I’m a registered massage therapist and educator with a long-standing passion for helping people live well through times of physical and emotional challenge. After graduating with a degree in psychology from St. Thomas University in New Brunswick in 1995, I moved to British Columbia and began my career in community living. I spent twenty years with Spectrum Society for Community Living, where I still serve as a board director, and those experiences deeply shaped my commitment to inclusion and wellbeing.
I became a registered massage therapist in 2006 and soon developed a focus on manual lymph drainage. Over the years, I’ve mainly worked with people living with cancer and other complex health conditions—a practice that continually reminds me of the resilience of the human body and spirit. I now teach manual lymph drainage across Canada and truly enjoy helping practitioners build their skills with compassion and precision.
During the pandemic, I returned to my roots in psychology and completed my master’s degree, with a focus on counselling individuals with chronic health issues. I’m also fascinated by the science of sleep and the ways better sleep hygiene can support recovery, mental health, and overall quality of life. Whether I’m teaching, treating, or learning, my driving goal is the same: to help people feel more at home in their bodies and more supported in their health journeys.
Elli respectfully acknowledges being a settler on the unceded, traditional lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nations of the Coast Salish peoples.
Elli enters the counselling profession after almost two decades of working as an RMT with a focus on supporting clients through complex health issues, cancer treatment and post-surgical recovery. She is experienced in supporting clients and their caretakers dealing with systemic conditions, such as chronic pain and fatigue or other chronic health issues.
Elli aims to help clients better understand their stories within a framework honouring cultural diversity and enduring race, gender, ethnicity, and class-based power structures. Special areas of interest include but are not limited to, medical/religious trauma, eco/global anxiety, anger, grief, and the destructive impact of neo-liberalism on our mental health and communities.
Elli’s approach aims to be de-pathologizing, and collaborative, and it honours the fact that all parts of our story matter and deserve to be valued and heard. Elli is particularly interested in exploring sessions through a relational, strength-based and narrative lens. Her counselling style is compassionate, accepting, open-minded, and direct, and she strives to assist clients in tapping into their own skills and knowledge.
Anyone already working with Elli in an RMT setting is respectfully asked not to book counselling sessions.
Elli is currently only available for virtual counselling and offers a sliding scale pricing range for her sessions.
Pricing:
Please note: Sliding scale pricing aims to remove cost barriers for those facing financial hardship. Please self-assess if you are in this category or if you are currently able to pay the standard rate for counselling, as only a limited number of sliding scale appointments are available.
15 min Phone Consultation
No Cost
Individual Counselling
50 min
Sliding Scale: 100
Standard: $140
75 min
Sliding Scale: 120
Standard: $160
Relationship Counselling
75 min
Sliding Scale: 120
Standard: $160
90 min
Sliding Scale: $150
Standard: $200
