About
CHANDRA SEN, MA, RCC
She / her
A VANCOUVER BASED REGISTERED COUNSELLOR
Chandra Sen is a Registered Clinical Counsellor in private practice in the Greater Vancouver area. Chandra obtained her B.A. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Regina and a M.A. in Counselling Psychology from UBC. Chandra is registered through the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC) and has been in private practice since 1988.
In addition to working directly with clients, Chandra presents at many conferences, conducts workshops for patients and professionals and trains other health care professionals. Chandra’s conferences have included Cross-Cultural Issues in Therapy (UBC), Child Sexual Abuse in Anaheim, California, and at Universidad de San José in Costa Rica, and issues related to providing fertility care to the Canadian Fertility & Androgyny Society (CFAS). Several of her presentations to clinicians have been on topics such as Patient-Centred Care, Delivering Difficult News, Working with Difficult People and on fertility focused issues of managing stress and anxiety, and on Third Party Reproduction.
Since 2010, Chandra has conducted regular Support Groups for women going through treatment at PCRM and Olive Clinics.
About me
I completed my BA in Psychology in 1980. For the next 10 years, I worked as a family therapist at a treatment facility for children, with the focus being on sexual abuse and family trauma. I then completed my Masters in Counselling Psychology in 1990 and started my private practice.
Over the course of the next several years, I experienced multiple miscarriages. I found the experiences lonely, heart breaking and frustrating. As a therapist, I was also curious about how other women and couples navigated infertility and how I could support the emotional weight this journey came with. In 1999, I had the opportunity to leverage that curiosity as well as my skills and experience to join my mentor and thesis supervisor in her work at a fertility clinic. I have specialized in this area for over 20 years and work with patients from all the local clinics.
My work has shown me that people have tremendous strength, even when they don’t feel or know it. I have borne witness to it throughout my career, and I continue to be inspired by it. I love what I do. I have the honour and privilege to support women, couples, and families in navigating some of life’s greatest emotional challenges and some of our own biggest vulnerabilities.
I know how hard it is to reach out for therapeutic help. There are valuable on-line sites and tons of self-help books on every subject. But working with a skilled therapist who can help you to understand and navigate challenging personal issues (behavioural patterns that are ineffective) or traumatic life events (infertility, relationship difficulties) will help you to look at your own patterns with more compassion, assisted to move towards making more effective decisions for yourself; all of which can help direct you to lead life with more peace.
Working with Chandra has been central to transforming my relationship with myself and others. Depressed, anxious, best friends with insomnia and working all together far too much to numb myself is what I had known. Part of me hoped and saw in others that life could be more, but I did not have the first clue on how to start creating change. Looking back Chandra’s kindness and insights helped to plant the seeds of change. She shares her expertise in an easily understandable way that is characterized by gentle directness. Our sessions easily flow from the everyday matters to deep issues in a safe way where I felt seen and valued. At the end of each session, I feel like I have clear next steps or focus areas to help me move forward and over time these small steps have transformed my life.