Lara immigrated from the Netherlands at age 5. She grew up in the Kootenays which fueled her love for nature, alternative ways of being, and creating community. Lara is driven by her love for connection including connection to self, others, the earth, spirit, and the universe.
Lara holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Victoria. She worked as a Registered Nurse for a short time, but it quickly became clear that it was not truly aligned with her heart. Since then, she left nursing to pursue counselling with the desire to support clients holistically.
She now holds a diploma in counselling from Rhodes Wellness College and is working as a Teaching Assistant at Rhodes with clients in her private practice, Sacred Space Healing.
Lara believes each person has an inner spark, or an inner sacred space — where love, truth, and deep wisdom reside. This guides her in her work as a counsellor to support individuals wanting to dive deeper into themselves and their transformation.
Values
Connection, authenticity, healing, love, truth, balance, and freedom
Approach
Overall, Lara works from an integrative approach that is human-centred, trauma-informed, and strengths-focused. She works through a somatic and emotion-focused lens weaving in threads of Internal Family Systems, inner child work, and attachment theory.
Lara’s approach supports clients to come back to embodied safety and connection. From that space of inner safety, she walks with clients to process core wounds, unmet needs, and survival patterns to build their resilience and come home to their bodies, themselves, and their lives. A big part of her work is creating a space of safety to allow this process.
Areas of Focus
She works with a wide range of clients focusing on highly sensitive and sensitized individuals. Her focus is;
- Emotional Patterns (terror, anger, shame)
- Nervous System Dysregulation Patterns
- Grief & Loss
- Anxiety & Overwhelm
- Depression
- Relationship Challenges
- Self-Worth & Body-Image
- Spiritual Questioning & Exploration
