Business Echo - Shalene Takara
- Okanagan Echo
- 2 days ago
- 13 min read
Behind every thriving family and resilient community is the quiet work of healing.
For Shalene Takara, that work has become both a calling and a career. As the founder of Safe Space Counselling Services in Vancouver, Shalene is dedicated to helping individuals, couples, and families navigate the complex impacts of trauma and rebuild stronger connections with themselves and those around them.
A Registered Clinical Counsellor, Certified EMDR Therapist, and BCACC Approved Clinical Supervisor, Shalene brings more than a decade of experience in mental health to her practice. Her work focuses on complex trauma, intergenerational patterns, and attachment-related challenges, drawing from advanced training in EMDR, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and somatic approaches that help clients process experiences that words alone cannot fully reach.
Beyond her clinical work, Shalene is also shaping the future of the field. Through her role as a clinical supervisor, mentor, and EMDR consultant-in-training, she supports emerging and established therapists in developing the skills and confidence needed to provide effective, compassionate care.
In this Business Echo feature, Shalene shares her journey into the world of trauma therapy, the evolving understanding of mental health, and the importance of creating spaces where healing and connection can truly begin.
OE: Please tell us a little about yourself, what is your story?
ST: I am a Vancouverite, born and raised in Vancouver. My mother’s family is from Thailand, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, and my biological father is from Okinawa, Japan. I grew up with my mother, my stepfather who is from Hong Kong, and my two step-siblings. When I was young, we used to travel to Asia every other year to visit our family. So from a young age, I was very used to taking international flights and being out in the world.
After completing a double major in Film and Creative Writing at UBC and a Certificate in Editing and Publishing through Simon Fraser University, I spent the first fifteen years of my career working as a freelance designer, writer and book editor/designer while also working for a local print company. Much of my work involved advertising design, which had the potential to become a lucrative career. However, I also began to notice that what I loved most was helping people clarify their voices and tell their stories. So I began to consider changing directions.
At that time, I was also travelling a lot and spending long stretches of time abroad in Asia, North Africa, and Europe. North Africa, in particular, became my second home. Wherever I was, I would try to learn the languages that people spoke because I really wanted to connect and understand their lives—the struggles and pressures they faced, the burdens they carried, and also the many ways we were able to connect despite coming from such different places.
As I began winding down my freelance career, I realized that psychotherapy could be a potential career path for me. After gaining some experience in the mental health field, the choice could not be clearer. Therapy was a fit for me. So I began to pursue a Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology.
Around that same time, I also met some friends who shared with me their experiences of coming to Canada as refugees, and in some cases, as refugee children. What they shared really struck me. I could not believe what they had gone through, particularly at such a young age. Those stories stayed with me as I began my Master’s program. For my thesis, I conducted research on the psychosocial needs of refugee and asylum-seeking children and youth, and later presented that research at the Canadian Psychological Association conference in Ottawa.
After completing my degree, I worked for several community agencies where I supported families from diverse backgrounds including French-speaking families, as I was fluent in French, and families assisted by foreign-language and sign-language interpreters in order to communicate and better understand their experiences. These experiences deeply moved me and strengthened my commitment to providing culturally responsive care.
OE: What led you to found Safe Space Counselling Services, and what gap were you determined to fill in the mental health landscape?
ST: I originally started Safe Space as a solo counselling practice in Vancouver's North Shore and Kitsilano neighbourhoods while also working full-time as a family therapist for a community agency, later consolidating my practice to Kitsilano. In 2020, I went on maternity leave and then returned to practice after the pandemic shutdown, when things were just beginning to open up again.
At that time, my private practice was growing, so I made the decision to leave my job at the agency and dedicate myself to full-time private practice. As the practice continued to flourish, I began to see a vision for what it could become. After working as a family therapist in community agencies for nearly a decade, I knew I wanted to provide therapy services that were more streamlined, flexible, and accessible.
When people first come to therapy, they often think they are looking for one type of support—perhaps individual therapy, couples therapy or family therapy. But as the work unfolds, they may find that they also want or need support in other areas of their lives, such as with their spouse, their children, or perhaps with their own parents. So we might end up looking into support for them and their families across generations.
I also work frequently with individuals, couples, and families from BIPOC communities and mixed cultural backgrounds. Many come with complex histories of migration, trauma, cultural tensions, or intergenerational legacies. Often, people are trying to make sense of these layers, to understand what has shaped them, who they are today, and how they want to move in the world.
Over time, I realized that in order to provide this kind of flexible, generational wraparound support, I couldn’t do it alone. I needed a team of therapists who share a similar lens and who are passionate about helping individuals, couples and families navigate these complex
issues and tensions of identity, belonging, healing and connection. That is when I decided to expand the practice, making the Safe Space team what it is today.
OE: You’ve been in the field since 2009. What have you seen change in how we understand trauma and attachment?
ST: When I was first training in trauma and attachment, there were a few well-known modalities shaping the field. At the time, I trained in Narrative Therapy, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Sue Johnson’s Emotionally Focused Therapy, and later in EMDR trauma therapy, which eventually became my primary modality.
At that time, much understanding of trauma and attachment was informed by Bowlby’s work, polyvagal theory and the structural model of dissociation developed by Onno van der Hart, Ellert Nijenhuis, and Kathy Steele. While these models offered important insights, I often found myself wondering how well they translated when working with people from diverse cultural backgrounds or with individuals whose experiences were shaped by broader systemic factors such as migration, exclusion, oppression or political violence.
I began raising some of these questions in professional circles, although at the time these discussions seemed to be more on the margins. I often found myself exploring these ideas with a much smaller circle of colleagues while also drawing more deeply from approaches such as Narrative Therapy and Intersectional Feminist Therapy in my clinical work.
I also had the great honour of receiving some training from Dr. Laura Brown and Jennifer Hollinshead in Intersectional Feminist Therapy, an experience I’m truly grateful for. This approach had resonated with me from the very first time I encountered Laura Brown’s work during a psychotherapy theories course in my first year of graduate school. What stood out to me was how deeply attuned her work was while also sensitively bringing forward the social and structural layers that impact and shape people’s lives. In many ways, it helped discern and articulate the many layers I strive to make visible in my own work.
Over time, I’ve been encouraged to see more dialogue emerging within our field about how trauma therapies, and psychotherapy in general, can better respond to the diverse lived experiences and social and cultural contexts of the people and families we serve. I also noticed some modalities beginning to reflect more deeply on their frameworks and to engage in a sort of reckoning to become more sensitive and attuned to the social, cultural, and systemic contexts and nuances of each person. Now, when I mentor or supervise new therapists, I often encourage them to ask these same questions, and I’m inspired to see that so many of them are not only thinking about these issues, but care deeply about them, as they begin their own paths as therapists.
OE: Can you share a moment in your career that you’re particularly proud of?
ST: Around the time I moved into full-time private practice, I began supporting Master’s students who were training to become therapists themselves. Currently, I am a clinical supervisor for Hollyburn Family Services, a community agency in North Vancouver, as well as a clinical supervisor for Safe Space’s clinical internship program. Many of the students we work with are deeply interested in exploring these sociocultural and systemic questions, and this has allowed us to bring a thoughtful, culturally sensitive lens to the care we provide.
At Safe Space, we currently host two students per year. Due to the costs and logistics involved in hosting students, it remains a small program, but I’m very proud of it. Through the program, we’ve been able to offer free and low-cost therapy to approximately 20 to 30 individuals, couples, and families each year. We receive a large number of applications from Master’s students who are eager to provide these services, so I would love to find ways to expand the program in the future.
Access to mental healthcare remains a significant challenge for many people. In my work, I’ve often seen how difficult it can be for individuals and families to navigate the public system and find timely support. That’s one of the reasons I believe programs like this are so important, because they can help bridge some of the gaps and make care more accessible for people who might otherwise struggle to receive it.
OE: Many clinicians struggle with the business side of private practice. What helped you successfully build Safe Space Counselling Services?
ST: I think part of it comes from the fact that, since I was a freelancer before becoming a therapist, I was already familiar with running a business as a sole proprietor. Before my Master’s degree, I was also an office manager for a group counselling practice. I had no idea I would eventually run a group practice myself. In fact, I never intended to, as I felt quite secure and happy in agency work. Nevertheless, that experience helped me understand how a clinic works at an operational level. I was also involved in training many new counsellors joining the teams at the agencies where I worked. This helped me build skills in supporting newer clinicians.
Another experience that I didn’t fully recognize as leadership at the time was my work in film. While I was at UBC, I worked as an Assistant Director for many student film sets and a few small productions. UBC Film eventually hired me to train students and to lead AD teams for graduate student films. At one point, I was leading a crew of up to 65 people. In retrospect, that gave me some great leadership experience.
One thing I appreciate about film production is that it has a very established and highly systematic way of working. When everything is running well, it runs like a well-oiled machine. The Assistant Director plays a critical role in creating an atmosphere of collaboration and camaraderie on set. The AD team literally has the loudest voice on set. They’re the ones often depicted as barking orders. In my approach, I strove to be organized and disciplined while also being positive, supportive, and personable. While I ran sets scheduled down to five-minute, and even two-minute, increments, I always tried to create an environment that was focused, hardworking, and yet positive and enjoyable for everyone involved.
It has taken me some years to realize that, in order for our practice to grow and succeed, I need to step more fully into that kind of leadership role. Looking back, those earlier experiences with entrepreneurship, teamwork, and leadership have all prepared me more
than I realized. And of course, none of this would be possible without the amazing team at Safe Space, who have been patient, supportive, passionate, and committed as we continue to grow and work toward our vision of a world in which every member of our human family not only deserves care, but is also able to receive it.
OE: How has WeBC supported you?
ST: WeBC has been so helpful because they offer so many free and low-cost resources for women business owners to learn about all aspects of business. Their free advisory services have also been so helpful, as have their mentorship programs.
I found it so helpful that I became a mentor myself and provided monthly support to other female-identified business owners working in the healthcare industry in BC. It has been such a wonderful experience, and I've been grateful to receive WeBC's support.
OE: What’s a piece of advice you’d give to women looking to start their own business?
ST: I'd say to build support for yourself and your mindset as you're building the business and to know that building a business involves flexing a variety of muscles. Mindset can be a very precarious thing, and there can be a danger in over-identifying with the ebbs and flows of business. When it's doing well, it can feel like we're “succeeding" or that we've gotten good at it. Yet when business is slow, it can feel like we're failing or that we're not good at it. But really, more often than not, it’s not personal. So during those moments, it's important to stay focused on the levers that will help move the business forward.
Being an entrepreneur often means that we have created something from nothing before. So when we see challenges with something we’ve built, it can help to remember that we have the power to change it. Unlike being an employee, we have the freedom to make choices for ourselves and our business. But often, we can only see this clearly when we have the space and time to step back from it, and that's really hard to do when we're too busy working in the business rather than on it. So that's why it's important to create that space to be able to work on the business, so that we can step back and see what's happening with it, to strategize, and perhaps most critically, to have the time to implement the strategies needed to overcome those challenges. Easier said than done, though.
If the challenges are, in fact, related to something personal, that's where having good, honest, seasoned support can be so helpful. It's really hard to do this alone, and if we're in an echo chamber, that might not always be the most supportive or effective place.
I've been fortunate through WeBC and a community of fellow group practice owners to know that there is support out there. All around me, there are other business owners who truly understand what it's like to run your own business. I’ve also come to believe that there's no single right or wrong way to do it. There are as many businesses and practices as there are business owners, and we're all figuring it out together.
One thing that I have also found encouraging is that, right now, there seems to be more and more diverse voices in the business world. We really need to hear those voices and to recognize that there are many different ways of seeing and doing things. I think that this diversity of voices and perspectives makes it a particularly exciting time to be a business owner. I think this is something we can draw inspiration from and that it can bring us together while helping us to identify and hone our own unique strengths and offerings, rather than feel pressure to compete against one another.
OE: If you had unlimited funds for one day, what’s the first thing you’d do for your business?
ST: First of all, I'd love to make sure we have a really solid foundation—solidify all the systems, plug all the gaps. A big part of this would probably be marketing. I've mainly been the one responsible for marketing, and that has admittedly been a bottleneck, so our practice could probably really use some love there.
Secondly, if I'm allowed to do this with those funds, I'd probably want to invest some of it so that we have a good healthy return that I'm able to draw from to give back to the team regularly. They are really the heart, meat, and bones of the practice, so they deserve all the love we can give them.
Thirdly, I'd love to scale our free and low-cost mental health services on a larger scale and in a way that is sustainable for the long term. Those services are really at the heart of our vision and values, so to be able to roll those services out on a larger scale would really serve our mission as a social-purpose practice.
OE: What’s your favourite spot to relax or find inspiration?
ST: This is probably such a Canadian west coast answer, but I love being in the rainforest. I have a kindergartener, and most weekends we try to get out into the forest at least once, rain or shine. Forest bathing is something we enjoy doing as a family. And it is really, truly my happy place.
OE: What’s one thing about you that people might not know?
ST: I'm a linguophile. I absolutely love learning languages. If I had all the time and money in the world, I would probably spend it learning languages. Another fun fact is that I also learned most of the languages I know as an adult.
I took French from kindergarten to high school, just like most Canadians, but I became fluent in it as an adult. It was my primary household language for nearly 10 years. As North Africa was my second home for a few years, I also learned to read and write Arabic and to understand a bit of Tachelhit, a dialect of Tamazight, an Indigenous North African language more commonly known as Berber. Later, I lived in Germany and was speaking conversational German with my friends within a few months. We were all from different countries, so it was the one common language we could all communicate in together.
Now, I have a daughter who is half Mexican, quarter Chinese, quarter Okinawan, and Spanish is one of the languages spoken in our home. I can't say I speak it yet, as being a full-time business owner and mom, I haven't had the space and time to make the leap. But I understand a lot of it, and one day, when I have the space and time to focus on it, I'm confident I'll make the leap—that is, if I'm not distracted by my other wish-list languages, like Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and Arabic.
OE: How can we reach you?
ST: Our website is: https://www.safespacecounselling.ca/
The best way to get in touch is to complete the Contact form, as this helps us know how to direct your inquiry and, if you’d like, to match you with the therapist on our team who might be the best fit for your needs for a free consultation.
We can also be reached at info@safespacecounselling.ca or (604) 440-2105. Our office is at 1892 West Broadway, Vancouver (on Broadway near Burrard, in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood).
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About WeBC
WeBC is a not‑for‑profit that exists to make entrepreneurship more accessible for women across BC. Through business loans, free and low-cost programs, one‑to‑one support, and community, we help women turn ideas into resilient businesses. Learn more about WeBC and the support available at www..we-bc.ca
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