Our Story

Strength Counselling Services was started in 2010 in the city of Lethbridge, Alberta by Amanda Dewar who had literally 5 dollars to her name at the time.  It was aptly named to represent a strong company built on courage, dedication, and resilience, which Amanda learned to incorporate into her own life as she grew up.  It began as a small, one-client, in person private practice and remained as such for an entire year as Amanda focused on finishing her schooling and working part time to meet her financial responsibilities.  The first office was built into one room of a truck-shipment company owned by her partners father in the industrial park of Lethbridge. This offered a saving grace as Amanda found it nearly impossible to pay the necessary bills for the company at the time. It remained as a one-counsellor practice for approximately three years during which it was converted from in-person counselling services to digital counselling services upon her move to Victoria, BC.  During this time, she faced adversarial advice from her superiors but, despite this, she persisted, believing that she had to try.

Once graduated from her Masters degree and in Victoria, eight clients decided to join her digitally, which was an incredible accomplishment to Amanda considering where she’d begun.  However, with the cost of living in Victoria, it was no contest as she was without a job, without any friends, and was reliant again on her partner for help.  Finding work in Victoria was extremely difficult. Amanda sent hundreds of applications over a four month period and became painstakingly depressed during this time. This required her to receive her own counselling as she was determined not to quit.  Her persistence paid off after she was finally granted an interview at a local homeless shelter operated by Island Health.  She worked there for the next two years as she continued to develop this counselling practice.  While she was working with Island Health she was also given a job at a treatment centre in Cobble Hill, BC where she worked for another two years.  At this point, Amanda found herself having to dedicate herself to her work, no only to meet her financial responsibilities, and give back much of the support she’d been given after moving to Victoria, but also to grow this counselling company.  Doing both of these things simultaneously was no small feat and required very long days with little rest time in between.  It was at this point where Amanda hired her first counsellor, Ewan, who is still with us today!

As the years passed by, Amanda continued her dedication to this company without faltering when times were tough.  She now has a team of numerous counsellors with differing specialities and hundreds of clients.  The moral of this story is to recognize that when you have 5 dollars in your pocket, with dedication, persistence, determination, willingness to ask for help, and spirit, you can achieve great things. This company is a testament to the value of true grit and courage and wouldn’t exist without it. Now we help hundreds of people to realize their dreams.  Join us to see what you can do with the STRENGTH of your inner spirit!