Skip to content

About

Dance

Before I became a counsellor, I went deep into the performing arts as a dancer, then later as a circus performer. I taught countless couples how to dance for their weddings, led workshops for students of all ages, and shared my passion in venues across BC and beyond.

Didgeridoo

I had always been musical, but hadn’t ever pursued it very seriously. Then the didgeridoo found me, and within a very short time, I began teaching others in person and online. I began playing for yoga, meditation, and dance events, and even learned and played in faraway places like Joshua Tree and Croatia.

Rhodes Wellness College

After teaching and performing for over 20 years, I decided it was time to pivot. Through everything I’d done, the one common thread had been the people. Whether I was teaching my students a dance step or how to breathe properly, or entertaining audiences around BC, it all started to feel like a form of therapy. At 42 years old, I decided to attend Rhodes Wellness College.

Personal Experience Becomes a Gift

Throughout my life, I wrestled with vicious mood swings, often feeling stuck in depressive episodes for weeks or even months at a time. I battled anxiety and struggled to feel comfortable in group social situations. I went through marriage and divorce. I’ve even gone through the process of immigrating to a new country. I experienced incredibly painful chronic neck pain, which eventually healed, then lower back pain, which I’m still learning how to navigate. I’ve been in polyamorous, open, and monogamous relationships, some of which were incredible, but many of which triggered my codependency and anxious attachment style.

All of this is to say: I bring the whole of my life experience, my whole heart, and my whole mind to the journey of being a counsellor. I draw from an eclectic mix of modalities and exercises, and love supporting clients as they find the tools and practices that best help them move through life with ease.

If you’d like to read a more “official” story of my background, please continue below!

David Yates has a Bachelors of Arts (2001) from The Evergreen State College, with equal time spent studying writing, theatre, music, and dance.

He performed as a dancer with the Vancouver Opera, danced and choreographed for film, and spent several years performing in local theatre shows with the Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret and other groups.

He has worked in elementary and middle schools as a support educator for special needs programs, as an anti-violence facilitator for high school boys with Safeteen, and as a facilitator for accelerated learning programs with Jump! Foundation.

Ever since learning to swing dance in 1998, he has also explored and taught a wide range of dance styles, always with a focus on connection, inner understanding, and consent. For many years, this included working with couples, helping them learn to dance for their weddings while also navigating communication on a physical level. 

More recently, David taught a stage presence course for the Victoria Conservatory of Music in conjunction with Camosun College in Victoria, BC. The central aim of the course was to support music students in overcoming their shyness, nerves, anxiety, and fear, while learning tools for stress management and nervous system regulation.

He is halfway through training in ortho-bionomy, a gentle bodywork modality based on osteopathy, has a 200 hr yoga teacher training certification from Karma Teachers, a certificate in creative movement education from the Creative Movement Center in Seattle, a trauma-informed practice certificate from Trish Walsh and Alyson Quinn, and is a huge proponent of Attachment Theory, Polyvagal Theory, Narrative Therapy, and somatics-based approaches to counselling. He is also trained in the basics of NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) and will receive his NARM-informed certificate this year.

David has a Professional Counsellor Diploma from Rhodes Wellness College. He is a member of the Canadian Professional Counsellors Association (CPCA) as a Registered Professional Counsellor Candidate (RPC-C), and a member of the Association of Cooperative Counselling Therapists of Canada as a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor (RTC).

When I was young, I was incredibly shy. I bounced off social activities like they had force fields. Keeping up with small talk seemed totally out of reach. However, I was a patient, observant listener. I watched others from the sidelines, trying to understand social cues and social conventions, never really fitting in, but always learning.

I found some comfort when I started performing. It didn’t make sense, at first. How was this shy kid speaking in front of an Honors Society audience in high school, or dancing in my choir’s Grease medley? Somehow, it simply worked. I could be myself on stage. I was still really shy in everyday life, though, and so I kept listening and watching from the edges of social circles.

My journey has brought me through a wide range of art forms and venues, from playing djembe while suspended from the ceiling of Rogers Arena to spinning fire in the snow on Grouse Mountain, to teaching David Suzuki and his daughters how to dance for their weddings. I’ve been a dancer with the Vancouver Opera, an assortment of scary characters for the Ghost Train in Stanley Park, a dancer and choreographer for Hallmark films… and the list goes on.

My path has also included leading over a hundred anti-violence workshops for teen boys as a Safeteen facilitator, working with special needs students in schools, teaching countless dance classes and private lessons, and building a worldwide following for my work as a didgeridoo player and teacher.

Always, no matter what I do, teaching is at the core of things. I love figuring out how other people’s brains work, then finding just the right way to share a new idea or skill. Human connection is a beautiful puzzle and mystery I keep trying to solve.

All of this is to say I bring a lot to my new path as a professional counsellor. I really want to know what makes my clients tick, and I draw from a really wide range of tools as I support their learning and growth. If I can walk alongside even one client as they transform their life, I think my work will feel fulfilling.  If anything I’ve shared here resonates with you, I’d love to chat!