Our Team
Eskay Ilori, MACP
Canadian Certified Counsellor
You may be coming to this page because something does not feel right. Maybe you know exactly what you are carrying but do not know how to address it. Maybe you are not even sure where to start. You just feel stuck. Or maybe life looks fine from the outside, but underneath there is uncertainty, the weight of a decision, the ache of something you cannot name.
I want you to know something before we even meet: you do not have to perform here. You do not have to be the "good client." You do not have to display anything you think I want to see. My goal is to create a space where you can be real, where you can drop the act, and where you are met without judgment.
What It Will Feel Like to Sit with Me
I am also human. In our sessions, I am not trying to fit you into a theory or a framework. I want to meet the person behind the problem, the human behind the issue you are presenting. My role is not to fix you. It is to witness your inner world and walk alongside you as you figure out what you need.
Clients have told me they feel safe with me. They feel heard, not judged. They appreciate that I have a way of reframing things, putting things into perspective in a way that is easy to understand. They walk away with insight they can actually use.
I don’t believe in wasting your time. If a structured approach serves you, I offer that. But I also want to understand what is underneath the need for structure. Sometimes what we need most is simply a space to be seen by another human being.
What We Might Explore Together
Some clients come with trauma, relational wounds, or life transitions that have left them feeling unmoored. Some carry cultural or ancestral trauma, or spiritual wounds that have not had a place to be spoken. Some are navigating the weight of responsibility, searching for meaning, or responding to old scripts they no longer remember writing.
I have worked with clients across this range, including those with complex experiences like dissociation or BPD. What I have learned is this: beneath the diagnosis, beneath the symptoms, there is a person wanting to be understood. They did not need theory. They needed presence. They needed someone to witness them and say, "You are not crazy for feeling this. This is human." My areas of focus include:
Trauma and PTSD (including single event and accumulated wounds)
Anxiety, Depression, and Feeling Stuck
Grief and Loss
Relationship Struggles (with partners, family members, or parts of oneself)
Life Transitions (career, parenthood, divorce, grief, identity shifts)
Pre-marital counselling
Stress and Burnout (including those in helping professions)
Students (high school, university, graduate, post-graduate)
Personal Development and Growth
A Little about My Background
I spent a decade working in correctional settings. That experience taught me something that shapes my work today: every person has a story, and the questions beneath the surface matter. I learned to sit with people in their hardest moments without flinching. I learned to listen for what is underneath the words. I carry that into every session.
I hold a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University, am a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC), and am in the final stages of receiving my designation as a Registered Provisional Psychologist with the College of Alberta Psychologists. While my primary approach is existential and relational, I draw on a number of other modalities to meet the diverse needs and goals of clients, including EMDR, attachment theory, narrative therapy, Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), emotionally-focused therapy (EFT), relational life therapy (RLT) and family systems. But these are tools I offer, not a box I put you in. We move at your pace, toward what you need.
One Thing I Want You to Know
I am someone who truly cares. I am deeply curious about your experience, and I want to honour where you are. Whether you are carrying something heavy, searching for clarity, or simply ready to stop going it alone, I am here.
If something in this feels like what you need, reach out. You don’t have to have the right words. You just have to show up.
“meanings are not always found in the answers but in the willingness to face the questions.”
For more information,
or to schedule a session:
More About My specialties
[ Open All | Close All ]Life Transitions
... Whether you are becoming a parent, ending a marriage, starting a career, or navigating the quiet disorientation of simply not recognizing your own life anymore, these transitions carry both loss and possibility. I walk alongside clients in these liminal spaces, drawing from existential and narrative approaches to help you make meaning of where you have been and discover who you are becoming. The uncertainty you feel is not a weakness. It is the beginning of something new.
Grief and Loss
... Whether your loss is recent or years old, whether it involves death, a relationship ending, a dream surrendered, or a version of yourself you can no longer return to, grief deserves space and witness. I offer a steady, compassionate presence for this journey. We do not rush toward closure or try to replace what is gone. We sit with it together, allowing grief to teach you what it came to say, and slowly, gently, discovering how you might carry it differently.
Self-Esteem and Identity
... When that story leaves you feeling not enough, too much, or fundamentally flawed, it may be time to examine it together. My work in this area is gently challenging and deeply collaborative. We explore the roots of your self-doubt, the parts of you that learned to protect by staying small, and begin, slowly, to write a new story, one grounded in your own sense of worth rather than borrowed beliefs.
Family Relationships
... Family patterns can follow us into adulthood, showing up in how we react, how we attach, how we protect ourselves from being hurt again. Whether you are navigating conflict with parents, struggling to set boundaries, or carrying the weight of estrangement, I offer a space to explore these dynamics with compassion and clarity. We cannot change the family we came from, but we can change the relationship we have with its legacy.
Gender and Sexual Identity
... Whether you are exploring your gender identity, questioning your sexuality, navigating coming out, or simply seeking a space where you do not have to explain or justify who you are, I offer affirming, compassionate support. My work is culturally informed, trauma-aware, and rooted in the belief that you are the expert on your own identity. My role is not to guide you toward any particular destination, but to walk alongside you as you discover, claim, and celebrate the truth of who you are.
Spirituality
... In the quiet spaces between struggles, we long for something more. I welcome these conversations with openness and without agenda. I am not here to guide you toward any particular belief, but to create space for you to explore what you truly hold sacred, what gives your life meaning, and how you might live more fully in alignment with it. My approach is spiritually integrated and culturally informed, honoring the diverse ways clients make meaning of their existence.
Families
... Whether you are navigating conflict between parents and children, adjusting to a blended family, supporting a child through a difficult transition, or simply feeling stuck in patterns that leave everyone frustrated and disconnected, I offer a space to step back and look at the whole picture together. I draw from family systems theory and attachment-based approaches, always with the belief that families heal not by assigning blame, but by understanding each other more deeply and finding new ways to connect. I work with families to slow down the reactive cycles, to hear what is really being said beneath the arguments, and to rebuild the trust and closeness that may have eroded over time.
Couples
... The struggles between partners, the arguments that go nowhere, the distance that grows unnoticed, often point to deeper longings for connection, safety, and being truly known. I work with couples to slow down these patterns, to uncover the needs beneath the conflict, and to rebuild the trust that may have eroded over time. My approach integrates Emotionally Focused Therapy, Gottman principles, and attachment theory, always grounded in the belief that healing happens in the space between two people willing to risk being seen by each other again.
Stress and Burnout
... Burnout is not simply exhaustion. It is the soul's way of saying something cannot continue. Whether your stress comes from work, caregiving, or the accumulated weight of simply surviving, I offer a space to pause and listen to what your body and spirit have been trying to tell you. Together, we explore what sustains you, what drains you, and how to build a life that does not require you to disappear in order to keep going.