MEET HAYLEY ELMES
REGISTERED CLINICAL COUNSELLOR
Hey I’m Hayley, I’m originally from the UK and I’ve been living in Vancouver since 2020.
I have worked in therapeutic fields since 2003 where I began my career working in a night shelter in my home town, Brighton. After completing my psychology degree I began a fairly focused career in the substance use field. I worked for the National Health Service and government services for 8 years in a variety of settings including residential and community treatment facilities, housing and counselling services. In 2011, I decided to move to Thailand for a career break, but after an eventful turn of incidents, I ended up working in another treatment facility where I spent almost a decade. At first, I worked as a therapist in their substance use program, but eventually went on to join their trauma track and became their clinical lead in eating disorders. It was here that I discovered my love of EMDR and other somatic based trauma therapies and started my training in EMDR. It was amazing to see the consistent and noticeable changes that EMDR was having, which lead me to also seek out my own EMDR therapy. I love the power and richness of EMDR and feel that it has a huge impact on people’s lives. It’s amazing to be able to offer a therapy that facilitates accelerated change and enables folks to feel more at peace with their stories. I always say that EMDR doesn’t make a sad event not sad, it instead helps us to be able to hold it with a little more ease.
As well as EMDR, I have completed post graduate training in substance abuse therapy, group therapy, Emotion Focused Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and TRE, a somatic based therapy. I am a master practitioner in Eating Disorders and a Certified Clinical Trauma professional.
The areas that I have worked the most extensively are substance use, eating disorders, grief, developmental trauma and complex PTSD. I am passionate about the therapeutic process and firmly believe in the value of a therapeutic relationship. My psychotherapy MSc is existentially oriented, and one of the main principles of existential therapy, is to lean toward being light and playful with ourselves on our journey to explore greater meaning with our experiences. I feel that I bring this to my sessions and revere the therapeutic relationship. The values of trust, collaboration, safety and choice underpin my work.
I bring with me several life experiences that strengthen my empathy with others, including bereavements, immigration, divorce, single parenting, developmental trauma and familial substance use and addiction issues. This is simply to say that I have a lived a life and what bought me to being a therapist was my care and compassion for others and the remarkable power of the human spirit to endure.
Outside of being a therapist, I’m a keen cyclist, huge music lover and I love cooking. I feel very fortunate to live on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations, where I enjoy getting out into the forest as much as I can. I am a mother of one small human and 2 cats. As well as private practice, I also work in the public health system. I offer online and in person sessions.
