Practice of belonging
Somatic Psychotherapists
As somatic psychotherapists in Vancouver and online across Canada, our practice emerged from the real need to make room for history, context, and identity. So many of us have been stretched by systems not made for us. Holding that dearly, we notice what is alive beneath exhaustion, longing for rest and connection. Belonging grows through inner work and the shared moments that remind us we are still here and still becoming.
APPROACH
Heart of Our Work
Healing unfolds through presence, not prescription. Through harmony, not homework. If you've spent time in therapy working through "thought records" or "behavioural frameworks" and felt something still missing, you're not wrong. Those approaches help many people. But they don't always make room for what lives beneath: the felt sense of things, the body's quiet knowing, the parts of you still waiting to slow down and be heard. This is where we begin.
As relational therapists online, we move slowly enough to notice what's happening within you as it happens: sensations, memories, and emotions surfacing in real time. We don't direct your process or ask you to perform insight. We draw from Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, trauma-sensitive yoga therapy, trauma-informed parts therapy, grief therapy, and even art therapy—not as a checklist, but as a range of ways of knowing. You don't need to understand somatic psychotherapy or experiential therapy to find your way here. You only need to be curious about going a little deeper.
We offer identity-affirming, neurodivergent-affirming, and justice-centred care for people whose minds, bodies, and lives have been marked by harm, exclusion, or erasure. We meet rather than manage your experience.
Ethos
What Grounds Us
Somatic psychotherapy isn't a formula. It's a way of being with each other that makes room for the parts of you that don't fit neatly into worksheets or structured programs—the tender, complicated parts still holding their breath. These four threads ground our work.
Consent and pace
The world in the room
Ways of knowing
Care that fits
Through these threads, we practise returning to your pace, your body, and your voice—and letting growth take root from there.
Clayre Sessoms
(
She/They
)
RP, CCC, ATR-BC
Therapeutic Modalities
There is something that happens when a person stops performing and simply arrives. The breath changes. The room changes. Something that has been waiting a long time finally gets to rest. I became a therapist because I know that moment from both sides of the screen — the relief of it, and the long road it sometimes takes to get there. If you're here, you may be ready to stop managing yourself quite so carefully and start trusting what's underneath. That's exactly where we begin.
My practice is psychodynamic and body-aware, shaped by twenty-five years of learning how to listen—first as a massage therapist and yoga teacher, then through communication arts, and finally into psychotherapy, where story, sensation, and imagination meet. As a Certified Sensorimotor Psychotherapist, WPATH GEI SOC8 Certified Professional, Certified Focusing Oriented Therapist, and senior facilitator for Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment, I draw from art therapy, experiential psychotherapy, and parts work. We follow what's true for you: some sessions are quiet conversation, others invite image, imagination, or stillness. Always at your pace.
My work is rooted in justice and reclamation. I'm attentive to how systems shape our sense of safety and belonging, and how we learn, slowly, to trust ourselves again within them. I believe healing isn't about fixing what's broken. It's about remembering what has always been here. Beyond sessions, I co-host The Living Practice podcast with Laura, write on our therapist blog, and share guided meditations on Insight Timer.
Expect steadiness, honesty, and room for laughter alongside the hard truths. We'll make space for what's ready to move, and help you find your way back to yourself.
Laura Hoge
(
She/Her
)
RSW, LICSW, LCSW
Therapeutic Modalities
There is a quality of presence that can only come from practice — from the daily, ordinary work of tending to yourself so you can tend to others fully. That is how I try to live, and it is what I bring into every session. When you are suffering, I will not try to move you through it too quickly. I will steady you, walk alongside you, and trust that somewhere within you, even in the hardest moments, there are parts that have something to say. My work is making room for all of them.
My approach is relational, somatic, and always justice-centred. As a Certified Sensorimotor Psychotherapist, Certified Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Therapist, Certified Grief Therapist, and WPATH GEI SOC8 Certified Professional, I draw from mindfulness, motivational interviewing, and parts-based work, among other threads. Each session is shaped by co-regulation, curiosity, and care, meeting you where you are and allowing change to unfold at a pace that feels right. I also offer sessions in French.
I'm especially committed to supporting parents and caregivers navigating the grief, uncertainty, and love that can accompany change within their families, especially when community or faith traditions have made that journey more complicated. Before joining this practice, I mentored therapists and social workers, wrote for national publications, and helped build communities of care through group practice leadership and peer support. I co-host The Living Practice podcast with Clayre, where our conversations explore how presence, imagination, and the inner revolutions of care can sustain us in complex times.
If you work with me, expect warmth, honesty, and deep respect for where you are right now. We'll move at your pace, following what feels alive and true, and making room for every part of you along the way.
Laith Eskandar
(
He/Him
)
Pre-licensed Clinician
Therapeutic Modalities
I know what it feels like to arrive somewhere new and not yet be known. To look for a familiar face and not find one. To wonder whether there is a place for you here. That experience lives in me, and it shapes everything about how I show up for the people I work with. I want you to feel, from the very first session, that someone is genuinely here with you — calm, present, and truly glad you came.
My approach is relational, collaborative, and grounded in compassion. I draw from person-centred care, motivational interviewing, solution-focused approaches, and trauma-aware practice, all under the clinical supervision of Laura Hoge, RSW. I recognise that you may already have ways of coping and surviving, even when those strategies feel strained or no longer fit. Alongside conversation, I may invite reflection through imagery, metaphor, or gentle creative collaboration, always at your pace and with your consent.
I offer low-barrier therapy for adults and older teens (16+) navigating identity, relationships, resettlement, and life transitions. I'm especially attuned to people who have had to explain themselves too many times and are ready for a space where that isn't required. I also offer sessions in Arabic. الجلسات متاحة باللغة العربية.
This is a space for beginning again, with care, warmth, and room for everything you carry. I'm completing my supervised clinical training with Clayre Sessoms Psychotherapy beginning May 1, 2026, and I would be glad to sit with you.
Directories
