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Bita Kiasarai · Pre-Registered Therapist
Supervised by Ryan Schebek, RCC · Virtual Counselling Across BC

You have the right to a future that is not dictated by your past.

I'd be honoured to join you on this path of inward searching, where you gain fuller access to your authentic self and seek control over your life.

Book a free 15-minute consultation Have a question first? Send a message
Bita Kiasarai, smiling, in a denim jacket
  • Verified by Psychology Today
  • BA in Social Work, MA in Counselling
  • Member, CCPA and BCACC
  • 9 years in mental health and social work

For the women who are convinced they are the problem.

I see your exhaustion.

You're tired of keeping the peace, tired of swallowing your feelings, tired of being understanding and accommodating even when you are hurt, angry, or resentful.

You learned that having needs feels risky, that disappointing people can threaten your connection with them, and that asking for what you need can feel like a burden. So you became easy to rely on, easy to like, and easy to not worry about.

Now you're exhausted from how much of yourself you've had to hold back just to keep the people you love close. You want to be heard and seen, yet being seen in your anger, hurt, and overwhelm feels terrifying. You feel like you're not enough, and somehow you still worry you might be too much.

I see you. I get you. I've been you.

My own experience in therapy helped me trust my heart again.
I want that for you too.

Your rage is welcome here. Your pain is welcome here.
The world has asked enough of you.
You don't have to carry it alone anymore.

Bita sitting at an outdoor wooden table in the sun, smiling, with a blue mug

You can be high-functioning on the outsideand still be struggling deeply underneath.

Many of the women I work with often arrive with:

  • Anxiety
  • Emotional overwhelm
  • Loneliness
  • Relationship difficulties
  • Shame
  • Self-criticism
  • Perfectionism
  • People-pleasing
  • Childhood trauma

Together, we move beneath the symptom and down toward the root - understanding where the patterns began, what they've been protecting, and what it would look like to trust your heart again.

The Space Between Us

Bita Kiasarai

Therapist POV

Here you are, trusting me with a life I have not lived.

I know there are places in you I cannot simply assume I understand. So I want to come close with humility. I want to understand your world as you experience it - not as I think you should.

I want to know what scares you. What you learned to hide to survive. What you had to become to stay loved, connected, and safe.

I want you to know that I'm not frightened by what you may find here.

If we meet anger, we can stay with anger. If there is grief, fear, tenderness, love - we can make room for those too.

I may misunderstand you. I may miss something. And when I do, I want us to be able to talk about it.

Most of all, I want you to feel that there is a real person here with you - someone who is willing to enter your world, sit beside what hurts, and not turn away.

Client POV

I want help. I'm just not sure yet if it's safe to let you help me.

I'm watching you closely. I want to know what you'll do with the parts of me I'm ashamed of. Will you think I'm dramatic? Difficult? Too much? Will you see something in me that confirms what I already fear about myself?

When you don't pull away, I give you a little more.
There are things in me I've kept quiet for a long time. Anger. Hurt. Shame. Parts I'm not even sure I want to face yet.

Going there can feel scary. And still, there is something relieving about not having to go there alone anymore.

Little by little, I start to wonder: What if I can be fully known here and still met with care?

What therapy can offer you.

Bita at a small red cafe table in the sun, in profile, holding a blue mug

Therapy can help you gain a fuller relationship with yourself, trust your own inner experience, and feel a greater sense of ownership over who you are. This process of self-discovery is a lifelong journey. While it can sometimes feel painful, it can also be deeply enriching.

Being deeply listened to can slowly change the way you listen to yourself. Being fully met with care and acceptance can slowly change the way you see and relate to yourself. Over time, you may begin to internalize that same acceptance and compassion and offer it to yourself. From there, you can begin to live with more freedom, agency, and fierce authenticity.

Over the course of therapy, people often begin to notice changes such as:

  • Recover from stress more quickly
  • Trust and value yourself more highly
  • More self-confident
  • Become more like the person you wish to be
  • Understand your patterns and needs
  • More open to your experiences
Book a free 15-minute consultation Have a question first? Send a message
A thin crescent moon in a clear blue evening sky

“Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know. It just keeps returning with new names, forms, and manifestations until we learn whatever it has to teach us.”

Pema Chödrön

What working with me is like

I want to help you reclaim and reown your life.

What I offer:

  • See yourself with more warmth and compassion
  • Let your guard drop and soften the defenses you've had to build to survive
  • Accept yourself more fully
  • Feel more empowered in your choices
  • Feel more freedom in your life
  • Become more curious about yourself and your patterns
  • Develop a more trusting relationship with yourself

My job is to invite you into an active partnership where you can learn about yourself by adopting an experimental attitude toward life, in which you try out new behaviours and notice what happens.

We do that through four phases of therapy.

  1. Phase 1

    Building our relationship

    Therapy begins with the relationship between you and me. Research consistently shows that the quality of the therapeutic relationship is connected to therapeutic change. In this phase, we're getting a sense of each other and building trust, rapport, and safety. I'd like to reduce the barriers between you and me so that, if you wish, you can reveal more of yourself at your own pace.

  2. Phase 2

    Building awareness and exploration

    We spend much of our lives living from the neck up, while the body carries an entire inner landscape of rich information we may have learned to overlook. With curiosity, we start turning toward that inner world - noticing not only what you think, but what you feel and what your body may be communicating. We put language to what has been difficult to name, and let your pain become our compass as we gently follow what hurts and discover where it leads.

  3. Phase 3

    Inner child work

    We all long, consciously or not, for what we needed then and did not fully receive. As we follow the pain, we may meet younger parts who learned to stay quiet, people-please, perform, hide needs, or become whatever helped preserve love, connection, and safety. In our work, we offer these younger parts a different experience: one of compassion, curiosity, reassurance, and protection so the old survival patterns no longer have to keep running the show.

  4. Phase 4

    A renewed sense of self living in harmony with the 8 C's

    As we untangle old patterns and loosen the maps of the past, more room can open up for qualities that Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy describes as the 8 C's of the Self:

    • Calmness
    • Curiosity
    • Compassion
    • Confidence
    • Courage
    • Clarity
    • Creativity
    • Connectedness

Reclaim your humanness. Discover your vitality.
Live with more aliveness. Participate in a growth experience.

Book a free 15-minute consultation

Have a question first? Send a message

How it works

Three steps, and the first one is free.

  1. Start with a free 15-minute consultation

    This is a chance for us to get a sense of each other. I'll ask a little about what brings you to therapy, what makes now feel like the right time to reach out, and what your experience with therapy has been so far (if any). You'll also have space to ask me anything you'd like about how I work, what therapy with me may look like, and whether it feels like a good fit.

  2. Session recommendation

    I usually recommend starting with weekly sessions so there is enough continuity for the work to deepen. Everyone's pace is different. However, research suggests that around 15-20 sessions is a meaningful window where many clients begin to experience real change. From there, we can keep checking in together about what feels helpful, what is shifting, and whether the pace still feels right for you.

  3. The only way out is through

    As we turn toward what has been hurting, you may start to notice feelings, memories, or parts of your experience with greater awareness and clarity. That can feel tender or uncomfortable at times, and it can also be part of meaningful change.

    You will always have choice in this work. We won't force or rush what needs time. I'll be with you every step of the way at a pace that honours your sense of safety, readiness, and agency.

Bita laughing on a garden bench in a red sweater, reading Irvin Yalom's Becoming Myself

About me

I'm Bita, a Pre-Registered Therapist offering virtual counselling across BC through Layers Counselling and Wellness, under the supervision of Ryan Schebek, RCC (#20816).

I hold a BA in Social Work and MA in Counselling Psychology. I have spent the past 9 years working in the field of mental health alongside people from many different walks of life.

I feel especially drawn to working with adult women carrying the effects of childhood trauma and early emotional neglect. I'm deeply curious about the ways old wounds continue to shape the present, and how they influence the way you relate to yourself, connect with others, and move through the world.

My work is grounded in trauma-informed, emotion-focused, psychodynamic, somatic, and attachment-based perspectives.

Questions people ask before booking

I don't even know where I'd start.

That's okay. It's normal to arrive without an organized story or knowing exactly what you want to talk about yet.

Many people begin therapy simply knowing that something feels heavy, overwhelming, painful, or no longer wanting to live a certain way. We can start with what feels the most present and take it from there. I'll be with you every step of the way.

What happens after I book a free 15-minute consultation?

You'll receive an email from me with the link to our free 15-minute consultation and a brief overview of what we can talk about.

The consultation is simply a chance for us to meet, get a feel for one another, talk about what brings you to therapy, and see whether working together feels like a good fit.

How long does therapy take to notice change?

There's no single timeline that fits everyone. The length of therapy depends on what you're coming in with, what you hope to work through, the pace, and the depth of our work together.

Research suggests that many people begin to experience meaningful improvement within about 6-12 sessions, with more substantial change often noticeable over 15-20 sessions of regular weekly therapy.

How much does it cost?
  • Individual therapy$140 per session
  • Couples therapy$155 per session

If cost is making therapy feel out of reach, you are welcome to ask about sliding-scale availability.

Is it online?

Yes. All sessions are offered virtually to clients across British Columbia, so you can join from a private space that feels comfortable for you.

Who do you work with?

I work with adults and offer both individual and couples therapy.

Bita at a small red cafe table in the sun, holding a blue mug, with an empty chair across from her
There's a seat here for you.

I trust in your intuition to know if this feels right for you.

If you've read this far, some part of you may be tired of feeling this way.
You can arrive exactly as you are. There is nothing to prepare or get right before we begin. You can arrive with whatever feels the most alive and we can begin there.

I look forward to meeting you.

Book a free 15-minute consultation Have a question first? Send a message