Deborah Buthmann

Do you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or anxious, constantly doubting yourself, no matter how hard you try to hold it all together?

Maybe you’re going through a big life transition, like a move, relationship change, separation, immigration, or loss of a loved one. Perhaps you’re struggling with unresolved pain from the past: a traumatic event, childhood neglect, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, or complex dynamics with a parent, partner, or friend.

Or maybe you’re not quite sure what’s wrong, only that something doesn’t feel right anymore. If you’re longing for more clarity, peace, confidence, and connection, with yourself and with others, I’d love to support you.

I’m here to help you understand what’s no longer working in your life, so you can begin to shift old patterns, process emotions effectively, and create real, lasting change.

My work is grounded in a holistic, trauma-informed, and attachment-based approach. That means I look at the whole of you, your thoughts, your emotions, your body, your history, and how they all connect.

Together, we create a space where it feels safe enough to go inward, face what’s been holding you back, and move forward with greater clarity and confidence.

Our body often holds what the mind can’t explain, and that’s why somatic work is a core part of what I do. By listening to your body’s messages and addressing the physiological effects of stress and trauma, we can open space for healing that’s deep, integrated, and lasting, and goes beyond regular talk therapy.

I also support clients with ADHD, working both with the emotional impact it can have and offering strategies that honour neurodivergent ways of thinking and being.

I offer individual counselling, and much of my work centres on trauma, including PTSD, complex trauma, acute trauma, medical trauma, and the aftermath of motor vehicle accidents. I also support clients navigating attachment concerns, inner child work, and unresolved patterns from childhood anxiety or childhood depression.

I work with clients on anxiety, depression, panic attacks, social anxiety, phobias, OCD, and mood swings, as well as emotional regulation, self-esteem, self-compassion, and high sensitivity. For clients navigating relationships, I support repairing relationships, relationship concerns, codependency, loneliness, and dynamics involving narcissism.

I also help clients through life transitions, grief, loss and bereavement, immigration and acculturation, and suicidal ideation, and support day-to-day struggles like burnout, stress management, sleep concerns, perfectionism, work and life balance, and building stronger assertiveness and boundaries. My work also includes ADHD and ADD, neurodiversity, guilt and shame, and spirituality.

To support this work, I draw on attachment-based therapy, somatic therapies, and sensorimotor psychotherapy to help the body process what talk therapy alone can’t reach. I also use brainspotting and AEDP for deeper trauma work, alongside internal family systems (IFS), mindfulness, and CBT for building day-to-day tools.

I see clients through virtual care, making sessions accessible wherever you are in BC.