Hi, my name is Leena Mehta, and I’m a registered clinical counsellor (#19428) and the founder of At Ease Counselling in Burnaby, BC. I’ve worked as a counsellor for over nine years and I’m passionate about women’s mental health.
I offer counselling in Burnaby to high-achieving women and couples seeking a safe, compassionate, and culturally responsive space to heal. I understand the importance of building a strong therapeutic relationship with a client in counselling. In my experience, this therapeutic bond develops in a safe, nonjudgmental, compassionate, confidential, and curious environment. This provides a foundation for clients to start their healing journey.
As a South Asian Burnaby therapist, I welcome people from all walks of life, especially BIPOC and 2SLGBTQI+.
Counselling is a transformational experience for clients. It allows individuals to feel heard, validated, reassured, and supported. It is also a place where individuals understand why they react or feel like they do. As your counsellor, my job is not to fix you because you are not broken. Instead, my job is to help bring your strength and resilience to the surface. I empower individuals and help them unpack and heal from past experiences and trauma.
As a Burnaby therapist for women and couples, I focus on meeting you where you are and working at your pace alongside you with compassion, kindness, and curiosity. As your counsellor, I have no agenda, assessment, or evaluation to complete. I remained attuned to how you are feeling and check in with you each session. My goal is for you to leave each counselling session feeling a little better, or lighter. I specialise in supporting high-achieving women and provide therapy for women who feel stuck or overwhelmed.
As a Burnaby therapist for women, I design counselling sessions to meet your needs and goals every step of the way. I focus on both your past and your current struggles, exploring how your attachment style, needs, and fears impact your life today. Many high‑achieving women carry emotional stress in their bodies and relationships, and my work includes support for overwhelmed high achievers. Together, we look at the patterns that keep you feeling stuck or overwhelmed and begin building clarity, regulation, and understanding through trauma‑informed counselling for women.
As a Burnaby therapist for women and couples, I recognize that we are social beings wired for connection. Some pain and hurt you experience stems from relationships with family, friends, or your partner. As a result, some women feel disconnected from others and themselves. These women may benefit from trauma counselling or depression counselling. For clients navigating overwhelm, I provide stress management therapy for women and counselling for burnout in professional women.
As a Burnaby therapist for women and couples, I believe all individuals can heal from past abuse, trauma, and current struggles. I work with high-achieving women to shift negative core beliefs and to cultivate self-compassion and self-kindness. I use Somatic Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, or EMDR when supporting women to process trauma or distressing experiences. I use Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy when supporting couples in Burnaby.
As a Burnaby therapist for women and couples, I encourage you to be curious in our sessions. I’m curious to learn more about your experiences, thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. I want to understand where you feel stuck, low, or overwhelmed. I also want to learn more about your self-talk, view of self, and relationship with yourself. We work together to identify patterns in behaviour in a nonjudgmental, compassionate, and safe space in Burnaby and online.
As a Burnaby therapist for women and couples, I understand the importance of belonging despite looking or feeling different. As a BIPOC or 2SLGBTQI+, you may find that your voice isn’t the loudest, and as a result, you are left feeling unheard and unseen. In counselling, you will feel heard and seen in every session. I support all clients in a safe, non-judgmental, inclusive space in Burnaby and online. As a British Indian, I’m familiar with both British and Indian culture.
I was born and raised in a small town called Harrow in North West London, England. My ethnic background is Indian, and my parents immigrated to England in 1980. I identify as British and Indian and speak other languages, such as Gujarati and Hindi. As a woman of colour who was raised in a developed, Western country, I understand the privileges I experienced both in terms of education and opportunity. I also grew up experiencing discrimination and racism, similar to other BIPOC individuals.
Upon graduating with my second masters degree in Law, I fulfilled my lifelong dream of volunteering overseas in Vietnam in 2013. My three-month trip turned into three years, and over this period, I volunteered and lived in Cambodia, Brazil, Paraguay, and South Africa. The more I engaged in new experiences, the more my comfort zone increased. Each experience was unique, and I built strong connections with locals and volunteers. I learnt about the history, cultural norms, and rituals in each city I lived in.
My counselling journey began in Australia, where I supported women on a range of issues, including but not limited to grief and loss, anxiety, depression, childhood trauma, domestic violence, anger issues, and relationship breakdown. I also facilitated group counselling for women on healthy relationships, boundaries, assertiveness, and self-esteem. I lived and worked in Australia for nearly one year. As a counsellor, I supported women from diverse backgrounds, including women of colour. I then worked as a counsellor in New Zealand, supporting children, young people, and women. I supported children on a range of issues, including but not limited to abuse, anxiety, identity, self-esteem, self-harm, anger issues, and grief and loss. I learnt about Maori culture and traditions and supported clients who identified as Maori. I lived and worked in New Zealand for nearly two years.
I worked as a school counsellor in Canada at a First Nation school in Lytton. During this time, I supported students on a range of issues, including anxiety, childhood abuse, depression, intergenerational trauma, and stress. I lived in Lytton for nearly a year and immersed myself in First Nation culture. I then worked as a stopping the violence counsellor and a counselling supervisor for a not-for-profit agency in Hope and Chilliwack. I supervised six counsellors and four students completing their master’s degrees in counselling. During this time, I also facilitated group counselling on Understanding Abuse, Connections, and Recovering From Abuse. Finally, I worked as a sexual assault support services counsellor for a not-for-profit agency in Langley. During this time, I counselled youth who had experienced sexual abuse and children with sexualized behavior problems. I also provided anchoring support to counsellors, at Foundry, as part of solution-focused brief therapy.
As a registered clinical counsellor, my therapeutic approach is determined by my experience and training. I am trained in a range of counseling, modalities, including:
Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) - Founded by Dr. Russ Harris, has six core components. These include being present in the moment, identifying your values, committing to action, observing yourself, observing your thoughts, and accepting your feelings.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) - Focuses on your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and helps you understand their connection.
Culturally sensitive - understanding how cultural norms and values impact your life.
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) - focuses on mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, distress tolerance, and emotional regulation.
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) - Founded by Dr. Sue Johnson, focuses on strengthening the connection between couples. Counsellors also explore individual attachment patterns in sessions.
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) - Focuses on processing an experience with bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements.
Person-centred counselling - You drive counselling sessions.
Strengths-based counselling - counselling sessions focus on your strengths and resilience
Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) - short-term counselling and each session focuses on achieving one goal.
At Ease Counselling sessions focus on meeting you where you are and working at your pace alongside you with compassion, kindness, and curiosity in Burnaby and online.
At Ease Counselling services, I incorporate evidence-based modalities in every session. I am trained in various evidence-based modalities, including Acceptance Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Each of these modalities equips me to support your unique needs, and we work together to achieve your counselling goals.
At Ease Counselling understands the impact of inequality and oppression when supporting you in a safe, non-judgmental, inclusive space in Burnaby and online. People from all ethnic backgrounds, genders, and sexual orientations, including 2SLGBTQI+, are welcome.
201-3701 Hastings Street Burnaby V5C 2H6
(604) 997-4757/ info@ateasecounseling.ca
Open Monday to Saturday
