Natasha Schlein
REGISTERED SOCIAL WORKER | RSW
For the ones who give everything to everyone
— except themselves.
I'm Natasha, a Registered Social Worker, and I work with individuals, couples and adult families in Abbotsford and Chilliwack. Therapy can be vulnerable, and it can feel hard to know where to begin — especially if you're exhausted and depleted from caring for someone else, if you’re stuck in hurtful relationship patterns despite all your best efforts, or if anxiety, low mood, or disconnection from yourself and others has taken hold. You don't have to navigate these alone.
I’ve seen how exhaustion, compassion fatigue, and guilt can take over when giving so much of yourself to care for someone else. I work with people untangling relationships and family patterns; with a partner, with family, or with themselves — and rebuilding communication and connection that's been strained or broken.
I also work with people navigating anxiety, depression, identity struggles, or difficult life shifts. I bring a warm, calm presence to meet you with care and come alongside you, at your own pace, to explore the stories you've come to carry and find a new way forward. There's room for all of it — the feelings that are easier to access and the ones that are more tender or difficult to name.
My Approach?
Our patterns & feelings make sense when we see the full picture.
Our struggles don't develop in isolation — they form through the interaction of our experiences, relationships, and life circumstances. These all impact how we view and move through the world, and can lead to the past showing up in unexpected ways in the present.
By slowing down to tune in to emotions, and exploring what's happening underneath, you can reshape patterns that no longer serve you and deepen your sense of connection to yourself and others. Whether you're working through this on your own, with a partner, or as a family, these shifts can help you move towards what feels more authentic and meaningful to you.
$140.00
INDIVIDUAL
RSW
# 14899
18+
AGES
$160.00
COUPLES/FAMILY
WHO I WORK WITH
Adults navigating caregiving, burnout, compassion fatigue, grief, and loss — the practicalities of the caregiving role, and the toll it takes on identity, energy, and your sense of self.
Whatever that looks like for you, you don't have to carry it alone.
Adults navigating relationships and family system patterns. Including communication, conflict, & past wounds or trauma that shape how we show up in relationships today. This includes your relationship with yourself, and the communication and response cycles that leave you feeling stuck.
Adults navigating a life transition or identity shift. Whether that's a new chapter, loss, a career change, or the quiet shifts that unfolds over time.
We work through the uncertainty & reconnect you with yourself. This includes anxiety, depression, & the quieter mental health struggles.
MAYBE YOU'RE HERE BECAUSE...
1
When caregiving becomes heavy.
Maybe you find yourself in a caregiving role you weren't expecting and you're suddenly stretched between raising your kids, caring for your parent, and trying to hold on to some focus for your own career.
Maybe you've been carrying this role for a long time, feeling burnt out with nothing left to give, and you've lost sight of yourself. Maybe you're lost in the fog of grief and loss as you witness subtle changes in your loved one as they near end of life.
You're physically and emotionally exhausted, constantly coordinating appointments and advocating for care, feeling the burden of guilt and overwhelm, and lost sight of your own needs.
2
When patterns in your relationships keep repeating.
Maybe you're emotionally disconnected from your partner, or overwhelmed with emotion in the face of conflict, making communication feel impossible.
Maybe you find yourself pulled into childhood roles at family gatherings that you thought you had matured and grew out of.
You're disengaging from conversations to avoid conflict, exhausted from trying to predict others' responses to keep everyone happy — and just trying to move back towards authentic connection.
3
When holding loved
ones becomes too heavy.
Maybe you're navigating a new chapter — becoming a parent, ending a relationship, shifting careers, navigating a loss, or noticing the nuanced changes that unfold through our lifetime. Worry and anxiety may be keeping you up at night.
Maybe it's a low mood that won't lift, or the constant hum of anxiety that won’t let you focus on what’s important. What once felt familiar now feels uncertain and unknown.
You're exhausted from holding it together on the outside, when internally you feel lost and out of depth. You feel disconnected and are trying to get back to yourself.
WHAT WE'LL WORK ON TOGETHER:
Caregiver
Burnout
-
Naming the dualities of the caregiver role. It can be meaningful & connecting, while exhausting & overwhelming at the same time.
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Creating space for the feelings of exhaustion, burnout, depression, and guilt that aren't always welcome elsewhere.
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Experiencing some sense of lightness as you move into the heaviness and through it.
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Exploring your bond with your loved one and using it as a guide forward.
Communication and Boundaries
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Learning to say yes to yourself through boundary setting and prioritizing your own needs.
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Learning to communicate rooted in your feelings to deepen the connection with others.
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Quieting the voices of guilt and selfishness when they try to shame you for putting all of this into practice.
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Shifting roles, expectations, and different ways of being.
Relational Patterns
& Communication
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Understanding how you relate to yourself, not just to the people around you.
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Understanding how these patterns came to be by putting them back into context.
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Finding new perspectives toward your responses through compassion and context.
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Reshaping new ways of relating to yourself and others by exploring interactions in real time.
Tuning Into
Your Emotion
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Slowing down to understand what is happening beneath the surface.
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Exploring emotions that feel overwhelming, unclear, or difficult to name.
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Mapping them in the body to grow physical awareness.
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Building tolerance and reshaping our relationship with challenging emotions so they feel less overwhelming.
Anxiety, Depression & Everyday Mental Health
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Understanding what's driving the anxiety or low mood, instead of just managing the symptoms.
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Building a clearer sense of who you are outside of what you do for everyone else.
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Noticing the early signs before things spiral, and knowing what to do when they show up.
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Finding your footing again when things have felt off for a while, even if you can't quite say why.
Meaning, Values, and Reconnecting to Self
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Allowing emotion to cue you in to what's important and of value to you.
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Making sense of the meaning you attach to your experiences and how it shapes how you see yourself and the world.
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Using these as guides to move you closer towards what feels authentic for you.
COMMITMENT TO COLLABORATIVE CARE
I won’t bring judgement into the room. All decisions and actions make sense when we bring them into context. I hold a stance of compassion and curiosity so that we can come to deeper understandings together.
I won’t make assumptions about your personal experience. You know your own life best and I respect and value that.
I won’t give you advice or make decisions for you. Instead I work alongside you- listening closely and offering perspectives that may be harder to access on your own.
I won’t make you sit in painful emotions or memories that you don’t feel safe entering. I trust your knowledge and intuition when it comes to timing and readiness.
My Approach?
YOU AREN'T THE PROBLEM. THE PATTERNS ARE & THEY CAN CHANGE.
My approach is relational, rooted in a feminist framework and informed by narrative and emotion-focused therapy, among other approaches. I hold the view that struggles don't exist in isolation, but are shaped over time through experience, relationships, culture, and broader social systems. We may find ourselves trapped in patterns and loops that leave us feeling misunderstood, disconnected, and alone. Rather than attributing problems within a person, I take the stance that problems are external influences we interact with. Context is central to my work because it helps us make sense of how your stories developed, and what may be shaping your responses and emotional experiences.
The beauty of stories is that our lives are full of many, and you don't have to remain in the one you currently feel stuck in. Through curiosity and exploration, we can bring to light values, strengths, and ways of being that have been overshadowed or forgotten.
Alongside this, we also slow down to tune in to your emotional experience in the present moment, making space for what may be difficult to name or sit with. We'll pay attention to what is happening underneath the surface, what those feelings may be speaking to, and how they may have been silenced by more protective responses and patterns.
Our work together is collaborative and built on partnership. You know yourself and your situation best and I honor your expertise in the pace and direction we take together. It’s not about doing things perfectly, but instead honestly and in alignment with yourself.
There is space for both understanding and experience. My hope is that you can feel a deeper connection with yourself and others, compassion toward your experience, and free to move in a direction that feels authentic and meaningful to you.
Narrative Therapy
Helps you make sense of the stories you’ve come to carry about yourself and the world. It works by separating the problem from the person, exploring its origin and meaning, & reauthoring one more aligned with your strengths & values.
Trauma-Informed Practice
Recognizes how experiences of trauma can have present day impacts on your emotions, thinking, and nervous system. This approach centres safety, choice & collaboration so we move forward in a way that honours your experience.
Somatic Approaches
Provides connection between the body, emotions and your lived experience. This allows you to notice how emotions and experiences are held in your body through tension and sensation.
Emotion Focused Therapy
Looks at attachment strategies and connection in relationships. It works by helping you slow down and make sense of your emotional experience, and reshape relational cycles and responses to deepen connection to yourself and others.
Feminist Theory
Allows your individual experience to be understood in the context of broader
social systems of culture & power.It helps us see systemic influences on individual struggles.
Family Systems Theory
Acknowledges the interconnectedness of everyone within a family system and how relational patterns make sense within a family's history and experiences.
EDUCATION & TRAININGS
DEGREES & EDUCATION
MSW - Master's in Social Work
Dalhousie University
BSW - Bachelor's in Social Work
University of the Fraser Valley
SPECIALIZED TRAININGS
Narrative Therapy - 1 & 2 Foundations
Emotion Focused Therapy
PROFFESIONAL REGISTRATIONS
Registered Social Worker
14899
BA – Caregiving & Counselling Social Work
MY CORE VALUES
You are the expert in your life.
You know yourself and your experience better than any professional assessment or assumption. I respect and honour that, and I let it guide how we work together.
Context is key.
Everything we do makes sense within context — informed by relationships, family systems, culture, society, and oppressive systems. Coping mechanisms are survival strategies we learn to maintain safety.
Emotions are information.
Emotions are essential messengers. We will slow down and tune in to what yours are speaking to and trying to communicate, and use that as a guide forward.
HOW I GOT HERE:
I’ve worked with people in many different settings and roles but have always found myself drawn to deeper conversations and sitting with people’s stories. In more recent social work roles, I’ve seen how earlier life struggles can persist throughout the life time and show up as health complications, isolation, & disconnection from self & loved ones. Connecting with clients and witnessing their life stories that brought them to this point reignited a passion in me to step into more formal counselling in order to meet people exactly where they are, and collaboratively find meaning around challenging moments.
For over a decade I’ve worked in community and home settings with children, youth, adults, and older adults within mental health, caregiving and healthcare roles.
I’ve interacted with healthcare, family and child, and community living systems and seen how they can provide support but also unexpected barriers, challenges and at times even harm to those navigating them. I’ve also learned that systems intended to help unfortunately don’t all of the time. Because of this I recognize the importance of respecting and honouring each person’s story and the strategies they’ve developed to continue on.
Transitions can be uncomfortable, scary and exhausting, no matter the size or severity of the shift. The unknown is daunting, especially when we have family, friends and loved ones relying on us. I’ve navigated career changes and losses, schooling, motherhood, and caring for loved ones, sometimes all at once.
I know the amount of space these can take in our lives and in our nervous systems. I have also experienced the importance of allowing others to come alongside and not bearing the heaviness alone. We are wired for connection.
Outside of the counselling seat I live for time spent with my family and friends, most often outdoors chasing my toddler around in the mountains or a riverside campfire. I also love to create, whether it be cooking or art.
I’m on a constant journey learning how to listen to my body, feel my emotions fully, and show myself the grace and compassion that I truly believe every person deserves.