Puraz offers trauma-informed online counselling, mindfulness, yoga, breathwork, and wellness services to support healing, personal growth, and meaningful change.

Hi, I’m Puraz Shirzad.

My path to becoming a counsellor began long before I entered the classroom. It grew from years dedicated to my own healing, self-discovery, and personal growth, and from experiencing firsthand how deeply our lives can change when we are given the space to understand ourselves with curiosity and compassion.

Through that journey, I came to see healing not as a return to who we once were, but as a process of becoming. Of integrating what we have lived through, discovering our strengths, and moving forward with greater awareness, resilience, and intention.

Today, I bring that philosophy into my work as a student counsellor, alongside my background in yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and mind-body practices. I hope to create a space where you feel safe enough to explore what has shaped you, while discovering what might be possible from here.

My Approach

I take an integrative, trauma-informed, and strengths-based approach to counselling, recognizing that no single framework fits every person or experience. Our work is collaborative and responsive to your individual needs, drawing from evidence-informed therapeutic approaches while honouring your strengths, lived experiences, culture, relationships, and connection between mind and body.

Person-Centred

At the heart of my work is the therapeutic relationship. I aim to create a warm, collaborative, and non-judgmental space where you can feel heard, understood, and supported as we explore what matters most to you.

Mindfulness

Healing involves more than our thoughts alone. Mindfulness and body-based awareness can help us slow down, notice what is happening within us, and develop a deeper connection with our emotions, physical experiences, and present moment.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

CBT can help us explore the connections between thoughts, emotions, and behaviours, identify patterns that may no longer be serving you, and develop practical strategies that support meaningful and sustainable change.

Nervous System-Informed

Drawing from polyvagal theory and trauma-informed practice, we can explore how your nervous system responds to stress, safety, and connection while developing greater awareness and tools to support regulation.

My Values

  • I believe meaningful connection begins with authenticity. I aim to show up as a real person, not simply a clinician, creating space for honesty, curiosity, vulnerability, and the full complexity of being human..

  • We may not be responsible for everything that has happened to us, but we can choose how we respond to what comes next. I believe in supporting agency and accountability without shame, while recognizing the experiences and circumstances that have shaped us.

  • Gratitude does not require us to ignore what hurts. I believe we can honour difficulty while also making space for what is meaningful, grounding, and worth appreciating along the way.

  • I believe healing is deeply connected to relationship: our relationship with ourselves, our bodies, others, and the world around us. Feeling genuinely seen and understood can create space for growth, resilience, and meaningful change.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Wooden desk with a black closed laptop, a white notebook with a pen, a stack of white books, a small vase with a purple flower, a white modern table lamp, and a white cup on a white saucer, all against a beige wall.

You don't need to have everything figured out before reaching out. If you're curious about working together, I'd love to connect and explore whether we might be a good fit.

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