Making room for the grief, joy and fear that can coexist
At a pace and place that feels safe
Hi, i’m Ella.
Yes, I’m a registered clinical therapist, but I’m also a woman who’s experienced the pain and confusion that comes along with health issues, the journey towards motherhood, and loss.
I’ve sat in the waiting rooms. I’ve felt the uncertainty. I’ve lived with the grief.
Nothing about my first pregnancy looked like I had hoped. Despite working in this space, the mix of joy and nervousness after that positive test quickly gave way to perinatal depression that caught me off guard, intense nausea, and feeling like a completely different person.
A couple of days shy of 12 weeks, I went for my first ultrasound, where I was told there was no heartbeat. Later that day, my midwives confirmed I’d had a missed miscarriage and booked me for a D&C the following week.
This experience shook everything — my relationship, my identity, and my sense of self. It forced me to face years of fear around fertility and being able to trust my body, at times leaving me feeling completely disconnected from who I was.
With the help of a therapist, the rebalancing of my hormones, time, and the space to sit with my grief, I slowly started feeling like myself again.
Even with loving partners, friends, and family, the experience of being in a body, especially one with a womb, comes with continuous change that confronts our very sense of self. At times, this can still feel so isolating. Those feelings deserve genuine, trusted, and compassionate support.
That’s why I’m here. That’s why I focus on healing for women. I’ve lived it, I’ve studied it, and I’ve sat with many incredible people who have been there too.
My Credentials
MA Counselling Psychology — Yorkville University 2022B.A. Anthropology & Psychology — McGill University 2017British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC)Canadian Counselling & Psychotherapy Association (CCPA)Canadian Certified Perinatal Mental Health Counsellor (CC-PMH)
Internal Family Systems for Perinatal Populations Training
Somatic Trauma Therapy Certificate CourseComprehensive Internal Family Systems CourseCore Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFFT)Circle of Security Parenting Program | Registered FacilitatorCognitive Behavioural Therapy — Anxiety & Depression
Yes, this most likely means you can submit my fees to your insurance (check with your provider to make sure)
Things you may be wondering about Moon Rise…
Why choose Moon Rise
Because this is therapy rooted in lived experience, not just textbooks. Because women’s health, grief, and identity shifts deserve specialized care. Because you don’t have to walk through these tender seasons alone. Because your story is held with care, not rushed or minimized. Because we trust your inner wisdom and create space for you to reconnect with it. Because this work is personal, and you deserve to feel truly seen.
Who I work with
Women moving through fertility uncertainty, loss, postpartum shifts, health challenges, or simply feeling untethered in their own story. I also work with men and people of all genders moving towards parenthood or navigating life’s ups and downs. Whether you're in the middle of the hard or have been quietly carrying it for years, you're welcome here, just as you are.
Where we work together
Virtually. Feel free to stay in your PJs. Grab a cup of tea (my favourite is a good Japanese matcha), and a box of tissues. I encourage you to get cozy and comfortable—this is your time. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to work with clients all over British Columbia.
It’s more than “feeling burnt out”. And I’m more than a therapist.
Over the years, as a client, therapist, and simply a human, I’ve noticed some patterns in the world of healing that don’t sit right with me.
Here’s what I believe instead:
You don’t need a 5-step formula.
Life isn’t a mindset hack. We sit together in the real stuff — the uncertainty, the questions, the grief — and slowly, things begin to shift.
You don’t need to fix yourself first.
You’re not broken. The ways you’ve coped are often brilliant adaptations to hard things. We hold space to honour those and gently explore what else might be possible.
Pregnancy and parenthood are complex.
Joy, rage, fear, grief — they can all exist at once. You’re not ungrateful or getting it “wrong” if this doesn’t match the highlight reel. Your full experience deserves room.
Healing isn’t always big or loud.
It doesn’t have to be one giant breakthrough. Sometimes healing looks like simply surviving the day, breathing a little easier, or feeling less alone. That’s enough.
Therapy is meant to be engaging.
I don’t just sit there and nod, saying ‘mmhmm’ the whole time. But I’m also not here to give you all the answers or tell you exactly what to do. It’s more about helping you hear yourself more clearly and figure out what feels right for you.
Moon Rise
Because all of the parts of you matter, even when you don’t feel whole
Healing doesn’t happen in a straight line. It moves like the moon through cycles of light and dark, growth and stillness, loss and becoming. Moon Rise is about honouring every part of that journey. One that makes room for the full, often messy reality of living in a body, navigating fertility, loss, pregnancy, postpartum, and all the emotions that come with it.
Because therapy works best when we both get to be human in the room
So, here’s what you’d learn about me if we went out for coffee
What I love to do: travelling, writing, spending time with loved ones, being in the woods or by the sea, reading a good novel by the fire, and moving my body with intention.
Most of my favourite movies: are black and white
My beverage of choice: steaming mugs of tea (how very therapist of me)
Favourite book: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
On my birth certificate: raised on Bowen Island. Middle name Rain. Libra.
