ABOUT BERNADETTE YEO, RCC
I work with people who are tired of their own patterns.
Not because they lack insight. They often have more self-awareness than most. But insight alone doesn't change behaviour and knowing exactly what you do while still doing it is one of the most frustrating experiences a person can have.
I became a therapist because I believe that most of what holds us back in relationships is not a character flaw, it's a learned response. Something that made complete sense at some point and then became the only tool we had.
My work is grounded in attachment theory - a framework for understanding how your earliest experiences of love shaped the way you relate today. I draw on Emotionally Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Internal Family Systems, and I bring a trauma-informed lens to everything I do.
What I offer is not a script for setting limits or a formula for better communication. It is a space, genuinely safe, honest, unhurried, where we look at what is actually happening underneath. Where it came from. What it costs you. And what it would take to change.
I work with individuals in Vancouver and online across BC. While many of the people I work with are women, these patterns don't belong to any one gender. If this language resonates with you, you're welcome here.
HOW I WORK
The values underneath the practice
Burnout is relational
Chronic depletion is rarely just about workload. It is about the pattern of giving without return and the belief, often unconscious, that your value depends on what you produce for others.
Patterns, not pathology
Nothing is wrong with you. Everything you do made sense at some point. The work is understanding when it stopped serving you.
No performance required
This is the one room where you don't have to manage how you land. You don't have to arrive with it organised. That's not a small thing.
Safety before insight
Nothing meaningful happens until you feel safe enough to be honest. The relationship between us comes before any technique or framework.
The relationship is the work
What happens between us in the room is not separate from therapy. For women with relational wounds, the therapeutic relationship is often the most important thing.
Honest over comfortable
Warmth without directness is just niceness. I name what I notice — gently, but clearly. That is what the work requires.
Slow is not behind
Healing isn't linear and it isn't a race. The pace is always yours. There is no correct speed for this work.