Associates & Students

Deanna Rogers, Practicum Student

Master of Counselling Candidate

Deanna is currently completing her Master’s in Counselling at City University in BC. She completed the 3-year Somatic Experiencing training program focused on trauma resolution and integration. She also studied and worked with Dr. Gabor Maté, and completed a one-year course in Compassionate Inquiry. Deanna uses both an embodied focus and the practice of Inquiry in her therapeutic work with clients, supporting them to uncover their own truths and answers by asking the right questions. She provides trauma-informed care by offering choice, collaboration, and empowering the client wherever possible, meeting them where they are rather than making assumptions about where they should be. Curiosity and compassion are two of the main tools that she uses in her therapy practice.

Over the last decade, Deanna’s primary focus has been to study and work with plant medicines and psychedelics with the intention of healing and personal or spiritual exploration. She has supported many aspects of plant medicine and psychedelic experiences for people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds, both individually and in groups. Her work has included assessment, program design, preparation, retreat facilitation, group processing, integration support, and training healthcare providers in harm reduction and psychedelic-assisted therapy. She was introduced to this work through an Indigenous context and is currently engaged in consulting, curriculum design, and teaching within a clinical context at Numinus. She has developed a deep appreciation for the courage it takes to seek support whether we are suffering deeply or simply feel stuck.

Nicole Marcia, Practicum Student

Master of Counselling Candidate

Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT), Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Facilitator (TCTSY-F)

Nicole is currently completing her Master of Counselling degree at City University. Her theoretical orientations are psychodynamic and existential-humanistic, which she combines with somatic practices rooted in yoga, to empower her clients in living more connected and embodied lives. Nicole brings a trauma and violence-informed, anti-oppressive approach to her work which includes supporting those recovering from sexual assault, providing culturally competent services for first responders and public safety personnel, and walking alongside trauma survivors, and those impacted by systemic violence, and oppression.

Since 2004, Nicole has taught therapeutic yoga classes and offered individual sessions to trauma survivors in addition to training yoga and healthcare professionals in trauma-informed yoga theory and techniques. From 2008 – 2017 Nicole served as Director of Therapeutic Yoga Programming for the Provincial Health Services Authority at their Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addictions and at Riverview Hospital and Onsite, the rehab arm of North America’s first safe injection site. She has been invited to work with First Nations clients and students, including the Musquem (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm), Tsawwassen (/təˈwɑːsən/), and Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw (ˈkʷakʷəkʲəʔwakʷ) people since 2019.

We are currently taking referrals for Nicole’s services, please contact connect@briandeanwilliams.com for details.

Renu Parmar, Associate

Master of Counselling, Registered Clinical Counsellor

We are happy to welcome Renu to our team as an associate! Renu was already an experienced and skilled counsellor with 7 years of experience when she did her practicum with us, and has demonstrated a high level of skill, ethics, and care in this work.

Renu combines various modalities in her practice that she has worked on for many years, but has recently specialized in mindfulness-based somatic training to work with trauma. She also draws from CBT, existential therapy, and narrative therapy. More importantly, she draws from years of both professional and personal experience in working with adults who are struggling with trauma, anxiety, low self-esteem, addiction, identity issues, or relationship issues. One of her core values is that therapy should always be compassion-focused.

Mindfulness-based somatic therapy is an integrative approach to healing trauma using body-oriented processes that help regulate the nervous system. Our traumas and wounds inform how we interact with the world and the issues that come up for us as we cope with daily life. Together in therapy, you can safely engage with feeling those wounds in the body so that they can be expressed and released. Exploring childhood wounds may be part of the process. The result is to feel more resilient, whole, and embodied.

Feelings of safety and trust are key in building a therapeutic relationship. This safety will be cultivated through deep empathetic listening, compassion, and openness to various worldviews.

Renu is also a meditation teacher/spiritual counsellor and is able to address spiritual health as an integral part of well-being if the client wishes to explore this in sessions. She is also a writer and has a background in theatre and teaching, so she also has a passion for working with the body to address creative blocks and issues with presence.

To book with Renu, please contact connect@briandeanwilliams.com.

Jordan Levine, Associate

PhD, Master of Counselling, Registered Clinical Counsellor

Jordan is both a counsellor, and an interdisciplinary social scientist.

In his counselling role, Jordan has a passion for active, empathic listening, and a deep curiosity about his clients’ unique lived experiences. Informed by Jordan’s immersion in the latest research, this means clients can expect a thoughtful and collaborative approach to adapting the most appropriate method of therapy for their needs.

Jordan’s combined background in anthropology, cognitive science, and counselling psychology means he provides clients a unique form of non-judgmental support to explore any or all aspects of their diverse human experience. This applies no matter how dark or troubling a client’s worries may be.

In addition to depression and anxiety, Jordan has particular clinical interests in trauma, somatization (e.g., chronic pain), tech addiction, loneliness, and relationship problems, as well as crises of faith and worldview.

Jordan has an equal interest in evidence-based body-mind approaches to therapy (e.g., meditative and somatic techniques) as well as talk-based approaches.