Arika Lee, BA

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Arika is a graduate counselling intern in the final year of her Master of Counselling program at City University. She creates a supportive space where clients feel seen, heard, and understood as they navigate life’s challenges, transitions, and opportunities for growth.

With a background in fitness and bodybuilding, Arika brings an embodied perspective to her practice, recognizing the deep connection between mind, body, and emotional well-being. Her integrative, client-centred approach draws from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), and Somatic Therapy, which she adapts to each client with curiosity, collaboration, and care. She also draws on her past experience supporting individuals on the autism spectrum, which informs her inclusive and adaptive approach to working.

Arika welcomes clients from diverse backgrounds and life experiences. Growing up in the Lower Mainland as a person of mixed heritage, she understands the complexities of identity, belonging, and self-expression. She works with individuals navigating anxiety, depression, relationship challenges, academic stress, and body image concerns, offering a space to build resilience, self-compassion, and meaningful change.

Highlights:

  • Arika’s capstone research examines the prevalence of late diagnosis in women with ADHD, analyzing the systemic and cultural factors that contribute to delayed recognition. She explores how underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis affect women’s mental health, identity development, and overall life trajectories. By highlighting these patterns, her work underscores the importance of gender-sensitive assessment practices and greater clinical awareness, while also affirming that it is never too late for individuals to understand their experiences and pursue meaningful change.

  • Arika is particularly interested in exploring how anxiety, mood, performance, and neurodivergence intersect with identity, belonging, and self-belief. Her education has deepened her appreciation for how curiosity, reflection, and embodied awareness can create space for lasting growth and change. Looking ahead, she plans to pursue specialized training in ADHD-focused approaches, trauma-informed practices, and counselling for athletes to continue building her skills as an integrative counsellor.

  • Arika brings valuable experience from her work as a behavioural interventionist, where she supported children on the autism spectrum in building communication, social, and emotional skills. As a personal trainer, she worked one-on-one with clients to help them set goals, overcome challenges, and create meaningful change. She also ran a mental health club, further deepening her commitment to advocacy, awareness, and fostering supportive communities. Mental health and supporting others has always felt like home for her, and she feels honoured to walk alongside clients in their journeys toward growth and healing.

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