August Waite, Student Counsellor
August Waite, Student Counsellor (they/them)
AREAS OF FOCUS:
Anxiety and social anxiety
Shame and self esteem
Complex trauma and attachment wounds
Body image and gender dysphoria
Couples therapy (including non-monogamy)
Sexuality, coming out, and transition/post-transition experience
THERAPY MODALITIES:
AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy)
Body-Centered and Somatic Approaches
Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples
Developmental Model for Couples Therapy
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT WHEN WORKING WITH August
Whatever we are carrying becomes lighter when we’re connected to, and witnessed by, caring others.
I believe in experiential work, and in the power of something new happening in each session. In our work together, I strive always to create an environment that is safe enough to honour and hold your struggle, your courage, and your joy. My approach incorporates techniques to help us show up compassionately to all our parts and all aspects of our emotional experience, including the ones we may struggle to be with. I also work to create opportunities to return to the body, while honouring the reasons we may have had to leave it. As a trauma-informed counsellor, sessions with me always explicitly invite collaboration and choice, and I work with an eye turned toward the collective wounds we each carry from the trauma of social injustice.
In my work with couples and relationships, I am passionate about understanding the culture that your relationship exists within, and the culture which has been created between you. I work to see and mirror the patterns you elicit in one another, and experientially work with moments of connection and disconnection in the here-and-now.
I believe that when we ground into emotional safety and connection with one another, we can unlock our inherent capacity to grow and to heal.
August’s EXPERIENCE & TRAINING
My curiosity about the ways in which we are impacted by culture, communities, and social structures led me from initial study in Gender Studies to a B. A. in Psychology. I then began my Masters degree in Counselling Psychology at City University.
I have worked for years as a community volunteer counsellor at Citizens’ Counselling Centre, where I’ve experienced working with a diverse array of individuals and couples. Prior to this, I worked as a crisis line volunteer with trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming folks across North America. I also provide training to novice counsellors in gender and sexuality affirmative counselling. I am passionate about working with trauma, shame, grief, anxiety and social anxiety, body image and self esteem, gender/body dysphoria and euphoria, transition and post-transition experience, and relationship challenges (including non-monogamous/polyamorous relationships).
Beyond my Masters of Counselling Psychology coursework, I have also completed professional training in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Emotion Focussed Therapy for Couples, the Developmental Model for Couples Therapy, and will be completing training in Lifespan Integration Therapy this year.
ON A PERSONAL NOTEI’ve lived and worked as an uninvited settler on unceded Lekwungen territories for the past 10 years, and grew up in Nogojiwanong (so-called Peterborough), Ontario. I’m always striving to live in closer alignment with the teachings and decolonizing calls-to-action which the indigenous stewards of these territories so generously extend to us.
My counselling work is inspired by my lived experiences and desire to bring my whole self to the work. My experience as a queer, trans, and non-binary person has informed my interest in community, relationship, and our experiences of the self and the body. I’m an enthusiastic collector of art practices, and my time-tested art loves include poetry and music making. In times of challenge and times of celebration, I am grateful to be accompanied by my weird and wonderful chosen family and by my relationship with the land and water.
FEESSessions with August are $60 per 50 minute session for individuals, plus GST. Couples are $75 per 50 minutes, plus GST.
HOURSAugust is available Mondays 2:30 - 8pm and Tuesdays 8am - 12pm.
Trainings:
Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Therapy Immersion - AEDP Institute 2024 - with Diana Fosha
AEDP Portrayals: The Dyadic Experiential Processing of Trauma to a Corrective Emotional Experience - 2024 - with Diana Fosha
AEDP for Trauma and Attachment Wounds - PESI 2024 - with Diana Fosha
Introduction to AEDP - AEDP Institute 2024 - with Diana Fosha
Intensive Course in Emotionally Focused Therapy: Attachment-Based Interventions for Couples in Crisis - PESI - with Sue Johnson
The Developmental Model for Couples Therapy Intensive - Adaptive Counselling Seattle 2023
Creating Well-Functioning Polyamory - Queering Mental Health Conference 2022 - with Martha Kappi
Introduction to Couples Counselling Training - Citizen’s Counselling Centre 2022
All of the counsellors at Bodymind Counselling gratefully live and practice on the lands of Lekwungen peoples, the Songhees and Esquimalt, and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.
