About El-Awda Counseling
El-Awda means “the return” in Arabic. It reflects the idea that healing is not always about becoming someone new. Sometimes, it is about finding your way back to yourself, roots, and core values.
At El-Awda Counselling, we support individuals navigating trauma, grief and loss, experiences of violence, suicidal experiences, relationship challenges, identity and belonging, and significant life transitions. Our work recognizes that the way we experience ourselves and the world is shaped by our relationships, culture, family, and the experiences we carry.
We offer trauma-informed, culturally responsive counselling grounded in evidence-based approaches and adapted to each person’s needs. For individuals experiencing displacement or cultural transition, we also make space for the complexities of belonging, roots, identity, and finding a sense of home within oneself.
El-Awda is a space to slow down, understand what you have been carrying, and explore what comes next.
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Languages : English & Arabic
About Me
Hello / Marhaba,
I’m Lilian Sayegh, MACP, RCC.
I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor and the founder of El-Awda Counseling, a practice rooted in the idea of returning to self, resilience, & healing. My work supports individuals navigating trauma, grief and loss, experiences of violence, suicidal experiences, relationship challenges, identity and belonging, recovery, and significant life transitions.
I hold a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology, with Distinction, from Yorkville University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, with a specialization in Human Development and Counselling, from Simon Fraser University. My clinical experience spans outpatient mental health, transition housing, crisis and suicide intervention, addiction and recovery, and work with women, children, families, and individuals experiencing complex life circumstances.
My approach is trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and client-centred, drawing from approaches including CBT, DBT-informed practice, ACT, Schema Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and attachment-informed work. I believe counselling should make room for the whole person, including the relationships, culture, experiences, and environments that shape how we understand ourselves.
As someone who has experienced forced migration and displacement, I also understand how questions of identity, belonging, roots, and home can become deeply personal. This perspective informs my practice, while each client’s story remains their own.
Through El-Awda, I hope to offer a space where people can slow down, make sense of what they have been carrying, and find their way forward, in their own time and in their own way.
♡