Hello & welcome.
I am so glad you have arrived here.

My name is Alana and I am the founder of Compati Counselling.

Compati, the latin translation of compassion, is a soothing balm for healing our suffering and shifting our experiences in the world and within ourselves. When we meet the undesired parts of ourselves with curiosity and compassion, we are supported to change our beliefs and behaviours.

Anxiety, depression, perfectionism, substance misuse, self harm, disordered eating, over working and burnout may be some of the struggles and symptoms you are experiencing. These symptoms can serve as cues you are living out of alignment with your authentic self. A life altering experience, such as betrayal in relationship, divorce, job loss, accident, illness or death often intensifies these symptoms and they can become debilitating. These experiences have the potential to break our hearts and in the breaking, crack us open to the discovery of our true selves. Knowing our authentic self and living in alignment can foster a more meaningful, fulfilling life.

I have been working in the health care field for more than 20 years with a diverse range of experiences including as a registered nurse, a medical case manager and a health care researcher. I am a Canadian Certified Counsellor with a Master’s of Arts in Counselling Psychology in the faculty of Education from the University of British Columbia.

As a person living with rare, chronic health conditions and as a parent to a child with health conditions, I am intimately familiar with the challenges and distress that may be experienced when living with chronic illness. My early experiences as a patient fostered a familarity and interest in the health care field and I chose to pursue a career in nursing.

As a nurse, I experienced the external and internal stresses of providing care to others. My interest in the emotional health of both the patient and the provider led me to complete my Master’s in Counselling Psychology. In my Master’s research, I explored the emotional distress often experienced in provider-patient relationships.

I have additional education and experience in meditation and mindful self compassion, attachment theory, somatic therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, internal family systems therapy, grief therapy, motivational interviewing, existential therapy, critical incident stress debriefing, substance use and disaster management.

I have been an active member in the rare disease community, having served for many years on the Board of Directors with the Rare Disease Foundation, a not for profit organization supporting those living with and affected by rare diseases.

Most recently, I worked as a clinical counsellor with a large health authority in a program providing multidisciplinary services to those with complex and chronic illnesses.