Trauma-Informed Counselling
Grounded in Nervous System Awareness
Welcome — I’m Amber Shanahan. I’m a counsellor based in Vancouver, British Columbia, offering trauma-informed counselling online across Canada.
People often arrive here after a long period of trying to cope or make sense of things on their own — curious about counselling, but not always sure how to name what’s going on.
You may have been carrying something for a long time, managing on the outside while feeling unsettled on the inside.
How I Work
My approach is relational, trauma-informed, and somatic. This means I pay attention not only to thoughts and emotions, but also to how experiences live in the body and nervous system.
Sessions are collaborative and responsive to what’s present. Rather than pushing for insight or change, the focus is on creating enough safety for new responses to emerge naturally.
In counselling, I don’t try to override responses or rush change. We slow things down and begin noticing what’s happening with care and curiosity. Many of the patterns people bring into counselling were developed for good reasons, often in response to earlier experiences. As understanding grows, there is often more space — for choice, flexibility, and self-compassion.
Earlier in my professional path, my education focused on physical and mental health, including nutrition, integrative somatic therapies, stress physiology, and the ways physical and emotional health influence one another. That training shapes how I understand capacity, regulation, and the impact of long-term stress in my counselling work.
Why The Vagus Effect?
I chose the name The Vagus Effect because my work is grounded in how the nervous system shapes our emotional and relational lives — often long before we’re consciously aware of it.
The nervous system is the first system to develop in the womb. From the beginning, we learn about the world through our nervous system and through the nervous systems of our caregivers — how closeness feels, how stress is handled, and what it’s like to be met or not met. These early experiences begin forming neural pathways that influence attachment, emotional regulation, and our sense of safety in relationships.
When stress or trauma overwhelms our capacity to cope, the nervous system can remain organized around protection. Later on, this may show up as anxiety, shutdown, emotional reactivity, or a persistent sense of being on edge. These responses can be distressing and disruptive, and they often reflect a nervous system that adapted in response to overwhelming experiences.
The Vagus Effect reflects the understanding that healing isn’t only cognitive. Counselling that includes attention to the nervous system can support greater regulation, flexibility, and connection over time — not by forcing change, but by helping the body learn that safety is possible again.
If you’re looking for counselling that makes sense of your experiences without pathologising them, you’re welcome to reach out.
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