About Nicole
Nicole Persall is a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC #17073) and Clinical Supervisor (ACS-Candidate) with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors and holds a Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology from Simon Fraser University. Nicole offers online counselling to individuals and couples for issues such as relationships, trauma, attachment, anxiety, people-pleasing, boundaries, and more. Her sessions are offered virtually online for adults living in British Columbia, including Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. Nicole also offers individual and group clinical supervision for counsellors and registered therapists working in private practice with adults.
Nicole supports people in deepening their relationship to their self, others, and the world around them. She often works with people who have experienced relational trauma, attachment injuries, or challenging dynamics within their family-of-origin that continue to impact them in the present. Nicole helps people explore how past experiences shape current relational patterns, beliefs, and dynamics, and learn news ways of coping and relating to others.
She works with people who may have developed strategies that were once helpful — such as people-pleasing, over-achieving, or perfectionism — that may now be leading to overwhelm, disconnection, or burnout. She helps people assess and shift these patterns, and reconfigure their lives by identifying and honouring their needs and values, setting boundaries, and communicating with others in a way that feels more authentic and fulfilling.
Nicole integrates a variety of therapeutic approaches in her work including Internal Family Systems (IFS), Somatic therapy, and Gottman Method Couples Therapy. She utilizes attachment-based, trauma-informed, and somatic approaches in her work.
Originally from Southern Ontario, Nicole now lives and works in beautiful Vancouver, BC offering virtual sessions across British Columbia. You can often find her enjoying the local beaches, hiking, or practicing yoga.
Nicole Persall, MEd, RCC-ACS Candidate | Registered Clinical Counsellor & Clinical Supervisor | Online in Vancouver and across British Columbia
APPROACHES & AREAS OF FOCUS
Approaches:
Attachment-based
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
Gottman Method Couples Therapy
Humanistic
Experiential
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Interpersonal Therapy
Mindfulness-Based
Person-Centered
Somatic Approaches
Strengths-based
Trauma-Informed Practice
Areas of Focus:
Anxiety
Attachment styles (e.g., insecure attachment)
Trauma (such as relational trauma, sexual trauma, childhood trauma)
Relationships
Parts work & inner child work
People-pleasing & boundaries
Perfectionism
Neurodivergence (e.g., suspected or diagnosed autism, ADHD, giftedness, sensory processing differences)
Sex & intimacy
Stress & burnout
Who do I work with?
Many of my clients are women in their 20’s and 30’s exploring relationships, although I work with people of all genders and any age over 20.
Many are students, working professionals, health-care providers, or other therapists.
I work with people who may identify as people-pleasers, perfectionists, or high achievers and are prone to experiencing stress, anxiety, and burnout.
Autistic individuals, ADHD/AuDHDers and other neurodivergent individuals who may have been diagnosed later in life, or suspect they are neurodivergent, and are learning to unmask and honour their sensory and emotional needs.
People with a history of childhood trauma, relational trauma, or a difficult upbringing that continues to impact them today.
People who feel disconnected from who they really are after years of people-pleasing, putting other’s first, minimizing their needs or emotional reactions, and trying so hard to “not be a burden.”
Those who have a hard time asking for help or receiving it without intense guilt and shame.
People who might say “I’m usually the one who has to take care of everything, I’m ready for a break. I want to focus on my needs for once” but may not know what they really want or need or how to set boundaries.
People that feel stuck in cyclical relational patterns (such as anxious-avoidant dynamics) and want to feel more secure and connected.
As a Registered CVAP Provider, I provide free counselling sessions to victims of crime in BC through the Crime Victim Assistance Program (CVAP).
education & Qualifications
Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC #17073), British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors
Approved Clinical Supervisor-Candidate, British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors
Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Counselling Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC (2019)
Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Psychology, Arts Minor in Health Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON (2015)
Registered CVAP Provider, Crime Victim Assistance Program
Additional training
Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy: Introduction to Neurodiversity with Anna Clarke Psychologist, Divergent Futures (Nov 2025)
Systemic Clinical Supervision Fundamentals, 36-hour Course with Vange Thiessen and Estera Boldut (Nov 2024)
2-Year Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy Training with Lisa Mortimore, PhD (May 2024 - Jan 2026 In Progress)
Introduction to Internal Family Systems, MindBody Training Institute with Colleen West (Mar 2024)
Somatic Attachment Therapy, 60-hour Certificate Program, The Embody Lab (June 2023)
Sex & Trauma: Helping Clients Move Beyond Trauma & Reclaim Their Sexuality, Allura Sex Therapy Centre, Vancouver, BC (June 2022)
Gottman Method Couples Therapy Level 1, The Gottman Institute (Jan 2022)
Disclosure in Psychotherapy with Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Vancouver, BC (May 2017)
A designation of BC Association of Clinical Counsellors