Saanich · Greater Victoria · Online
Trauma Therapy and Counselling in Saanich, BC
Same-day public help in Greater Victoria is good at the immediate; trauma work is rarely immediate and rarely short.
Trauma Therapy for people in Saanich is delivered by secure video by Registered Clinical Counsellors registered with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors, with a free first consultation, no referral, and receipts your extended health plan can process.
Updated October 2, 2026
Island Health’s CARES service offers South Island residents a same-day assessment and walk-in counselling, and it is worth using when something needs attention now. Trauma that has been carried for years is a different kind of work. It needs time to build stability before anything difficult is approached, and a pace set together rather than by a single visit.
That is where private trauma therapy sits alongside the public route rather than against it. Sessions by video from Saanich run on a plan you agree, at a frequency that suits you, with the same counsellor from the first session onwards, and starting privately does not remove you from any public list.
Sessions are $140 for 50 minutes and start with a free 30-minute video call, no charge, no card, and no obligation to book anything afterwards. Many BC extended health plans reimburse a Registered Clinical Counsellor; whether yours does is plan-dependent. Fees and extended-health cover are set out in full.
For trauma work in Saanich, a memory that needs a longer run than a weekly session can move to the EMDR Intensive later, once stability is in place: $190 for 90 minutes with Camille Granda. How the intensive differs from weekly EMDR.
Trauma therapists in Saanich: who you would see
Taking new clients for trauma therapy and seeing people in Saanich by secure video. Each is a Registered Clinical Counsellor; the registration is on the profile and can be checked on the BCACC register.
Camille Granda, RCC, CCC
English and Tagalog · Trauma, Anxiety and chronic stress, Grief, loss and life transitions
Savneet Singh, RCC
English and Punjabi · Anxiety, Depression, Trauma and attachment
Getting counselling in Saanich
Saanich runs from Gordon Head and the university to farmland and the Peninsula towns at the end of Highway 17, and the listings people search treat all of it as Victoria. From Sidney or Brentwood Bay, an appointment in town is the highway in both directions.
Island Health’s public intake for the South Island is downtown, on Pembroke Street, and a search under “Victoria” returns the whole region at once, with no sense of which end of it you live at. Students have campus counselling; the Peninsula’s towns are small enough that the local counsellor may well be a neighbour.
Public mental-health intake for Saanich runs through Island Health. That route matters if you are seeking publicly funded care. It has no bearing on seeing a Registered Clinical Counsellor privately, which needs no referral and no diagnosis. See how RCCs, psychologists and social workers differ.
The district stops having a far end. Cordova Bay, Gordon Head and Sidney are the same distance from a video session, and the end of a term does not have to be the end of the work.
More on this city, including who else it serves and what the local picture looks like: online counselling in Saanich.
What trauma therapy involves
Trauma is not only the events people expect to count. It is anything that overwhelmed you at the time and did not finish being processed, which is why it can follow a single incident, a childhood, or a job you were good at.
What it is commonly used for
- A memory that intrudes, or a stretch of time that will not come back at all
- Reactions out of proportion to what is in front of you
- Feeling numb, distant, or watching yourself from outside
- Sleep, nightmares, and a body that will not settle
- What got carried down through a family rather than happening to you
- Vicarious trauma from work: healthcare, first response, care
Pacing first. Nothing here starts with the hardest thing: the early sessions build enough safety and enough control that the harder work is possible, and you decide what gets approached and when. EMDR is one of the tools, not the whole of it.
The full picture: how sessions are structured, what the first one is like, and what it does not do, is on the page for online trauma therapy across BC. If you are still working out what you need, the short questionnaire is a quicker route than reading all of them, and what to expect in a first session covers the part most people are actually nervous about.
Questions from Saanich
I have already been to CARES. Is private trauma therapy something different?
Usually, yes. CARES is built for same-day assessment and focused support, with follow-up and referral where needed. Trauma therapy is a longer piece of work with one counsellor, planned around stabilising first and processing later. Many people use both at different points.
Do I have to go through the worst of it straight away?
No. The early sessions are about stability: sleep, what sets things off, and how to settle when it happens. Nothing difficult is approached until you and the counsellor agree there is enough steadiness to approach it.
Can trauma sessions happen in Punjabi?
Yes. Trauma therapy here is booked as individual counselling, which is available in Punjabi, English or a mix, by video. About three in five of the region’s Punjabi mother-tongue speakers live in Saanich, and something hard is often easier to say in the language it happened in.
Who would I see for trauma therapy in Saanich?
For trauma therapy in Saanich, Camille Granda, RCC, CCC, who works in English and Tagalog or Savneet Singh, RCC, who works in English and Punjabi. Each sees people by secure video, and the free consultation is with whichever of them you choose, so the person you meet first is the person you would see.
Is trauma therapy available in Gordon Head, Cordova Bay, Royal Oak, Central Saanich, North Saanich or Sidney?
Yes. Trauma Therapy by secure video reaches Gordon Head, Cordova Bay, Royal Oak, Central Saanich, North Saanich and Sidney exactly as it reaches Saanich: there is no office to get to and the same fee applies however far out you are. Island Health is the public route for Saanich and the rest of its region; this is the private one, and it needs no referral.
What does trauma therapy cost in Saanich, and will my plan cover it?
In Saanich, as everywhere in BC, trauma therapy is $140 for 50 minutes (BCACC’s 2026 fee guide recommends $140 to $175), after a free 30-minute consultation. Many BC extended health plans reimburse a Registered Clinical Counsellor; whether yours does is plan-dependent, so check it for the RCC designation before the first paid session.
More frequently asked questions, or book the free consultation and ask directly.
Other counselling in Saanich
- Anxiety Counselling and Therapy in Saanich, Around the university, anxiety runs to a term calendar, and the calendar does not pause for treatment.
- Depression Counselling and Therapy in Saanich, On the Peninsula, low mood after retirement or a loss is easily put down to age rather than recognised as depression.
- Couples and Marriage Counselling in Saanich, On the Peninsula, couples counselling often arrives late: after a retirement, a diagnosis, or one partner becoming the other’s carer.
- EMDR Therapy in Saanich, For a student, EMDR’s preparation phase has to fit a term, and a term has an end date.
Trauma Therapy nearby
The practice is virtual and covers all of British Columbia. See every city page, or the full list of services. Questions specific to Saanich are answered on the city page.
Sources
Trauma Therapy and Counselling in Saanich, without the travel
A free 30-minute video call, in English, Punjabi or Tagalog. No charge, no card, and no obligation to book anything afterwards.
Book Free ConsultationNot ready to book? Send a line about what is going on. A reply comes within one business day, or read the guides first and come back when you want to.
Looking on behalf of someone else? What to send them, and what not to, including the funded routes most people do not know they qualify for.