About Chris Walford
Clinical experience shaped by lived experience.
I meet people at the level of their identity rather than reducing them to a problem or diagnosis.
My work is grounded in a straightforward conviction: your history deserves to be understood, but it does not have to determine what comes next.
Before becoming a counsellor, I worked in law enforcement. I later held clinical leadership and program-development roles in trauma and addiction treatment, and have worked across community, school, university, First Nations, and private-practice settings.
That background helps me understand cultures in which responsibility, composure, loyalty, and service matter—and in which asking for help may not come naturally. Much of my practice now focuses on military members, veterans, RCMP and police members, firefighters, healthcare professionals, and others whose work has repeatedly exposed them to difficult events.
My own experience of serious injury, disability, rehabilitation, and navigating complex insurance systems also informs the way I work. It provides perspective on how quickly injury or trauma can disrupt identity, purpose, relationships, and one's sense of a future.
Lived experience is not a substitute for clinical training. It is, however, part of why I value directness, careful understanding, and therapy that respects the whole person rather than treating someone as a collection of symptoms.
Training and approach
I hold a master's degree in counselling and am a Registered Clinical Counsellor, Canadian Certified Counsellor, and EMDR-certified therapist. My work integrates evidence-informed trauma treatment with narrative, cognitive-behavioural, attachment, and meaning-centred approaches. Spiritual concerns can also be incorporated when they are important to the client.
“Healing involves more than reducing symptoms. It involves recovering authorship of your life.”Chris Walford Counselling
Begin the conversation
Healing begins with being understood.
In-person appointments in Powell River and secure online counselling for adults in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
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