Shira Stanford-Asiyo
(Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing)
From Shira
When you feel like it is exhausting to continue to hold it all together, you don’t have to face it alone. You may feel stuck, overwhelmed, in need of a change, or going through a challenging transition, not sure of how to take the first step. I work with clients experiencing anxiety, stress, emotional overwhelm, and relationship challenges to help find more clarity, emotional flexibility, and calm.
I provide a compassionate and supportive space to gain understanding and perspective on the experiences that may have been hanging over like a cloud, and patterns that interfere with moving forward. I bring my 20 years as a community educator to provide accessible ways to benefit from complex concepts rooted in science-based research. In a safe space to fully express yourself, a path to more presence, confidence, and perspective is possible.
Client Communities
I feel a strong connection to working with individuals who struggle with challenging family expectations and neglect, with the experience of being in foster care, or thrust into the role of caretaker at a young age. With those who feel the unique pressures of being first and second-generation immigrants navigating various cultural expectations and who feel the impact of inter-generational trauma. I help to cultivate self-acceptance and support for individuals navigating with ADHD and autism, and bring insight into the impacts on relationships and struggles with motivation and rejection. I have specific training in working with individuals who have experienced the complex trauma of growing up in highly controlling communities, groups who use faith or potent ideologies to exercise power. Together, we can navigate the delicate work of rebuilding one’s own identity and community when creating a new life after stepping away from a high control environment. I bring particular sensitivity to the struggles that can arise for 2SLGBTQIA+ youth and adults with this experience.
Philosophy
I came to counselling through twenty years of work as an educator, community organizer, and life cycle officiant that asked me to show up for people in the moments that matter most. I believe that healing is not something that happens to us, but something we choose, again and again, by showing up for ourselves. I believe therapy should be honest, collaborative, and grounded in the client’s unique goals
Central to my approach is the conviction that clients are the experts on their own experience. My role is to bring tools, perspective, and a framework for exploring the conscious and unconscious beliefs that impact how clients move through the world. When the story someone tells about themselves begins to align with their actual values and capacity, the constant distress they once felt starts to fade. Space opens up for connection, creativity, and more joy every day.
Area of Focus
Shira offers support for a wide range of concerns, with particular interest in:
- Anxiety, chronic stress, and emotional dysregulation
- ADHD, neurodivergence, and the overlap between neurodiversity and trauma
- Complex trauma and its lasting effects on daily life
- Generational conflict and the experience of immigrant and first-generation families
- Identity, values clarification, and major life transitions
- Navigating queerness in conservative, religious, or faith-based communities
- Religious trauma and recovery from high-control group experiences
- Couples counselling and premarital support
Therapeutic Approaches
My approach is collaborative, practical, and grounded in the belief that you are the expert of your own experience. In early sessions, we discuss your goals for therapy, and the daily experiences of sleep, movement, relationships, work, and community to understand the full picture of your life.
I draw primarily on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT),Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), narrative therapy, and solution-focused approaches. My own experience as an child of immigrants, who navigated being emancipated as a teen, and being a part of the queer community, provides me with personal insight and experience in resilience and complex family dynamics. I center an anti-oppressive systems approach which takes into consideration how our social location (including areas of race, ethnicity, gender expression, sexual orientation, economic status, and more) can put additional pressure on our mental health.
Together we can explore your inherent strengths and gain a new perspective that opens to a more grounded and vibrant life.
Modalities
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): building psychological flexibility and helping you act in line with your values, even when difficult thoughts and feelings are present.
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy — Mindfulness Skills (DBT): practical tools for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and staying grounded in the present moment.
- Narrative Therapy: exploring and reauthoring the stories you carry about yourself, your relationships, and your history.
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: identifying and building on what’s already working, and moving toward concrete, achievable change.
- Internal Family Systems — Informed (IFS): getting to know the different parts of yourself — including the ones that protect, the ones that carry pain, and the ones that have been running the show.
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): examining the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviours to interrupt unhelpful patterns.
- Music-Integrated Therapy: incorporating music as a therapeutic tool for emotional expression and processing.
Training Highlights
- Master of Counselling — City University of Seattle in Canada (Dean’s List Honors, 2025)
- Complex Trauma Certification Training
- ADHD, Neurodiversity, and Clinical Practice
- Advanced Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Training
- Narrative Therapy Training
- Religious Trauma, Spiritual Abuse, and Cult Recovery
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Internal Family Systems — Informed (IFS)
- Music-Integrated Therapy
- Eating Disorders
“Therapy is a place where you can know you are not alone, and start to let go of the heaviness of holding it all together, in a safe, supported environment.”
Ready To Take The Next Step?
Shira offers complimentary 15 minute consultations to answer any questions you have about how she works, and to give you a chance to see if Shira is the right counsellor for you.
We’re here to help you begin:
Phone: (778)715-0112
Email: shira@willowbarkwellness.com