Annie Chen, BSc, MACP (In Progress)

Healing starts when we open the door to our authentic selves. Let’s step through together and discover what’s ready to bloom.

Hi, I’m Annie, an Intern Therapist here at Counselling & Co. I am passionate about supporting children, teens, and young adults in fostering a sense of belonging and feeling understood. My years working with children and families as a Registered Early Childhood Educator taught me to stay curious about what may be underneath big emotions and behaviours, particularly when supporting neurodivergent children and teens who may experience and communicate with the world differently. As a therapist, I bring that same curiosity along with creativity, humour, and playfulness, meeting kids where they are and finding ways to connect that feel natural to them. I also work alongside parents, helping you better understand what your child may be communicating or needing, while supporting your child to make sense of their emotions and experiences, recognize their strengths, and feel more confident being themselves.

As a second-generation Canadian, I’m also drawn to working with people navigating different cultural expectations, values, and identities while trying to understand where they fit. You may find yourself balancing who you are with who you feel expected to be, or wondering how to honour important relationships and parts of your culture without losing your own voice. Therapy can be a place to explore these different parts of yourself without feeling like you have to choose one side of who you are over the other.

My own experience recovering from an unexpected back injury changed the way I understand what happens when your body, abilities, or life suddenly look different than you expected. Chronic pain can bring grief for what you used to be able to do, frustration when others don’t fully understand, and exhaustion from having to think about your body in ways you never did before. I understand how deeply this can affect your emotions, relationships, independence, and sense of self, and I’m passionate about helping you make space for what has changed while reconnecting with hope for what comes next.

Whether you’re coming to therapy for yourself, your child, or your family, we can start with what is happening in your life right now and work together to better understand what you need, what matters to you, and what might help things begin to feel different.

What Therapy With Me Is Like

You can expect warmth, patience, and a calm, grounded presence in our sessions. You don’t need to have everything figured out, know exactly what to say, or arrive feeling calm and collected. Big emotions, lots of energy, silence, uncertainty, and even a little chaos are all welcome here. I’m comfortable slowing things down, staying curious, and meeting you or your child wherever you are in that moment.

I want therapy to be a place where you can show up as yourself, better understand your emotions and experiences, and feel more connected to what you need. We’ll start where you are and move at a pace that feels manageable.

What We Can Work On Together

• Support children and teens with anxiety, big emotions, emotional regulation, behavioural changes, friendships, school challenges, family changes, and self-esteem

• Better understand your young child’s development, behaviour, emotions, and changing needs

• Look beneath your child’s behaviour to understand what they may be communicating or needing

• Work through parenting worries and uncertainty, strengthen your connection with your child, and find new ways of responding when you feel stuck

• Help teens and young adults explore identity, belonging, relationships, cultural expectations, and finding their own voice

• Navigate anxiety, depression, grief, difficult emotions, life transitions, and unexpected change

• Make space for the ways chronic pain can affect your identity, independence, relationships, work, and everyday life

• Build greater emotional awareness, self-understanding, self-compassion, and connection to your strengths

A Little More About Me

• I'm a lover of music - it helps me relax and express a range of emotions when words are hard to find. I play several instruments, including violin, ukulele, piano, and trombone.

• I have a cat named Terra, who loves to curl up and sleep next to me in the evenings.

• In my spare time, you'll find me hiking, baking, or exploring new creative hobbies like sewing, knitting, or pottery.