You are not too much. Your emotions may be asking for better support.
Structured, relational, and DBT-informed counselling for adults navigating borderline personality disorder and emotional dysregulation.
Support in Calgary, Cochrane, and across Alberta
You may be looking for more than reassurance or another list of coping skills. You want to understand why emotions can become so intense, why relationships can feel so high-stakes, and how to respond without losing yourself in the moment.
At The Right Room, BPD counselling is collaborative, structured, and informed by Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. Together, we work on emotional regulation, distress tolerance, relationship patterns, identity, impulsive urges, and the painful cycle of overwhelm followed by shame.
The Focus of Treatment
More than learning to calm down.
Effective BPD counselling looks beyond emotional intensity as the problem. Together, we work toward understanding your patterns, increasing choice when emotions surge, and building relationships with more steadiness, clarity, and self-respect.
01
Greater emotional clarity
We slow down the moments that feel confusing or overwhelming and map what happened before, during, and after them. The goal is not to judge your reactions. It is to understand emotions, urges, body cues, and relationship triggers well enough that your inner world starts to feel more predictable.
02
More skillful responses
DBT-informed treatment builds practical skills for mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. The goal is not to stop feeling deeply. It is to create enough space between emotion and action that you have more choice about what happens next.
03
Stronger relationships and self-trust
Relationship sensitivity, fear of rejection, conflict, and shame can make connection feel both deeply important and deeply painful. Therapy helps you communicate needs, set boundaries, repair ruptures, and respond in ways that protect both your relationships and your sense of self.
What Treatment May Include
A plan built around both acceptance and change.
Treatment is tailored to the patterns creating the most distress in your emotions, relationships, identity, and day-to-day life. We decide together which skills and areas of focus will be most useful rather than treating BPD as a one-size-fits-all experience.
01
Understanding your history and emotional patterns
Your care begins with a structured exploration of your emotional patterns, relationship history, coping strategies, strengths, and current goals. Together, we look at intense emotions, fears of rejection or abandonment, impulsive urges, identity confusion, and relational stress without assuming that every experience is explained by a diagnosis. The goal is a treatment plan grounded in your actual life.
02
Mindfulness skills
Mindfulness is a foundation of DBT. We practice noticing thoughts, emotions, urges, and body cues without immediately reacting to them. This does not mean ignoring pain or pretending things are fine. It means creating enough space to notice what is happening and choose your next step with greater intention.
03
Emotion regulation skills
Emotion regulation work helps you understand what emotions are communicating, what makes them more intense, and which vulnerability factors make overwhelm more likely. We identify triggers, name emotions more clearly, and build strategies for responding effectively. The goal is not smaller feelings. It is more choice in what you do with them.
04
Distress tolerance and urge management
Distress tolerance skills are designed for the moments when emotions are high and the immediate goal is to get through the moment without making things worse. Therapy may include grounding, self-soothing, crisis planning, and strategies for managing strong urges. These skills are not about pretending distress is comfortable. They are about moving through emotional storms with more safety and self-respect.
05
Interpersonal effectiveness
Relationships can feel especially intense when rejection, abandonment, conflict, or disconnection are activated. We work on asking for what you need, setting boundaries, navigating conflict, repairing ruptures, and protecting self-respect. The goal is not detachment. It is building relationships with more steadiness, honesty, and choice.
06
Diary cards and pattern tracking
Depending on your goals, we may use simplified diary cards or other tracking methods to notice emotional intensity, urges, skill use, sleep, conflict, and vulnerability factors over time. This is not about monitoring you or creating another task to fail at. It is about making patterns visible so treatment can become more precise and useful.
07
Validation and change
DBT is built around a dialectic: your reactions can make sense in context and still be creating pain in your life. Treatment makes room for both. Your experience is taken seriously while we also work toward new behaviours, stronger skills, and more effective responses. You do not have to be shamed into change. You can be understood and still grow.
Who This Approach Is Designed For
BPD counselling does not look the same for everyone.
This approach is designed for adults who are:
- Living with borderline personality disorder or patterns of emotional dysregulation
- Newly diagnosed and trying to understand what the diagnosis means for them
- Experiencing emotions that escalate quickly or feel difficult to come back from
- Struggling with relationship conflict, sensitivity to rejection, or fear of abandonment
- Tired of cycling between emotional overwhelm, impulsive reactions, and shame
- Wanting structured skills without being reduced to a diagnosis
Many of my clients are sensitive, insightful, and deeply self-aware. They are not looking for someone to judge them or tell them their emotions are irrational. They are looking for structure, validation, and practical ways to create more steadiness.
If you want a therapy process that respects your emotional intensity, honours your complexity, and makes room for both acceptance and meaningful change, this approach may be a good fit.
Counselling Locations
Support in Calgary, Cochrane, and online across Alberta.
BPD counselling is available in person at both The Right Room locations, as well as virtually for clients located anywhere in Alberta.
In Person
Cochrane
In-person BPD counselling is available from The Right Room’s downtown Cochrane office.
Explore the Cochrane location
In Person
Calgary
In-person BPD counselling is also available from The Right Room’s northwest Calgary location.
Explore the Calgary location
Virtual
Across Alberta
Virtual sessions are available for clients who are physically located in Alberta at the time of their appointment.
Learn about virtual counsellingFlexible Access
Whether you prefer meeting in person or from the comfort of your own space, treatment is tailored to your emotional patterns, relationship needs, goals, current supports, and the skills you most want to strengthen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about BPD counselling.
Starting therapy can bring up practical questions about diagnosis, referrals, session frequency, cost, DBT, and what to expect. Here are answers to some of the questions people ask most often.
Do I need a referral to begin BPD counselling?
No. You can self-refer for counselling. You do not need a referral from a family physician or psychiatrist to book a consultation or begin therapy.
If you already work with a physician, psychiatrist, or another health care provider, I can collaborate with them with your written consent.
Do I need a formal BPD diagnosis to begin counselling?
No. You do not need a formal diagnosis to begin therapy. We can work with the patterns you are experiencing, including emotional dysregulation, relationship sensitivity, impulsive urges, identity confusion, or intense fear of rejection.
A diagnosis can be useful for some people, but treatment can begin with the difficulties you want support with now.
How many sessions will I need?
The number and frequency of sessions depend on your goals, current symptoms, and support needs.
DBT-informed work often benefits from consistency because skills take time to learn, practise, and apply in real life. Many clients begin with weekly or biweekly sessions while we establish structure, build skills, and identify patterns.
We regularly review whether the pace of therapy continues to feel useful and sustainable.
How much does BPD counselling cost?
Individual counselling sessions are $235 for 60 minutes.
Insurance reimbursement may be available depending on your benefits provider and plan. A receipt is provided after each appointment for submission to your insurance company.
Is DBT only for crisis?
No. DBT includes skills that can be useful during periods of acute distress, but the approach is not only about crisis management.
DBT-informed counselling can also focus on everyday emotional regulation, relationships, boundaries, self-respect, mindfulness, and decision-making. The goal is to build more stability before life reaches a breaking point, not only respond after it does.
What happens during the first session?
The first full session focuses on understanding your current concerns, relevant history, strengths, previous treatment experiences, relationship patterns, and goals.
We may begin identifying the patterns causing the most distress and discussing which DBT skill areas may be most useful, but you will not be rushed into strategies before we have a clearer understanding of what you need.
What should I do if I am in crisis?
The Right Room is not an emergency or crisis service. If you are at immediate risk of harming yourself or someone else, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
As part of ongoing treatment, we can create a personalized safety and response plan so you know which steps to take if risk or distress increases between appointments.
Still Unsure?
A no-cost 15-minute consultation gives you an opportunity to ask questions, discuss what you are looking for, and determine whether working together feels like the right next step.
Meet Your Therapist
Clinical structure with a real human.
Hi, I’m Hannah Tan, Registered Provisional Psychologist and founder of The Right Room.
I work with adults navigating complex emotional patterns, including borderline personality disorder, emotional dysregulation, relationship sensitivity, ADHD, autism, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and burnout. My BPD work is informed by Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, including mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and the balance between acceptance and change.
BPD treatment requires structure, validation, skill-building, and careful pacing. I bring practical tools and clinical understanding to the work while remaining collaborative, relational, trauma-informed, culturally informed, and strengths-based.
You will never be reduced to a diagnosis here. Your emotions are taken seriously, your patterns are explored without shame, and treatment is tailored to your history, relationships, strengths, goals, and the life you are trying to build.
Ready When You Are
You can be understood and still change.
Living with BPD can make emotions, relationships, and even your sense of self feel painfully intense. If you are looking for structured, DBT-informed support that takes your experience seriously without reducing you to a diagnosis, I would be glad to meet you.
The Focus of Treatment
More than learning to calm down.
Effective BPD counselling looks beyond emotional intensity as the problem. Together, we work toward understanding your patterns, increasing choice when emotions surge, and building relationships with more steadiness, clarity, and self-respect.
01
Greater emotional clarity
We slow down the moments that feel confusing or overwhelming and map what happened before, during, and after them. The goal is not to judge your reactions. It is to understand emotions, urges, body cues, and relationship triggers well enough that your inner world starts to feel more predictable.
02
More skillful responses
DBT-informed treatment builds practical skills for mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. The goal is not to stop feeling deeply. It is to create enough space between emotion and action that you have more choice about what happens next.
03
Stronger relationships and self-trust
Relationship sensitivity, fear of rejection, conflict, and shame can make connection feel both deeply important and deeply painful. Therapy helps you communicate needs, set boundaries, repair ruptures, and respond in ways that protect both your relationships and your sense of self.
What Treatment May Include
A plan built around both acceptance and change.
Treatment is tailored to the patterns creating the most distress in your emotions, relationships, identity, and day-to-day life. We decide together which skills and areas of focus will be most useful rather than treating BPD as a one-size-fits-all experience.
01
Understanding your history and emotional patterns
Your care begins with a structured exploration of your emotional patterns, relationship history, coping strategies, strengths, and current goals. Together, we look at intense emotions, fears of rejection or abandonment, impulsive urges, identity confusion, and relational stress without assuming that every experience is explained by a diagnosis. The goal is a treatment plan grounded in your actual life.
02
Mindfulness skills
Mindfulness is a foundation of DBT. We practice noticing thoughts, emotions, urges, and body cues without immediately reacting to them. This does not mean ignoring pain or pretending things are fine. It means creating enough space to notice what is happening and choose your next step with greater intention.
03
Emotion regulation skills
Emotion regulation work helps you understand what emotions are communicating, what makes them more intense, and which vulnerability factors make overwhelm more likely. We identify triggers, name emotions more clearly, and build strategies for responding effectively. The goal is not smaller feelings. It is more choice in what you do with them.
04
Distress tolerance and urge management
Distress tolerance skills are designed for the moments when emotions are high and the immediate goal is to get through the moment without making things worse. Therapy may include grounding, self-soothing, crisis planning, and strategies for managing strong urges. These skills are not about pretending distress is comfortable. They are about moving through emotional storms with more safety and self-respect.
05
Interpersonal effectiveness
Relationships can feel especially intense when rejection, abandonment, conflict, or disconnection are activated. We work on asking for what you need, setting boundaries, navigating conflict, repairing ruptures, and protecting self-respect. The goal is not detachment. It is building relationships with more steadiness, honesty, and choice.
06
Diary cards and pattern tracking
Depending on your goals, we may use simplified diary cards or other tracking methods to notice emotional intensity, urges, skill use, sleep, conflict, and vulnerability factors over time. This is not about monitoring you or creating another task to fail at. It is about making patterns visible so treatment can become more precise and useful.
07
Validation and change
DBT is built around a dialectic: your reactions can make sense in context and still be creating pain in your life. Treatment makes room for both. Your experience is taken seriously while we also work toward new behaviours, stronger skills, and more effective responses. You do not have to be shamed into change. You can be understood and still grow.
Who This Approach Is Designed For
BPD counselling does not look the same for everyone.
This approach is designed for adults who are:
- Living with borderline personality disorder or patterns of emotional dysregulation
- Newly diagnosed and trying to understand what the diagnosis means for them
- Experiencing emotions that escalate quickly or feel difficult to come back from
- Struggling with relationship conflict, sensitivity to rejection, or fear of abandonment
- Tired of cycling between emotional overwhelm, impulsive reactions, and shame
- Wanting structured skills without being reduced to a diagnosis
Many of my clients are sensitive, insightful, and deeply self-aware. They are not looking for someone to judge them or tell them their emotions are irrational. They are looking for structure, validation, and practical ways to create more steadiness.
If you want a therapy process that respects your emotional intensity, honours your complexity, and makes room for both acceptance and meaningful change, this approach may be a good fit.
Counselling Locations
Support in Calgary, Cochrane, and online across Alberta.
BPD counselling is available in person at both The Right Room locations, as well as virtually for clients located anywhere in Alberta.
In Person
Cochrane
In-person BPD counselling is available from The Right Room’s downtown Cochrane office.
Explore the Cochrane location
In Person
Calgary
In-person BPD counselling is also available from The Right Room’s northwest Calgary location.
Explore the Calgary location
Virtual
Across Alberta
Virtual sessions are available for clients who are physically located in Alberta at the time of their appointment.
Learn about virtual counsellingFlexible Access
Whether you prefer meeting in person or from the comfort of your own space, treatment is tailored to your emotional patterns, relationship needs, goals, current supports, and the skills you most want to strengthen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about BPD counselling.
Starting therapy can bring up practical questions about diagnosis, referrals, session frequency, cost, DBT, and what to expect. Here are answers to some of the questions people ask most often.
Do I need a referral to begin BPD counselling?
No. You can self-refer for counselling. You do not need a referral from a family physician or psychiatrist to book a consultation or begin therapy.
If you already work with a physician, psychiatrist, or another health care provider, I can collaborate with them with your written consent.
Do I need a formal BPD diagnosis to begin counselling?
No. You do not need a formal diagnosis to begin therapy. We can work with the patterns you are experiencing, including emotional dysregulation, relationship sensitivity, impulsive urges, identity confusion, or intense fear of rejection.
A diagnosis can be useful for some people, but treatment can begin with the difficulties you want support with now.
How many sessions will I need?
The number and frequency of sessions depend on your goals, current symptoms, and support needs.
DBT-informed work often benefits from consistency because skills take time to learn, practise, and apply in real life. Many clients begin with weekly or biweekly sessions while we establish structure, build skills, and identify patterns.
We regularly review whether the pace of therapy continues to feel useful and sustainable.
How much does BPD counselling cost?
Individual counselling sessions are $235 for 60 minutes.
Insurance reimbursement may be available depending on your benefits provider and plan. A receipt is provided after each appointment for submission to your insurance company.
Is DBT only for crisis?
No. DBT includes skills that can be useful during periods of acute distress, but the approach is not only about crisis management.
DBT-informed counselling can also focus on everyday emotional regulation, relationships, boundaries, self-respect, mindfulness, and decision-making. The goal is to build more stability before life reaches a breaking point, not only respond after it does.
What happens during the first session?
The first full session focuses on understanding your current concerns, relevant history, strengths, previous treatment experiences, relationship patterns, and goals.
We may begin identifying the patterns causing the most distress and discussing which DBT skill areas may be most useful, but you will not be rushed into strategies before we have a clearer understanding of what you need.
What should I do if I am in crisis?
The Right Room is not an emergency or crisis service. If you are at immediate risk of harming yourself or someone else, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
As part of ongoing treatment, we can create a personalized safety and response plan so you know which steps to take if risk or distress increases between appointments.
Still Unsure?
A no-cost 15-minute consultation gives you an opportunity to ask questions, discuss what you are looking for, and determine whether working together feels like the right next step.
Meet Your Therapist
Clinical structure with a real human.
Hi, I’m Hannah Tan, Registered Provisional Psychologist and founder of The Right Room.
I work with adults navigating complex emotional patterns, including borderline personality disorder, emotional dysregulation, relationship sensitivity, ADHD, autism, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and burnout. My BPD work is informed by Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, including mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and the balance between acceptance and change.
BPD treatment requires structure, validation, skill-building, and careful pacing. I bring practical tools and clinical understanding to the work while remaining collaborative, relational, trauma-informed, culturally informed, and strengths-based.
You will never be reduced to a diagnosis here. Your emotions are taken seriously, your patterns are explored without shame, and treatment is tailored to your history, relationships, strengths, goals, and the life you are trying to build.
Ready When You Are
You can be understood and still change.
Living with BPD can make emotions, relationships, and even your sense of self feel painfully intense. If you are looking for structured, DBT-informed support that takes your experience seriously without reducing you to a diagnosis, I would be glad to meet you.