Sonia Thibeault
Sonia Thibeault (she/her) is a Canadian Certified Counsellor with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCC #1364). While teaching Junior Sciences in the French Immersion Program, she completed a Master of Counselling at the University of Northern British Columbia. Born and raised in Quebec, Sonia has lived in British Columbia for the last 30 years, making Prince George her home.
Areas of counselling expertise
- Children (6- 9 years old) counselling (emotion literacy, emotional dysregulation, conflict resolution, anger management, social skills training
- Youth (10-13 years old) and Teen (14- 18 years old) counselling (self-esteem, anxiety, depression, friendship/relationships issues, academic challenges, self-harm, suicidal ideation, suicide assessment, sexual identity and sexual orientation)
- Adult counselling (divorce, life transitions, relocation)
- Grief/loss
- Trauma (PTSD, Complex trauma, Intergenerational Trauma, Compassion fatigue)
- Abuse
Therapy modalities Sonia uses in her counselling practice
- Person Centered Therapy
- Insight Oriented Therapy
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Strength-Based Approach
- Mindfulness
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
- Play, Sand Tray, and Art Therapies with children
Personal qualities / strengths as a counsellor
While working with me in counselling my goal is to support you to feel accepted, listened to, understood, and valued. I respect your unique way of being in the world and how you make sense of what is happening in your life. My faith in human nature propels me to empower my clients, helping them to become more resilient and assisting them in the process of creating a more fulfilling life.
I truly believe that you are the master of your life, knowing what is best for you. As a trauma-informed counsellor, I see myself as a guide, someone who can help you better understand different parts of your personal history and how it interferes in the here-and-now. What happened to you and how is it affecting your present life? Is there anything getting in the way of being the kind of person you want to be now, with the qualities and strengths you want to possess, living by what is most important to you? Is thinking about your future making your current life more meaningful?
The foundation of my counselling practice with children, youth and adolescents is based on the establishment of safety (physical, emotional, spiritual, and cultural), trust, and a strong connection. I have their best interest in mind and strive to understand what is behind their issues, struggles, and/or maladaptive behaviours. While counselling younger people, I tailor my practice around their developmental stages, using diverse approaches to better address their issues. This helps them to achieve a higher level of functionality and to feel happier in their day-to-day lives. My counselling experience taught me that play, sand tray, and art therapies are successful approaches with many children while cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioural therapy, solution-focused and acceptance and commitment therapy are better suited for youth and adolescents. These latter approaches provide them with useful tools to navigate their lives more efficiently.
Education and professional development
- Bachelor of Sciences, Laval University, Quebec
- Completion of a project on Trauma Counselling (https://doi.org/10.24124/2010/bpgub1472) as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Counselling.
- Facilitator for the program “Living Life to the Full”, Canadian Mental Health Association BC Division. Vancouver, B.C.
- Making Sense of Aggression- Neufeld Institute- course on aggression problems and how to handle and reduce incidents and violence, Kairyn Russell-Janecke, SD 57, Prince George, B.C.
- Mental Health First Aid- program to become a Mental Health First Aider, Canadian Mental Health Association BC Division. Prince George, B.C.
- GRASP- program on suicide prevention, Crisis Prevention, Intervention & Information Centre for Northern BC. Prince George, B.C.
- ASIST- program designed to help individuals not only to recognize the risk of suicide but also to intervene in order to prevent the risk of suicidal thoughts from becoming suicidal behaviors.
