Finding the right counsellor can make a meaningful difference in how comfortable and supported you feel in therapy. At Unitive Mental Health & Wellness Clinic, we are pleased to welcome Diana Franco-Yamin, MA, CCC, a Canadian Certified Counsellor with more than 15 years of experience working with adults, youth, couples, and families.
Diana provides in-person counselling at our Coquitlam clinic as well as online counselling, with sessions available in English, French, and Spanish.
Her areas of experience include anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), trauma, relationship and family concerns, grief and loss, stress, and major life transitions.
An Integrative Approach to Counselling
There is no single approach to counselling that works for everyone.
Diana’s work is warm, collaborative, and flexible. Rather than applying the same therapeutic model to every client, she considers each person’s experiences, goals, strengths, preferences, and current needs.
Therapy may include practical strategies for challenges happening right now, exploration of emotional or relationship patterns, or looking at how previous experiences may continue to influence thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and relationships.
Diana draws from therapeutic approaches including:
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
Attachment-based therapy
Body-oriented approaches
She also has additional training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Mentalization-Based Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and approaches for working with childhood anxiety and OCD.
Counselling for Anxiety and OCD
Anxiety and OCD have been significant areas of Diana’s clinical work throughout her career.
Her professional experience includes several years working with the Provincial OCD Clinic at BC Children’s Hospital, in addition to providing specialized anxiety and OCD treatment in other clinical environments.
Anxiety and OCD can affect much more than someone’s thoughts. They can influence daily routines, relationships, school or work, parenting, decision-making, and family life.
Counselling can help clients better understand the patterns that may be contributing to their anxiety or OCD and develop strategies for responding differently when difficult thoughts, emotions, or urges arise.
Diana also has considerable experience supporting children and youth experiencing anxiety or OCD, as well as parents who are trying to understand how best to support their child.
Trauma and Difficult Life Experiences
Difficult or overwhelming experiences can continue to affect us long after the immediate situation has passed.
For some people, this may show up through anxiety, emotional reactions, physical responses, difficulty trusting others, relationship patterns, or a sense of feeling stuck despite understanding intellectually what is happening.
Diana’s attachment-based and body-oriented training allows counselling to look beyond thoughts alone. Therapy may also include noticing emotional responses, physical sensations, relationship patterns, and behaviours.
The goal is not simply to understand what happened, but to develop greater awareness of how past experiences may be affecting life today and identify different ways of responding.
Relationship and Family Counselling
Relationships can become difficult even when everyone involved cares deeply about one another.
Communication breakdowns, repeated arguments, emotional disconnection, parenting stress, unmet needs, and major changes can all put pressure on couples and families.
When working with couples and families, Diana uses an attachment-informed perspective to look at patterns of connection, communication, conflict, and emotional needs.
Rather than focusing only on individual disagreements, counselling can help identify the patterns occurring between people and create opportunities for different ways of communicating and connecting.
Support Through Grief and Life Transitions
Change can be difficult even when it is expected.
Relationship changes, career transitions, parenting changes, losses, moves, family changes, and other major events can affect how we understand ourselves and what we want moving forward.
Grief can also take many forms and does not always follow a predictable timeline.
Counselling can provide space to process what has changed while developing practical ways to cope with the emotional and day-to-day effects of the transition.
Counselling That Considers the Whole Person
Our experiences are shaped by more than what happens inside the therapy room.
Culture, family, identity, relationships, community, and broader life experiences can all influence how people understand themselves and the concerns that bring them to counselling.
Having worked with people from many different communities and backgrounds throughout her career, Diana brings this broader perspective into her work with clients.
What Is It Like to Work With Diana?
Therapy with Diana is collaborative.
Sessions begin by understanding what is bringing you to counselling, what you would like to change, and what type of support feels most useful.
For some clients, that may mean learning specific strategies or tools. For others, counselling may involve understanding long-standing emotional or relationship patterns. Often, therapy includes a combination of both.
Diana aims to create a comfortable space where clients can be themselves while developing new perspectives, practical skills, and different ways of responding to challenges.
Counselling in Coquitlam and Online
Diana currently offers:
In-person counselling in Coquitlam
Appointments are available at Unitive Mental Health & Wellness Clinic’s Coquitlam location.
Online counselling
Virtual appointments are also available for clients who prefer to attend counselling remotely.
Counselling in English, French, and Spanish
Diana provides sessions in all three languages.
If you are looking for support with anxiety, OCD, trauma, relationships, family concerns, grief, stress, or a significant life transition, Diana may be a good fit.
Contact Unitive Mental Health & Wellness Clinic to learn more about counselling with Diana Franco-Yamin or to book an appointment.
