Marie-Jose Dhaese

Children who have stopped speaking, adults carrying the weight of abuse or loss, families trying to find their way back to each other — these are the people Marie-Jose Dhaese has devoted her practice to over nearly five decades. Working from Parksville, British Columbia, she is a Registered Clinical Counsellor whose clients range from young children through to the elderly, including individuals with developmental and special needs.

Her approach, Holistic Expressive Therapy, draws on verbal counselling alongside art, play, sand tray work, storytelling, movement, writing, and imagery — chosen because some experiences resist language and require another route entirely. For adults whose working hours have dissolved into evenings and weekends, who find themselves answering messages at midnight with no clear moment when the day actually ends, that wordless route can reach what conversation alone cannot. She founded The Centre for Expressive Therapy to offer this integrative model to clients and to train other health professionals in it.

Marie-Jose helps people across the lifespan navigate trauma, grief, anxiety, depression, abuse, chronic illness, and major life transitions. Sessions are available online, bringing her distinctive therapeutic approach to clients wherever they are.