Meet the Counselling Team

Saman Khan is a Farsi-speaking settler of Iranian origin. Psychotherapy is her first career and first love. She has eclectic experiences of working alongside diverse clients in post-secondary, hospital and community settings.

As a therapist, Saman is warm, grounded and emotion focused. She aspires to create relationships of mutual respect, dignity, and choice with her clients.

She is continuously humbled, inspired and taught by the bravery and resiliency of clients overcoming adversity, healing emotional wounds and creating positive change. To live and contribute in community is important to Saman.

Outside work, Saman enjoys spending time with loved ones, and nurturing her creative side through poetry and dance. Her indulgences include a lovely home cooked meal and a cuddle with her brother's puppy, Mr. Chewie.

Heidi Hanazawa Root is a Registered Clinical Counsellor who works with students in a steady, thoughtful and grounded way. Her approach is shaped by care, curiosity and an attentiveness to how context, identity and power show up in people’s lives.

She is grateful to live and work as an uninvited guest on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

As a settler of mixed Japanese-Canadian and White ancestry, Heidi brings lived experience of navigating multiple cultural worlds, alongside an ongoing awareness of systemic racism and intergenerational trauma. This informs how she listens, paces the work and shares space with students.

Her counselling practice is grounded in solid clinical training and reflective practice, drawing on mindfulness, narrative and somatic therapies, as well as CBT and DBT. She also brings a background in film and community work, which continues to influence her relational, creative and meaning-focused way of working.

In sessions, Heidi supports students with concerns such as anxiety, stress, relationships, identity, academic pressure and life transitions, working collaboratively to make sense of what’s happening, build usable coping skills and move toward changes that feel sustainable and self-directed.

Chloé focuses on higher education mental health and the many ways in which career and life issues interact with one another. Chloé has a background in HR, management, and training and has worked with clients from many industries and countries.

Chloé is passionate about cross-cultural learning, and has spent significant time in different contexts, from small town B.C., to Alberta, Quebec, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Mexico, the USA, France and the UK.

Chloé feels very privileged to get to know each of her clients, to understand who they are and what matters most to them. She enjoys supporting clients in clarifying their goals and life direction, and providing support and strategies for any challenges that arise along the way, whether self-esteem, relationships, family issues, chronic conditions, ADHD, loneliness etc.

Chloé believes in the importance of belonging and meaning, and of fostering resilience and life balance as a foundation of wellbeing.

In her free time, Chloé loves doing yoga, cooking and eating delicious foods, playing with her nephews and taking urban hikes throughout the beautiful lands of traditional Coast Salish territory.

As a Registered Clinical Counsellor, Jeff Ross works with individuals experiencing social, behavioural and emotional challenges including anxiety, depression, trauma, autonomic nervous system dysregulation, grief and loss, and attachment issues.

He creates a warm, safe and non-judgmental environment where you can freely and safely explore your thoughts and feelings that limit your potential. He wants to help create new opportunities for you to live in the world in a bolder, healthier and more harmonious way.