PHILOSOPHY, VALUES, PERSONAL HISTORY.
Hello, I am Darshan Stevens. I'm a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor specializing in trauma-informed Internal Family Systems Therapy and Somatic work.
Working from a somatic & polyvagal perspective, my belief is that in a safe enough container our body carries a biological inclination to move towards healing from trauma. My goal is for us to create that safe enough container together. And then work within that container to process the traumatic imprint left on your nervous system and psyche.
Personal History:
I have spent much of my life with depression and anxiety as close companions. Like most of us, I have experienced traumatic situations. I also carry the intergenerational trauma from my family; I believe we all carry this in one form or another, both through nature as epigenetics show, and through nurture, the family environment we grow up in, (which has been shaped in large part by the trauma of generations prior)
Historically, the way in which my anxiety and depression has shown up is in the form of climate anxiety— a sense of a looming collapse of the environment and society. I grew up in a household where from a young age I was taught there was a probable imminent demise of civilization just on the horizon. Often this was delivered via a combination of new-age spiritualism and conspiracy theory (otherwise known as conspirituality). Because of the added imprinting from my family of origin, the present-time crisis has had a very potent impact on my nervous system.
Living in the anthropocene and late-stage capitalism it's true that our survival is not a given, and neuroscience now teaches us that things that are unpredictable are perceived as a threat to the brain and nervous system. So feeling unsafe and having a prevailing sense of unease makes sense in our current context.
However,
even though looking out at the world shows that my anxiety is not
unwarranted, my nervous system is particularly wired to have a trauma
response to this adversity due to my specific family of origin trauma.
This
is the specific kind of therapy I am interested in doing with you.
Where we are not blind to systemic injustice and real-world issues that
are trauma-inducing. However, we root around and find the personal
pieces in your history that make living in these times, with this
adversity even more difficult. If we can help heal those things, it will
make it easier for us to face what is happening in our world with more
resilience and build capacity for action, hopefully personal and
collective.
What's your style of therapy?
I’m not a cold psychoanalytic-style therapist sitting silently behind a clipboard. (Although I do love collaborating with you to figure out what patterns are at play and what trauma or neurodiversity might be at the root).
I’m interested in embodiment, pleasure, and how trauma, oppression, and chronic stress shape our nervous systems and our ability to feel safe & connected. I hold an activist lens that honours the social and political contexts we live within — recognizing that many struggles are not individual failures but adaptive responses to real experiences and systemic harm. My intention is to offer a warm, inclusive, “safe-enough” space where you don’t have to perform or get it right.
Our work together is collaborative, nervous-system-informed, and grounded in genuine connection — supporting you to move toward greater regulation, embodiment, agency, and self-trust at a pace that feels respectful of your system.
Why cults and religous abuse?
My interest in cults and conspiracy theories was sparked through friends
and family members becoming fascinated and subsequently radicalized via
online conspiracy theories such as QAnon. Seeing the dramatic shifts in
people I care for has made me passionate about increasing access to
therapy for those attempting to de-radicalize, or for folks affected by a love ones involvement in cults or conspiracy theories.
I also grew up in a religious/cultish environment that promoted spiritual bypassing of real world issues. Ideological constructs like karma were used to justify the systemic oppression and racism we saw taking place in the world. In my family there was a pervasive magical thinking and a sense of being better than other people who didn't have the special spiritual knowledge we had.
I cannot overstate the profound way this shaped my worldview. Untangling these implicit beliefs has been a large part of my adult life.
What modalities do you use and why?
Psychotherapy modalities have helped me the most when there is a somatic element — feeling into what is held in my body and listening with compassion to the felt-sense messages that my body has stored, (often since childhood). This somatic inquiry and ‘being-with’ is what has enabled me to feel safer in my body by regulating my nervous system and not feeling under threat (fight, flight, freeze, fawn, collapse).
Privilege & Limitations
In my practice I try to take our inherited and cultural roadblocks and assumptions into consideration; things like racism, ableism, heteronormativity & patriarchy. Parts of my identity intersections are that I am white, 41 years old, bisexual, a parent, a spouse, and neurodivergent. I work on my own blind spots via therapy, education, and creative reflective practices.
Any other interests?
In addition to my interest in psychotherapy, I am devoted to my family, my dear friends, and my community where I live on Cortes Island. I care about racial equity, queer rights, media literacy, sex-positivity, animal-rights. I’m a bibliophile, with a fond spot for poetry. Before I became a therapist I worked for a decade as a photographer. I play music, make art with my 4 year old, & write fiction, and non-fiction (mostly about conspirituality).
Education
- Diploma in Transpersonal Counselling through Clearmind Institute
- IFS Certification through the IFS Institute
- Training in Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy
- Continuing Education in Narcissistic Abuse through the International Cultic Studies Association
- Aprox 150 hours of post graduation clinical supervision
- Aprox 6000 direct client session hours
Darshan is a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor (RTC). She is licenced by the Association of Cooperative Counselling Therapists of Canada, (ACCT).
Darshan Stevens, RTC
Links to learn more about my approach, resources, and booking.
Darshan Stevens, RTC
Links to learn more about my approach, resources, and booking.
Get in Touch
Cortes Island, where I live, is on the unceded traditional land of the Klahoose, the Tla'amin, and Homalco Indigenous People.