Sam Kriviak Counselling

Who I work with

I offer counselling virtually, either by phone or video, to clients located in Alberta or the Northwest Territories. Clients must be in one of these provinces/territories at the time of our sessions.

I’m happy to work with individual adults and teens from all sorts of backgrounds, with all sorts of life experiences, and at any stage of their mental health journey. Some of the areas I have experience in:

• Emotional processing, tolerance, and regulation (including strategies for anxiety and depression)
• Grief and loss
• Trauma (including acute, complex, childhood/developmental, and intergenerational trauma)
• Healthy relationships, communication, and boundaries
• Adolescence and transitioning to adulthood
• Social justice issues (like eco-grief or activism burnout) and systemic oppression (like transphobia, colonialism, or ableism)
• Attachment
• Existential questions
• Suicide and self-harm
• Abuse and violence
• Substance use

Some of the communities and populations I often work with include:

• 2SLGBTQ+ folks and anyone with a non-traditional relationship style, sexuality, or gender identity
• Neurodivergent folks (including autism, ADHD, and OCD), both formally and self-diagnosed
• Diverse and marginalized folks whose experiences of discrimination, systemic oppression, alienation, violence, or injustice impact their experiences and wellbeing
  

Who I Don’T work with

There’s a few reasons why I might not be the right fit for you. Some of the main ones include:

• I do not offer couples or family counselling. Clients are welcome to bring a supportive guest to some of their sessions if this seems like it might be helpful, but we will always stay focused on the individual client.
• I do not offer in-person sessions, only virtual sessions by phone or video. As well, I can only meet with clients virtually when they are physically located inside Alberta or the Northwest Territories.
• I do not offer formal assessment or diagnoses. These are services offered by some psychology offices and by psychiatrists. Most of the time, formal assessment and diagnoses aren’t needed for counselling to be effective, but they may be helpful for better understanding ourselves and accessing diagnosis-specific support and resources, like medication or financial aid.
• I cannot provide prescriptions or medication recommendations. Medication falls under the expertise of medical doctors, psychiatrists, and pharmacists. I am happy to work with clients that use pharmaceutical supports and those who don’t.
• I only work with folks who are able to understand what therapy is and provide ongoing consent to participate in it. With teens, parental consent is usually required in addition to client consent. For folks who use substances or take medications that severely impact their ability to consent, ability to consent to therapy at the time of sessions is required. I do not offer ‘drug-assisted’ therapy (e.g. psychedelics).
• I also only work with folks who can likely benefit from talk therapy in English. There are a wide variety of therapeutic approaches that work well without focusing on conversation (e.g. play therapy, art therapy, movement therapy), but they are outside my area of expertise. As well, English is the only language I am fluent in.