About Me
Therapy Approaches
There are a number of psychological approaches that I regularly use in addressing concerns and achieving therapy goals.
For individual work, I often find it more effective in addressing people’s concerns when both rational and emotional experience are taken into consideration. With Cognitive Behavioural approach, I help clients to see how thoughts and beliefs (many will say they overthink) could contribute to our problems and to make changes accordingly. With Emotion Focused approach, clients increase their awareness and understanding of their emotions. Instead of avoiding or suppressing difficult emotion, we learn to experience them and to listen to their guidance in making choices and taking action in life.
For relational work, I employ Emotionally Focused Therapy aiming at facilitates the awareness, understanding, and communication of couples' emotional needs and to help couples building secure intimate relationship.
For trauma work, I may use Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) which is an information processing therapy addressing the difficult memory continues to affect our life. As traumatic experience often comes with an intense physical experience, just talking about the experience may not be adequate to resolve the trauma but adding a somatic approach in working on the mind-body connection can.
Other approaches may include exposure therapy and mindfulness practice.
Areas of Practice
Dr. Lam has over 20 years of counselling experience in Greater Vancouver and has worked with people from diverse cultural backgrounds on a wide range of issues. He had provided therapy through employee assistance program, and has extensive experience in working with clients affected by trauma after motor vehicle accident and other anxiety related concerns.
Dr. Lam offers his services in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Dr. Lam has counselled people with concerns on:
Self Esteem | Life Transition/Direction |
Assertiveness | Adjustment |
Social/Performance Anxiety/OCD/Worry | Cross-Cultural Issues |
Depression | Relationships |
Stress Management | Couple |
PTSD/Trauma/ICBC | 2SGLBTQ+ |
Grief |
|
Credentials
Dr. Lam is originally from Hong Kong. Since 1986, he has lived in different cities in North America.
After receiving his doctoral degree in 1997, Dr. Lam obtained a position at the Student Health and Counselling Center at the Central Washington University.
In 2001, he made a major change in his life and moved from Washington State to Vancouver; BC, making this culturally diverse city his home.
- Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology, University of Minnesota at Twin Cities. 1997
- Master of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis. 1991
- Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, University of Texas at Austin. 1989
Registered with British Columbia College of Psychologist (#1507)