Kimberley Handley, CPA, CFCshe/her
Counsellor
Telehealth only: British Columbia
Emotional healing and financial peace, for people who've been holding it together way too long.
About
I'm Kimberley, and I'll be honest with you: I don't fit neatly into one category, and I think that's exactly why this works. I'm a student counsellor completing my clinical training, but I also bring three decades of corporate and personal finance experience as a Chartered Professional Accountant and Certified Financial Counsellor. I kept noticing that knowing the numbers wasn't enough. People needed someone who could help them understand the story behind the numbers, and that realization is what brought me to counselling.
I am Trauma of Money Certified and have spent three years specializing exclusively in compulsive overshopping, including 14 months of full-time immersive training in Dr. April Benson's renowned methodology through her protégé. That combination of real financial expertise, seven-plus years of formal financial education, and genuine clinical counselling training is almost impossible to find in Canada. This space was built around it.
I also personally navigate hEDS, POTS, MCAS, and neurodiversity, so when you talk about the grief and exhaustion of living in an unpredictable body, and a mind that doesn't operate under the traditionally taught approaches, I'm not just nodding along. I understand it from the inside. Whether you're carrying financial stress, burnout, compulsive spending, or the daily reality of chronic illness, you don't have to hold it alone here.
I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm here to help you figure out what you actually need and build a real path toward it, at your pace, on your terms. Nothing you share will be met with shock or pressure to be further along than you are. That part of you that isn't sure you deserve help? That part is welcome here too.
Specialties
- Burnout
- Stress management
- Chronic pain & illness
- Life transitions
- Self-esteem
- Autism spectrum
- ADHD
- Financial Therapy
- Compulsive Shopping / Shopping Addiction
- Entrepreneur/Small Business Money Stress
- Debt Stress
- Retirement Anxiety
- Caregiver Burnout
- Grief & loss
- Career Transations
- Shame
- ADHD Money Support
- Parenting Neurodivergent Children
- EDS / Dysautonomia Support
- Financial Trauma
Approaches
- Solution-focused
- Somatic / body-based
- Mindfulness-based
- Humanistic / person-centered
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Internal Family Systems (IFS)
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative therapy
- Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT)
- Feminist-Informed Practice
Works with
- Adults
Sessions
Languages
- English
Logistics
- Fees
CA$0per session
As my gift to clients in my first year, sessions are currently $0 while I complete training hours toward full BC licensure. This isn't a trial offer— it's real counselling support from a trained professional, at no cost, while I build my practice with care and integrity.
Licensed or authorized in
Frequently asked questions
- How do I get started?
- Every new client begins with a free 15-minute discovery call — a chance for us to meet, for you to ask questions, and for us both to decide if we're a good fit. There's no pressure and no commitment. If it feels right, we'll book your first full session from there. Use this link to book your free 15-minute discovery call https://brightline.janeapp.com/
- What happens in the first few sessions?
- Every new client begins with a free 15-minute discovery call — a relaxed, no-pressure conversation where you can share a bit about what's bringing you in, ask any questions about my approach, and get a feel for whether we're a good fit. There's no obligation to continue, and no judgment either way. I want you to feel confident in your choice, not rushed into it. If it feels right after our call, we'll book your first full session together. Use this link to schedule your free 15-minute discovery call: https://brightline.janeapp.com/
- What is financial therapy?
- Financial therapy is where the emotional side of money meets real financial understanding. Most financial advice treats money as a math problem — budgets, spreadsheets, percentages. But if that worked, you'd have fixed it already. Financial therapy looks underneath the numbers, at the shame, fear, family history, and beliefs about money that actually drive your behaviour — avoidance, overspending, under-earning, anxiety about never having enough. I bring both sides to this work: real financial literacy as a Chartered Professional Accountant and Certified Financial Counsellor, and real counselling training to explore the emotional patterns behind your financial life. We're here to understand why the budgets and financial plans haven't worked, and to help your relationship with money finally reflect who you are and what you value.
- Will you tell me what to do with my money?
- No — I won't direct your financial decisions or tell you what's 'right' for you. My role is to help you understand the emotions and patterns underneath your choices, so whatever you decide feels genuinely yours. That said, if looking at your numbers feels too overwhelming or frightening to face alone, we can absolutely do that together in session — not as financial planning, but as counselling support, helping you build enough safety and capacity to look at what's felt impossible to look at by yourself. The goal is always the same: for you to feel emotionally grounded and confident in your own choices, not dependent on being told what to do.
- What does compulsive overshopping/shopping addiction counselling look like?
- Compulsive overshopping isn't a willpower problem or a character flaw — it's a recognized coping pattern, often tied to things like anxiety, loneliness, or nervous system overwhelm. It exists on a spectrum, from simply struggling to stick to a budget to spending that's causing real financial or relational harm — wherever you fall on that spectrum, this work is for you. Shopping is legal, constant, and socially encouraged, which makes it one of the hardest patterns to name and address. I've spent three years specializing in this work, including 14 months of immersive training in Dr. April Benson's Compulsive Overshopping Method. Together, we'll explore your personal Shopping Story — the history and triggers behind the behaviour — and build practical tools you can use in real moments, like Practicing the Pause and the Daily Mirror. The goal isn't to take something away from you. It's to help you understand what's driving the behaviour and find healthier ways to meet that need.
- How is this different from a shopping addiction coaching program?
- Most coaching programs are built around a fixed curriculum — the same modules and worksheets for every client, regardless of what's actually driving their spending. They can be a good starting point, but they're built for breadth, not depth. What I offer is different: one-on-one counselling, built around your specific history, your nervous system, and your real life — not a generic program you're slotted into. I also bring both sides of this work together in a way coaching programs typically can't: real financial literacy and skill-building as a CPA and Certified Financial Counsellor, alongside counselling training in the emotional patterns underneath the behaviour. That means we're not just working on stopping the overspending — we're working on your relationship with money, your family dynamics, your self-worth, and the life you actually want to build. This is counselling, not coaching, and it's built around you, not a program.
- Do you offer telehealth across Canada?
- I offer telehealth counselling and financial therapy to clients located in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut. Due to current provincial regulatory requirements, I'm not currently able to see clients in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, or New Brunswick — though this may change as regulations evolve, so feel free to check back. For international clients: I'm genuinely touched when people reach out from beyond Canada, but most jurisdictions, including the United States, have licensing requirements that prevent me from offering counselling there at this time.
- Will I have a lot of homework or new habits to keep up with?
- No. My work isn't about handing you a stack of worksheets or a long list of new daily habits to white-knuckle through. Tools and habits can help, but they rarely create lasting change on their own — the moment life gets stressful, they're often the first thing to slip. What actually creates permanent change is deeper than that: understanding why the behaviour is there in the first place. When we do that work together, the shift comes from inside you — it's not something you have to force or maintain through sheer willpower. That's the difference between change that holds and change that only lasts until the next hard week.
Credentials
- Counselling Skills Diploma - in progress, Orca Institute, 2026
- Chartered Professional Accountant, Chartered Professional Accountants Canada, 2015
- Certified Financial Counsellor, Canadian Association for Financial Empowerment, 2025
- Certified General Accountant, Certified General Accountants Association of British Columbia, 2004