Penney Hartsen

Penney Hartsen holds to a simple conviction: people don’t get stuck because they’re broken, but because the patterns pulling them back haven’t yet been named. Working from White Rock, British Columbia, the Registered Clinical Social Worker brings that belief into every conversation — whether someone arrives carrying the weight of daily stress that feels too ordinary to mention, or the kind of pain that has quietly shaped them for years.

Penney works with teenagers, adults, couples, families, and older adults navigating everything from relationship disconnection and career burnout to trauma, addiction, abuse recovery, grief, and mood disorders. Emotionally Focused Therapy forms the backbone of her practice — an approach she uses to help people understand the attachment needs driving their emotions and, from there, chart a clearer way forward. Couples who have grown into strangers, or worse, adversaries, find here a structured way to understand what went wrong in the dynamic and how to shift it.

Spirituality, LGBTQ2+ concerns, and identity questions are also welcome in her work. Sessions are available online. Penney’s aim is unhurried and practical: to help each person build a more honest relationship with themselves, so that insight becomes something they carry forward — not something that stays in the room.