About Maya.

Maya Sloan Headshot | Marriage Counselling in Halifax

I was born and raised in Germany in the 1970s and 80s, and have spent most of my adult life since then in England and Canada. I grew up Lutheran, but a teenage curiosity about meditation opened a door — Buddhism became my spiritual home for decades, and its fingerprints are still on how I see the world.

My first career was as a speech-language pathologist, helping children and adults find their way into clearer communication. Later, I completed a Master's in Counselling at Acadia University (2008–2011) and opened my private practice in 2017, working mostly with children and their caregivers through play therapy.

In 2020, I felt the pull to shift my practice toward adults seeking spiritual and relational growth. I trained in Internal Family Systems and recently became a Certified IFS Therapist — a model that honors the psyche as a system of parts moving toward wholeness, not something broken that needs fixing. I've also studied Terry Real's Relational Life Therapy, which has given me a grounded, honest lens on how relationships work: how to know what you actually want, ask for it, and meet your partner with real compassion instead of old defenses.

More recently, I've walked the path of psychedelic-assisted therapy, ceremony, and journeywork — ways of knowing myself, and my place in all that is, more fully and more fearlessly.

I've learned to listen closely to my nervous system. You'll often find me shaking off stuck energy on a dance floor, or doing fascia release work to let my body speak. Festivals and intentional gatherings feed something in me that's hard to name but easy to feel.

I think of my life as an unfolding practice of manifesting what I truly desire. I'm drawn to the kind of deep connection that can reach old wounds — abandonment, unworthiness — and actually heal them. Doing this work on myself has helped me claim my own voice, one that speaks, again and again, to the fundamental goodness and worth in every person I meet.

I'd love to get to know you — all of your beautiful complexity.


I studied the therapeutic modalities that most speak to me, and that I put into practice for myself.  


Relational Life Therapy (RLT) has expanded my understanding of how to stay mindful of my nervous system in relationships and how to accept that we all live in our subjective, rather than objective, reality. RLT has improved my relationships, and be able to express my needs and wants. I am a certified RLT therapist as of June 2026. 


Internal Family Systems (IFS) helped me see my protective parts with loving acceptance. This helps connect to my reactions with curiosity, and not with judgment. That way I can get through to my wounds and heal them, and live life from my true Self most of the time. I am a certified IFS therapist


I practice metaphysical spirituality, which means I am seeing my perception as energy. When I am truly open to all the beneficial energies all around me, I can go from contraction to expansion. Then I feel interconnected with all forms of life, and can sense that we are all innately whole. 

I recently moved to Victoria BC from Halifax NS. I am continuing to see clients and supervisees from Nova Scotia virtually and am soon able to see clients in person in Victoria. 

Beacon hill park

Therapie auf Deutsch

Ich bin gebürtige Deutsche und kann Therapie auch auf Deutsch anbieten. Das ist oft besser, wenn wir tiefer mit mit unseren Anteilen aus der Kindheit arbeiten wollen, denn dann kommen die Worte aus unserer Muttersprache einfacher. 

Degrees, Designations, Regulatory Bodies and Associations

  • Master of Science Degree in Human Communication, City University, London, England
  • Master of Education in Counselling, Acadia University, Wolfville NS
  • Registered Counselling Therapist, RCT-21-044 with NSCCT
  • Certified Canadian Counsellor, Member #5037 with CCPA
  • Registered Speech-Language Pathologist, Reg. 0318 with NSCASLP


Additional Training

  • IFS Institue Level 2 training: A Compassionate Approach to Addictive Processes and Eating Disorders, January 2025
  • Certified Relational Life Therapist (trained from 2020 until 2026)
  • IFS Institute Level 1 training March-June 2024
  • Adler Institute Certificate Training, 2022:  Broader Applications of IFS (Trauma, Polyvagal Theory)
  • Multiple advanced trainings in IFS (Shamanisms and Guides, Unattached Burdens, psychedelic-assisted IFS Therapy
  • Comprehensive Course in Interpersonal Neurobiology by Dan Siegel, 2023 6 months training
  • IFSCA Stepping Stones, 2021: 4 month IFS training with Derek Scott
  • Relational Life Therapy, 2020-22 Levels 1-3 Couples Therapy with Terry Real. In Certification track since 2023
  • Introduction to Psychedelic Assisted Therapy with ATMA Journeys, 2022
  • CAPT certification Play Therapy training, Level 1-3, 2018-2019