Denise Evans, Clinical Counsellor

Denise Evans has worked as a counsellor and educator in Squamish for over 25 years.
Before and after the birth of her son, she worked as a “Teacher on Call,” particularly enjoying teaching elementary school children.

Her work with families and individuals started in 1987 as a hospice volunteer, helping people and their families who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. At the same time, she completed her Bachelors degree in Psychology with a focus upon developmental psychology and personality theory.

Her daughter was born in 1991. In the early 90s, Denise also helped develop and then facilitated bereavement groups for adults in the corridor. She developed a one to one bereavement support counselling service and worked in that for much of the 1990s. While doing so she coordinated the hospice volunteer program for Squamish, served on the provincial Hospice Palliative Care Board of Directors, and entered the Masters in Counselling Psychology Program at Simon Fraser University. She also began to practise and study mindfulness meditation, insight and guided imagery meditations.

Having completed all of the course work and the practicum for her Masters, she started working in Private Practise in 1999 in the Garibaldi Highlands, seeing individuals of all ages, couples and families. She studied with Randy Frost, the clinical director of Living Systems, to further develop her expertise in couples and family therapy for the next 6 years.

Denise then developed emotional awareness and anger management groups in 2001 for Sea to Sky Community Services. She contracted to co-facilitate groups for men who had been convicted of domestic assault and for men and women who struggled with anger issues. She facilitated those groups for 4 years. She also served on the provincial board of ACAM(the BC Association for Counselling of Assaultive Men.)

In 2003 she accepted a full time position at Sea to Sky Community Services as an addictions clinician. She counselled adults individually and in groups who struggled with  substance use or who were affected by other’s substance use. Clients were both mandated or voluntarily entered counselling when ready for change. She also extended the services to youth, developing a program in partnership with the schools to treat youth who had been caught using drugs, rather than suspending them. That program eventually evolved into Creative Alternatives to Suspension and was extended throughout the corridor. 

Throughout her time working as an addictions clinician she continued her own studies taking courses and workshops in Mind/body work, resolving trauma, addiction, drugs and pharmacotherapy, meditation, yoga and many other topics and areas. She also continued to study with clinical supervisors: Terry Clark, an addictions clinician with Alternatives for 4 years; and Dr. Ross Laird, a professor at Vancouver Community Collage in addictions and other areas for 1 year.

As the funding for the Addictions Programs was removed in October, 2009, Denise returned to full time private practise. She is seeing couples, individual youth and adults, and families, while developing groups and workshops with a colleague, Dee Beveridge. Denise and Dee have also founded a non-profit society, Squamish Counselling Services, which will offer subsidised counselling to the community. They are developing the services with the help of SCS board members and community partners.

Denise is also serving as a director on the Board of the Helping Hands Society, which runs the 24 hour shelter for the homeless in Squamish. And she is a director of the Howe Sound Dance Academy Association, which raises funds to support young dancers in the community.

She loves her family and her work and is grateful for the opportunities that she has created and been given in this breathtaking community.