toward what feels meaningful and important to them.