Old Town clinic combines counselling, tea and a stroll

Valérie Leclerc has been in Yellowknife long enough that now feels like the time to set up a new counselling clinic. She sees it as a chance to combine three passions.

“I like medicinal herbs, nature and hiking, and then therapy. So that’s the vision of the clinic that I’m opening in September,” Leclerc told Cabin Radio this week.

She and her partner are moving to the city’s Old Town, and she’s incorporating that move into the kind of therapy she’ll offer.

“We have a beautiful place close to Pilots’ Monument,” she said, referring to the hilltop monument to Yellowknife’s famed bush pilots that affords a panoramic view of the city and Yellowknife Bay.

“I’m going to be serving tea from Laughing Lichen, which a friend of mine owns, so people will be able to have a tea after the appointment if they want, then hike up to Pilots’ Monument to keep processing all of the emotion and whatever they were sharing with me during the session.”

Leclerc has been in Yellowknife for nearly a decade. Having originally trained as a therapist in Montreal, she uses what is called a creative non-directive approach.

“Non-directivity means I don’t tell my client what to do to resolve their issue or to feel better about themselves,” she explained.

“I don’t tell them, ‘Oh, you should do this and that.’ I help them to observe their own defensive mechanisms that block them from reaching or nourishing their needs.

“Slowly and surely, it brings people to what I call the trail of responsibility that can make them happier – recognizing, ‘Oh, yeah, maybe this is not the most healthy way of taking care of myself,’ for example.”

The clinic’s website launched this week. Leclerc says she can offer therapy for adults, children and teenagers, as well as for couples.

“When I was 17 and in a major depression myself, I just wanted to take care of myself and find my own resources and tools that could bring me to a better state of mind and a happier life,” Leclerc said, explaining why a career in therapy appealed to her.

“I graduated when I was 29. I’ve been practising for almost 10 years and I have a lot of gratitude for what I’ve received from my own therapists, my teachers, and all the people that came into my life, my clients.”