Davis Wiggs
Registered Therapeutic Counsellor
I help people who are going through a lonely stretch find connection again, and give them the tools to keep it.
- Sees
- Adults 19+, individuals and couples
- Sessions
- Online by video or phone, anywhere in BC
- Times
- Tuesday to Thursday evenings, Saturday mornings and afternoons
- Fees
- Free consultation. Sessions from $145, sliding scale. Full fees
- Languages
- English
- Direct billing
- Pacific Blue Cross, TELUS Health, GreenShield, CVAP
Waitlist: join through Jane
Next you’ll pick a time in Jane, our secure booking system. It asks for your name, email and phone.
Meet Davis
Read what Davis says
Hi, I'm Davis. I'm a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor here in beautiful British Columbia. And if you have resonated with anything on my page and would like to book a free consultation, let's see if we can work together. I'd be happy to be a part of your mental health journey.
I’m Davis, and I started Desert Solace. Most of my work is with people who have been carrying something alone for a long time: an addiction, a secret, a relationship that keeps hitting the same wall.
I grew up on P.E.I., then on Pender Island, where I went to middle and high school and took a water taxi to get there. Then came 14 years in the Okanagan: a psychology degree at UBC Okanagan, a counselling diploma at the Kelowna College of Professional Counselling, and work in unhoused and addiction communities. That work is what made me want to do this for a living. I get to help people with their mental health and get paid for it? I’m in. These days I’m back on the Island, in the Cowichan Valley, seeing clients online across BC. I don’t do it alone, either: I have a supervisor who cares about me and challenges me, and a partner who backs me all the way.
You don’t have to wait until the wheels fall off to ask someone to sit with you in the car. You’re allowed to reach out while you’re still holding it together, before you have the right words, and even when part of you says you should be able to handle it alone.
Is Davis the right fit?
A good fit if
People who know, on some level, that something has to change, even if they have no idea where to start. That might be drinking or drugs, or the quieter addictions: gambling and spending, porn and compulsive sexual behaviour, shopping, hoarding. It might be an affair, or a relationship where the same fight keeps coming back; that’s couples counselling.
Many of the men I see have spent years putting on a brave face. If that’s you, you’re in good company here: I wrote a page on counselling for men. I also work with couples, including polyamorous and consensually non-monogamous couples, and I’m LGBTQ+ informed.
Probably not the right fit if
If you’re looking for someone to simply agree with you, or for a step-by-step advice-giver, I’m probably not your counsellor. I see adults 19 and over only, and I don’t work with sexual abuse recovery: Jasneet does.
What Davis helps with
Primary
- Addiction and recovery: substances, gambling, porn, spending
- Infidelity and couples (Emotion Focused Therapy)
- Men who are used to keeping it all in
Read more: Addiction and recovery, Sex and porn addiction, Gambling, spending and debt, Couples and infidelity
Also works with
LGBTQ+ informed. Polyamorous and consensually non-monogamous relationships. Men’s issues. Grief, anger and low mood alongside other work.
How I work
Warm and direct. I’ll meet you with compassion, and I’ll still ask the tough questions when you’re avoiding something.
I’m warm, and I’m direct. I’ll listen without judging the things you’ve struggled with or the choices you’ve made. I’ll also ask the tough questions when you’re avoiding something or sliding back into an old pattern. I’d rather be honest with you than tell you what you want to hear.
Most behaviours, even the ones that hurt us, started for a reason. They helped us cope, fit in or protect ourselves. Seeing that isn’t an excuse. It lets you look at yourself with compassion and still take responsibility. Insight matters, but change comes from practising something new, especially when it feels uncomfortable.
I use Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Motivational Interviewing. With couples, I work from Emotion Focused Therapy. Between sessions I’ll often suggest something small: noticing urges, journalling, trying a conversation you’ve been putting off.
Approaches
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
- Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), for couples
- Motivational Interviewing
What a first session is like
You don’t need to have it figured out. We’ll talk about what’s been happening, what feels hard right now, and what you’d like to be different. I’ll ask about your relationships, what’s got you through hard times, and the patterns you keep getting caught in.
My goal is that you leave feeling heard, with a clearer sense of what comes next. After that we usually meet for an hour every week or two. My aim isn’t to keep you in counselling forever.
Fees, times and billing
- Fees
- Free consultation. Individual sessions $145 (60 min) or $190 (90 min). Couples $185 (60 min) or $220 (90 min). Sliding scale available.30-minute check-in: $75.
- Paying less
- Sliding scale, based on your finances and what your insurance covers. Ask about it in your free consultation.
- Direct billing
- Pacific Blue Cross, TELUS Health (eClaims), GreenShield, CVAP (Crime Victim Assistance Program)
- Times
- Tuesday to Thursday evenings, Saturday mornings and afternoons. Video or phone.
Counselling isn’t a provincially regulated profession in BC yet. ACCT is a professional association with its own code of ethics and complaints process. Fees and insurance
Next you’ll pick a time in Jane, our secure booking system. It asks for your name, email and phone.
Training and registration
- RTC Registered Therapeutic Counsellor with the Association of Cooperative Counselling Therapists of Canada (ACCT)
- ASAT Associate Sex Addiction Therapist, trained through the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP)
- AMAT-FD Associate Multiple Addictions Therapist, Financial Disorders (IITAP)
- Registration
- Association of Cooperative Counselling Therapists of Canada (ACCT), #2862. IITAP certificate #2022‑3635.
- Counselling since
- 2020
Outside the room
I’m an avid dancer. I play and watch sports, unwind with video games, and cook. I like that it’s a little experimental: sometimes you adjust along the way. One book that shaped my work is The Art of Being Alone. Being alone doesn’t have to mean being lonely, and learning to sit with yourself is where a lot of change begins.
Based in Cowichan Valley, BC. Sessions are online, so where you live in BC doesn't matter.
Other counsellors you might like
Jasneet Purewal
Also works with couples and infidelity.
For the ones everyone else leans on. Family pressure, couples and life before or after marriage, in English, Punjabi or Hindi.
Chantelle Efird
Anxiety, ADHD, burnout and big changes, especially for teens and young adults. $60 a session.
A free first conversation with Davis
Next you’ll pick a time in Jane, our secure booking system. It asks for your name, email and phone.