Rae Bandla

Hi, I’m Rae (they/them)


** As a counselling intern completing my practicum with Our Landing Place, I am restricted in the types of counselling I can offer. Please fill out this form to help me and my supervising team determine if I can support you. **

I am a queer, neurodivergent, chronically ill, non-binary settler of South Asian descent living on the unceded and ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. I am currently completing my graduate degree in Counselling Psychology after having worked and volunteered in mental health and health care for over a decade combined.

Navigating this world as a multiply-marginalized person has centred my value system on human agency, advocacy, and resilience. I aim to provide care that is centered on helping clients write their own stories of resilience and radical self-acceptance in the face of oppressive systems, especially by tapping into our innate human creativity. I am committed to dismantling systems of oppression by tackling their internalized consequences in our hearts; as someone who falls into that nebulous space between multiple binary systems, it is especially important to me that I actively hold a fluid, decolonial, and systemic lens in my work.

My primary areas of focus have been with suicidality, self-harm, and sexualized violence. I work from a trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, and intersectional framework that also incorporates principles of harm reduction and decolonization practices. My therapeutic style can be described as curiosity-driven, strengths-based, and casual. I use an integrative approach that pulls from Narrative Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), and Internal Family Systems (IFS).

My areas of focus include:

  • Gender identity, Exploration, and Expression

  • Sex, Sexuality, and Sexual Orientation

  • Depression and Anxiety

  • Trauma and Violence

  • Perfectionism and Shame

  • Ambiguous Loss and Grief

  • Chronic Illness and Disability

  • Neurodiversity (particularly ADHD and Autism)

  • Systemic Discrimination (particularly regarding multiply-marginalized experiences,

    racism, and cisheteronormativity)

As a counselling intern, I am able to provide trauma-informed counselling but not specialized trauma treatment. I am also unable to provide treatment for those experiencing active psychosis and cannot write gender affirming assessments for Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and gender affirming surgery. Post-traumatic stress, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and active addiction will be considered by my clinical supervisors on a case-by-case basis to ensure I can provide an appropriate level and type of support.

In my spare time I enjoy playing games (video, board, and tabletop roleplaying!), writing creative fiction, making visual art, reading speculative fiction, spending quality time with my partner of 15 years, and generally being a huge nerd about something.

If you would like to see if we would be a good fit to work together, please complete this form. Our team will be in touch to schedule a free 15-minute consultation if I am able to offer you support, or a referral to a counsellor who can support you should your current needs be outside of my scope.

Session Fee: $40 per 50-minute session (plus applicable tax).