A woman with blonde hair, wearing a navy blazer and white top, smiling, standing against a blue wall with wooden trim.

Samantha Short 

Clinical Director & Counsellor

Registered Clinical Counsellor (#21453)

Samantha founded Calm Waters Counselling Collective in 2025 with two primary goals: Increase access to counselling services & Create a community of counsellors that values collaboration, authentic connections, and continued growth.

In pursuit of those goals, Calm Waters offers group counselling covering a variety of topics (Social Anxiety, DBT skills, ADHD), individual counselling, consultation teams and of course- events for counsellors to connect!

Samantha also works with Fraser health as a crisis clinician for the Child & Youth Emergency Response Team, providing clinical consultation to emergency room, physicians and psychiatrists for children, youth and young adults who present with a mental health crisis.

Part of reducing barriers to accessing mental health care includes managing financial burdens, as such she is currently offering sliding scale counselling at Calm Waters.

While born and raised in British Columbia, she completed all of her higher education in the United States. During her time at the University of Pennsylvania, she completed over 1200 hours of internship which included biopsychosocial assessments, individual therapy, and group counselling.

Education

MS.Ed. Mental Health & School Counselling

University of Pennsylvania

M.A. Clinical Psychology

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

B.S. Psychology & French

University of Denver

Certifications & Trainings

CBT for Suicide Prevention, Beck Institute, July 2025

Child and Adolescent Mental Health- Advanced Practice - Douglas College- April 2025

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy- Level 1 ( Fraser Health Authority).

SMART Recovery Facilitator

San’yas Anti-Racism Indigenous Cultural Safety Training (2023).

Gottman Method Couples Therapy Level 1 (The Gottman Institute, 2024).

Primary modalities: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Person centred.

Primary Areas of Practice: Anxiety, Borderline Personality disorder/traits, self harm, suicidal ideation. *Adults Only

Virtual sessions across Beautiful, British Columbia

Availability varies as Samantha works at the hospital. Options for weekends and evenings are available.

Reduced Fee (Sliding Scale) Individual Sessions- $75/50 minutes

Schedule a consultation

Thoughts & Reviews

  • Samantha is an excellent and committed professional and is dedicated to helping with substance use-related issues, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and emotional regulation. I highly recommend her to those seeking Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).

    Hugo da Rosa, PhD, Registered Clinical Counsellor

  • Samantha is an empathetic clinician who does a wonderful job of understanding her client's concerns within their contexts and providing tools and strategies that fit their needs.

    John Newke, Registered Clinical Counsellor

  • I would recommend to Sam to anyone. She helped me study for four major tests, which involved planning and time management help. She always held me accountable for my studying, but also continuously gave me words of encouragement. Sam is the person to go to! New List Item

    Alexa Hawk. M.A. Clinical Psychology, Doctoral Student. 2024 Coaching Client

Direct Billing for Pacific Blue Cross

Veterans Affairs Canada

Approved Provider , Medavie Direct Billing- Blue Cross