Online Disability-Affirmative Therapy in BC
Serving online therapy to clients throughout British Columbia
What if the problem isn’t your disability—but the therapy you were offered?
For too long, mental health care has tried to “fix” people with disabilities instead of supporting them. Disability-affirmative therapy turns that model on its head.
ARE YOU STRUGGLING WITH:
people focusing your need to stop resisting your disability instead of validating real loss, anger, or injustice?
feeling pressured to be more “positive,” “resilient,” or “grateful” so as not to be seen as negative?
health care not appreciating the disability experience, dismissed simply as anxiety, depression, or stress?
feeling shame for needing accommodations, rest, or support?
navigating conflicting messages in society: be independent vs accept help
having to explain, educate, negotiate, and push back when it comes to you disability, inclusivity or accessibility?
navigating inaccessible systems (healthcare, employment, education)?
being treated as a burden?
hesitation to fully disclose pain, rage, or despair because you find you end up having to comfort others?
You don’t have to live life constantly questioning if your experiences are valid. You don’t have to live constantly at the ready to defend yourself, what works for you and what doesn’t.
You’re allowed to be who you are, know you’re enough and proud of who you are.
Working with me, I will:
give you a safe place to let your walls come down to really listen to your experiences
be open to understanding your goals and what you feel has been in the way of achieving them in the past
work with you to see if there’s way to reframe your goals (not tear them down) or reframe the barriers to get you where you want to be.
Disability-Affirming Therapy That Meets You Where You’re At
I know it’s not always easy to take the first step.
There are so many different ideas about what it looks like to live with a disability and how to navigate it.
Maybe some of those ideas come from what society, family, or friends friends have said, and they have been internalized as a voice that might not actually be your own.
Are you even sure what you believe you should do to get support?
In disability-affirming therapy, I take time to understand what living with a disability looks like for you.
That is why I use a strength-based focus in our therapy sessions to identify the areas of navigating life with a disability that have helped you thrive in the past.
Maybe, there haven’t been areas of navigating life with a disability that have worked for you — If you don’t feel you have figured out approaches and mindsets that work well for you, that’s ok because that gives us valuable insight into finding new strategies that can work for you.
Just as there can be tiny nuances from one disability to the next, there are ways of customizing how you and I can approach therapy.
We will explore new tools with the help of talk therapy, mindfulness exercises, psychoeducation (learning what impact mental health is having on a situation and better understanding why certain strategies can help) and “homework”.
At Counselling & Health Advocacy by Jenna Reed-Côté
I offer disability-affirming therapy rooted in lived experience. I became the practitioner I needed growing up with a disability. Together, we’ll work toward your:
Feeling like the expert on yourself
Building confidence that you are enough, just as you are
Reframing how you see yourself in a world not built for you
Identifying realistic, meaningful ways to move forward
I bring both professional training and lived experience as a person with a disability. This allows me to notice nuances that often go unseen and to meet you with understanding rather than assumptions.
While every disability and experience is different, my goal is to connect with your lived reality, validate your experiences, and support you in building a life that works for you—not just one that looks acceptable from the outside.
Perhaps you are considering disability-affirmative therapy but still have some concerns…
Why are you different from other practitioners I’ve met in my health care journey?
Great question! I believe that having lived experience as a person with a disability allows our work together to be deeper than working with a practitioner with limited experience in the disability sphere.
I can pick up on nuances of navigating life and health care. I am aware that every condition is different and that there will always be things I can’t know, but I endeavour to connect with your experience on a deeper level so we can do impactful work together.
Not only do I have lived experience as a person with a disability, but I have also spent many years advocating for the rights of people with disabilities.
At the end of the day, I strive to be the practitioner I needed growing up in the health care system.
I’ve felt dismissed and unheard by my medical team — will this be similar?
First of all, I am so very sorry that this has been your experience. Unfortunately, you aren’t alone.
Your medical team may have spent over a decade learning about a condition, an organ, or a body system; however, you have been learning about your body, your mind, your spirit, and how it all works together for your entire life.
There is no better expert on your life than you.
My goal is always to meet you where you’re at. I will acknowledge and validate your experience and work with you and your goals to help you get what you’re looking for out of our work together.
Sometimes this will look like reframing how you understand what you’re going through, and sometimes I may gently challenge your thoughts in order to help you move forward in a way that still feels authentic to you and your experiences.
If I’m feeling invalidated working together, like I do with my medical team, should I quit?
I really understand this question.
It’s incredibly difficult to be vulnerable with someone — sharing your experiences, fears, and dreams — only to feel invalidated or treated like a number.
I want to be clear: if you ever doubt our work together or feel a lack of respect or validation, I want to hear about it. We can work together to see how we can get back on track.
What if my family, caregiver, or medical team disagree with what I want from therapy?
That’s a tough question.
This may be an opportunity to work on communicating your goals more effectively — and I can help with that.
It’s easy to feel steamrolled when so many people are involved in something as important as your health care.
While everyone may have the best intentions, they often have different ideas, approaches, and goals.
I’m someone who will have your back and help you clarify — for yourself and for others — what you want, what works for you, and what doesn’t.
Do you just focus on my physical disability or diagnosis?
Great question! I view disability as a whole. I believe the body, mind, and spirit cannot be separated — they all play a valid and important role in living the life you want.
I am, of course, able to listen to any detailed experiences related to your body, but my work with you does not focus solely on your diagnosis.
About Counselling & Health Advocacy by Jenna Reed-Côté
Hello! I’m Jenna Reed-Côté, of Counselling & Health Advocacy by Jenna Reed-Côté (RSW, MSW), and I became a therapist to be one of the helping professionals I needed growing up with chronic health issues.
Navigating life and the healthcare system can feel overwhelming. Emotions pop up, seemingly counterproductive to what you're trying to do.
My goal is to create a calm space to meet you where you're at, in any given session. Therapy can feel daunting, especially when you've rarely felt welcome to collaborate in your own healthcare…maybe you’ve even felt like a piece of meat? We’ll work together to help you reclaim your power.
I specialize in supporting clients with chronic illnesses. I can help you feel like the expert on you and find your voice. I can provide you with tools tailored to your unique needs, be it communication or advocacy.
Outside of work:
I have been an ambassador for the Rick Hansen Foundation since 2017.
I give presentations (largely) to kids and communities across Canada, educating the importance of accessibility and inclusivity. Furthermore, we talk about the steps they can be taking to be more inclusive of people with disabilities.
In 2021, I led the Vancouver team participating in the largest survey ever conducted on accessibility for Canada by AccessNow.
Frequently Asked Questions
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An hour-long session is $135.
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I have my Master of Social Work degree from Dalhousie University (2018) and my Bachelor of Social Work degree from University of Victoria (2012).
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Disability-Affirmative Therapy has a therapist working with a client with a disability - without the focus on the condition. The goal is to empower the client based on their strengths, while taking a holistic approach, recognizing the body, the mind and the spirit work together.
You are not broken. The system is.
Disability-affirmative therapy begins with a different question. Not what’s wrong with you? but what have you had to live inside of?
For many people with disabilities, distress isn’t coming from their bodies or minds. It comes from navigating systems that are inaccessible, demanding, dismissive, and often harmful. This approach takes that reality seriously.
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It depends on what support you are looking for.
Traditional psychotherapy can have a therapist defaulting to the Medical Model of Disability, in that they may work under the assumption that a disability is something to fix or they are unaware of how ableism creates monumental barriers, which can be the reason for why a client is struggling - not the disability itself.
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(If a therapist gets defensive when you ask these questions, that’s information. You are allowed to screen providers. You are allowed to expect competence. You are allowed to expect respect. Do they see disability as identity and context—not just diagnosis?)
Do you provide disability-affirming therapy?
How do you make therapy accessible? Flexible scheduling, virtual options, pace adjustments
What does that mean in your work with a client with a disability?
How do you handle goals in therapy? What if my goal isn’t to “get better,” but to live well as I am? How do you differentiate between growth and ableist pressure?
How do you stay informed about disability justice or disability culture?
Do they acknowledge systemic ableism?
Do you see disability as something to treat, support, or affirm? How do you address ableism or systemic barriers in your work? How do you handle internalized ableism?
What type of disabilities do you work with? (In what contexts (chronic illness, mobility, neurodivergence, etc.)?
What have they learned from that work?
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Emotional dysregulation - rage, anxiety, depression, grief
Hypervigilance - In disability-affirming care, hypervigilance is understood as a learned, adaptive survival response to repeated disability-related harm, not as an inherent pathology—meaning it reflects realistic threat monitoring shaped by ableism, inaccessibility, and prior invalidation rather than an internal defect.
Hyperindependence - In disability-affirming care, hyperindependence is understood as a learned survival strategy shaped by repeated unmet needs, coercive help, or punishment for dependence, not a personality flaw or resistance to care.
Finding it difficult to be assertive in healthcare, not aggressive - easily triggered.