About Chantelle

Chantelle Sands, MA, RCC

Registered Clinical Counsellor | Indigenous Clinical Counsellor

"A soft landing for the Seekers, the Healers, and those Walking Between Worlds."

Hi, I’m Chantelle.

I’m so glad your path has led you here.

Counsellor is only one of the many hats I wear. I am also a wife, sister, daughter, dog mom and friend. A lifelong learner, self-proclaimed bookworm, and avid thrifter.

I am a proud, born-and-raised Yukoner of mixed Indigenous (Kaska and Tlingit) and European ancestry, a queer femme, and a first-generation university graduate.

Lived Experience & Frontline Roots

Counselling is my passion and my calling, born from my own healing process. From the moment I decided to become a therapist, I spent 10 years on the front lines of mental health and healing spaces before completing my graduate degree. While formal education provided my credentials, those ten years of walking alongside people through their hardest moments are what truly built my foundation.

My heart and labor spent that decade immersed in grassroots frontline care in my hometown of Whitehorse—walking alongside folks through youth residential treatment, adult inpatient recovery, and community mental health.

Living and working in Northern and frontline environments taught me that true healing does not happen in a sterile vacuum. It happens in relationship, through shared story, humor, and deep respect for individual autonomy.

Today, I weave this raw lived experience with gentle clinical grounding to offer you a soft landing: an unhurried, cozy space where you can let down your guard and be truly seen.

Therapeutic Approach: Two-Eyed Seeing

Therapy within Western systems can often feel rigid, overly manualized, or diagnostic. While clinical tools have their place, your healing doesn't have to be limited by them.

Guided by Two-Eyed Seeing (Etuaptmumk), my practice brings together:

  • Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Honouring story, somatic wisdom, relational interconnectedness, and spiritual grounding.

  • Western Clinical Depth: An eclectic, person-centered approach tailored to your unique story, integrating trauma-informed inquiry, relational healing, and narrative-informed dialogue.

Whether we are untangling intergenerational stories, navigating burnout, processing complex grief, or exploring parts of your identity, we work at a pace that honors your nervous system.

Education & Formal Credentials

  • Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC)

    BC Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC Reg. #18044)

  • Master of Counselling Degree

    City University of Seattle

  • Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology

    Thompson Rivers University

  • Community Support Work Certificate

    Yukon College

Frontline & Clinical Experience

My work as a therapist is deeply rooted in real-world human connection.

I spent ten years on the front lines of mental health, youth care, and community support before heading to graduate school. That decade in the trenches—alongside my subsequent clinical practice, teaching, and course instruction—allows me to bring both deep practical wisdom and strong clinical skill into the therapy room.

    • Registered Clinical Counsellor | Private Practice

    • Indigenous Clinical Counsellor | Douglas College

    • Trauma and Diversity Course Instructor | Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC)

    • Clinical Counsellor | Lu’ma Medical Centre Society

    • Educator & Instructor | Family and Community Counselling Program, Native Education College

    • Intern Counsellor | Ciel Community Counselling

    • Community Mental Health Worker | Robins Pharmacy

    • Youth Treatment & Recovery Worker | Mental Wellness and Substance Use Services

    • Child & Youth Government Care Worker | Residential Youth Treatment Services

    • Adult Inpatient Treatment Attendant | Alcohol and Drug Services

    • Youth Shelter Attendant | Alcohol and Drug Services

    • Recreation Coordinator | Skookum Jim Friendship Centre

    • Youth Employment Assistant | Skookum Jim Friendship Centre

    • Administrative Assistant | Alcohol and Drug Services

    • ESL Teacher | Give a Heart to Africa

    • Intern Teacher Assistant | Individual Learning Centre & Kwanlin Dün House of Learning

    • Summer/Day Camp Counsellor | Child and Adolescent Therapeutic Services

Lifelong Learning & Ongoing Education

Continuing learning through formal training and informal education is a core value of my practice.

I pride myself on being a lifelong student—driven by a deep passion for exploring the meaning of life, the nature of healing, and the radical possibilities that emerge in the unknown.

Below, you’ll find a summary of the trainings, workshops, and seminars I have participated in over the years, organized by theme for easier navigation.

Click through to expand 🔽

  • Focus: Shifting the lens from individual "pathology" . Exploring the intersections of myth, coloniality, and the 'cracks' in our modern systems.

    • Navigating the Empire of Trauma: Where Do We Go When The Healing Becomes Ill — Dr. Báyò Akómaláfé

    • MBARI: Art Bodies and Care at the End of the World — Dr. Báyò Akómaláfé

    • Decolonizing Attachment Theory — Linda Thai

    • Decolonize Your Mind / Reclaiming the Sacred — Dra. Rosales Meza

    • The Healing Power of Truth: Confronting Colonial Propaganda — Dra. Rosales Meza

    • Leaning into Liberatory Practice Summit — Reflecting on Justice

  • Focus: The ethical and clinical application of expanded states of consciousness for healing.

    • Fundamentals of Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy — TheraPsil

    • Ethical Right Relationship in Psychedelic Therapy (101, 102, 103) — Ethics & Community Support

    • Microdosing Psilocybin and LSD: Science and Practice — Psychedelic Support

    • Riding the Wave: Principles of Psychedelic Harm Reduction

    • Psychedelic Psychotherapy Forum

  • Focus: Moving beyond talk therapy to work with the nervous system and the body’s stored wisdom.

    • EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing): Basic Training & Special Populations

    • Fundamentals of Trauma Recovery: Level 1 Integrative Somatic Therapy Practice

    • New Dimensions of Trauma Healing: Energy, Neuroscience, and Spirituality

    • Trauma and Addiction — Dr. Gabor Maté

    • Response-Based Practice — Allan Wade

    • Risking Connection — Traumatic Stress Institute

    • What is Trauma-Informed Practice? — Mental Wellness and Substance Use Services

  • Focus: Collaborative, non-pathologizing approaches that center the client’s story, dignity, and agency.

    • Justice-Doing in Private Practice — Vikki Reynolds

    • Aboriginal Narrative Practice — Dulwich Centre Foundation

    • What is Narrative Practice? — Dulwich Centre Foundation

    • Group Facilitation: Grief, Loss, and Support — Living Through Loss Counselling of BC

    • Introductory Motivational Interviewing — Change Talk Associates

  • Focus: Specialized advocacy, radical acceptance, and safe service delivery for marginalized and systemically impacted communities.

    • Queering Mental Health — Our Landing Place

    • Trans Rights & Gender Diversity — TransCare BC

    • San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training — PHSA Anti-Racism Program

    • Working with Sex Workers: Living in Community’s Approach to Safety and Acceptance — Living in Community

    • Mental Health First Aid Facilitator — Mental Health Commission of Canada

    • ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) & Non-Violent Crisis Intervention — Suicide Intervention and Safety

let’s get started

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