Ryan Boyer, MEd, PATGC, CCC

Ryan Boyer, M.Ed., PATGC, CCC I currently live and work on the unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation. I am grateful to be a learner on these lands, and honor those who have cared for these lands since time immemorial. I am a son, brother, father, husband, and friend. I come from Celtic, Norse, Slavic, and Cherokee ancestry on my mother's side, and Celtic and Norse ancestry on my father's side. I hold a Master’s Degree in Education specializing in counselling psychology, and have spent the majority of my career working in the realm of mental health and addictions. I also recently completed a graduate certificate in the Psychedelic Assisted Therapy program through Vancouver Island University. I have been heavily influenced by transpersonal, existential, and non-dual teachings. I am also quite playful by nature, and enjoy good humour. I currently work in private practice at Sacred Owl Integrative Counselling. In hindsight, I can see how I've been preparing myself for healing work even before I sought out a career in counselling. Early life trauma, along with the painful loss of both my parents at a young age was a perfect storm that contributed to my use of drugs and alcohol to self-medicate. This numbing and escapism ultimately led to active addiction for many years of my life. Once I stopped self-medicating, space opened up to embrace my own healing journey. This has included reparative relationship, nature, earth medicine ceremonies, various transpersonal ceremonial experiences, and re-connection to ancestral ways. I have learned that by sitting with our own darkness and shadow aspects, we are then able to hold supportive space for others to be with their own.