Jaya Joon, MA, CCC

Virtual Youth Counsellor in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island & Nova Scotia.

Jaya Joon is a counsellor based in St. John’s who provides virtual counselling to youth, young adults, and adults throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. She supports clients experiencing anxiety, depression, school and academic stress, emotional dysregulation, self-harm, relationship difficulties, low self-esteem, overwhelm, and significant life transitions.

Jaya understands that adolescence and young adulthood can involve enormous pressure. Clients may be trying to manage school, university, work, changing relationships, family expectations, identity development, increased independence, and uncertainty about the future—all while trying to understand their own emotions and mental health. She offers a compassionate, collaborative, and non-judgmental space where clients can talk openly about what they are experiencing without feeling dismissed, criticized, or pressured to have everything figured out.

Her approach is practical and individualized. Jaya works alongside clients to better understand their emotions, recognize patterns, strengthen coping skills, and develop realistic strategies they can use outside the counselling session. Rather than assuming that the same approach will work for everyone, she adapts counselling to each client’s needs, communication style, circumstances, strengths, and personal goals.

Counselling for Youth and Teenagers

Jaya has a particular interest in supporting youth and teenagers navigating anxiety, low mood, academic pressure, emotional overwhelm, self-esteem concerns, relationship difficulties, self-harm, and major changes at home or school.

Young people do not always have the words to explain what they are experiencing. Emotional distress may appear as irritability, withdrawal, perfectionism, difficulty concentrating, changes in motivation, conflict with family members, school avoidance, or feeling unable to cope with seemingly ordinary demands. Jaya creates space for young clients to explore these experiences without shame or judgment.

Her work may help youth:

• Understand and name difficult emotions

• Develop healthier coping strategies

• Strengthen distress-tolerance skills

• Manage anxiety and overwhelming thoughts

• Navigate friendship and relationship difficulties

• Cope with school and academic pressure

• Communicate their needs more effectively

• Build confidence and self-understanding

• Adjust to changes within their families or social lives

• Develop alternatives to self-harm

• Feel less alone in what they are experiencing

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Jaya is completing additional certification in Youth Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. This training strengthens her ability to support young people with emotional regulation, distress tolerance, coping skills, relationships, and managing intense emotional experiences.

Young Adult Mental Health Counselling

Jaya also supports young adults navigating the transition from adolescence into adulthood. This period can bring changes in identity, relationships, education, employment, family expectations, independence, and responsibility. Even positive changes can feel destabilizing or overwhelming.

Young adults may seek counselling because they feel uncertain about their future, overwhelmed by university or college, disconnected from friends, anxious about making the wrong choices, or discouraged because life does not feel the way they expected it would. Others may be coping with depression, low motivation, loneliness, interpersonal conflict, perfectionism, self-criticism, or difficulty adjusting to new responsibilities.

Jaya provides a supportive space where young adults can slow down, understand what is contributing to their distress, and identify manageable next steps. Counselling can help clients develop greater confidence, emotional awareness, self-compassion, and clarity as they navigate school, work, relationships, and changing life circumstances.

Anxiety, Stress and Academic Pressure

Jaya completed her clinical practicum with the College of the North Atlantic, where she provided short-term individual counselling to post-secondary students experiencing anxiety, stress, academic demands, and personal concerns.

School-related anxiety can involve much more than worrying about grades. Students may experience procrastination, perfectionism, difficulty concentrating, fear of failure, test anxiety, low motivation, burnout, social anxiety, uncertainty about their program, or intense pressure to meet personal and family expectations. These experiences can affect sleep, confidence, relationships, physical well-being, and the ability to complete everyday tasks.

Jaya helps clients explore the thoughts, emotions, circumstances, and patterns contributing to anxiety and overwhelm. Together, clients can develop practical coping strategies, improve emotional regulation, clarify their goals, and find approaches that feel realistic within their daily lives.

Depression and Low Mood

Depression can affect energy, motivation, sleep, concentration, relationships, self-esteem, and the ability to feel connected to things that once mattered. Some people experience persistent sadness, while others feel numb, irritable, exhausted, disconnected, or unable to imagine that anything will improve.

Jaya provides a warm and accepting space where clients can talk honestly about low mood and emotional pain. Counselling may focus on understanding contributing stressors, identifying patterns, strengthening coping strategies, rebuilding routines, reducing isolation, and reconnecting with meaningful goals and relationships.

Clients do not need to wait until things become unmanageable before reaching out. Counselling can also support people who are functioning outwardly but privately feel overwhelmed, unmotivated, emotionally exhausted, or unlike themselves.

Emotional Regulation, Distress Tolerance and Self-Harm

Intense emotions can sometimes feel as though they take over before there is time to understand or respond to them. Clients may become overwhelmed quickly, shut down, react impulsively, experience conflict in relationships, or turn to self-harm as a way of coping with emotional pain.

Jaya supports clients in developing greater awareness of their emotions, triggers, needs, and behavioural patterns. Her continuing education in Youth DBT supports her work with emotional regulation, distress tolerance, coping skills, interpersonal effectiveness, and alternatives to harmful coping behaviours.

The goal is not to eliminate difficult emotions. Counselling can help clients understand what their emotions are communicating, respond to distress more safely, and develop a broader range of strategies for getting through difficult moments.

Autism, Neurodivergence and Individualized Support

Before completing her counselling practicum, Jaya worked one-on-one with autistic children as an Applied Behaviour Analysis therapist. Her responsibilities included observing behaviour, supporting individualized treatment plans, teaching motor and social skills, and collaborating with parents.

This experience strengthened her understanding that every client processes information, communicates, learns, and responds to their environment differently. In counselling, Jaya recognizes the importance of adapting support to the individual rather than expecting the individual to fit a predetermined therapeutic approach.

She aims to provide an accepting environment where clients can communicate in ways that feel comfortable and work toward goals that are meaningful to them.

Jaya’s Counselling Approach

Jaya’s clinical work is informed by Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and solution-focused approaches. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can help clients explore connections between their thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and everyday experiences. Solution-focused counselling can help clients recognize existing strengths, identify meaningful goals, and develop practical steps toward change.

Her approach is also collaborative and goal-oriented. Clients are encouraged to ask questions, provide feedback, and participate actively in shaping the direction of counselling. Jaya recognizes that clients are the experts on their own experiences and that effective counselling should reflect what matters most to them.

Depending on the client’s needs, counselling may involve:

• Exploring thoughts, emotions, and behavioural patterns

• Identifying triggers and sources of distress

• Developing emotional-regulation skills

• Strengthening distress tolerance

• Building practical coping strategies

• Addressing self-criticism and low self-esteem

• Improving communication and relationship skills

• Navigating school, work, or family pressures

• Clarifying personal goals and values

• Recognizing strengths and previous successes

• Breaking larger concerns into manageable steps

  
  

Education and Clinical Experience

Jaya holds a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry with a focus in Nutrition from Memorial University of Newfoundland.

During her counselling practicum at the College of the North Atlantic’s Prince Philip Drive campus, Jaya completed 455 practicum hours, including 206 hours of direct client contact. She conducted intake interviews, contributed to biopsychosocial assessments, provided individual counselling, completed clinical documentation, participated in regular supervision, and supported treatment planning and case conceptualization.

Her educational background in biochemistry and nutrition also contributes to her appreciation of the many interconnected factors that can influence mental health and well-being.

Virtual Counselling Across Newfoundland and Labrador

Jaya provides secure online counselling for clients located throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. Virtual counselling makes it possible to access mental health support from home without travelling to an office. It can be particularly helpful for students, young adults, people with demanding schedules, and clients living in rural or smaller communities where specialized counselling may be difficult to access locally.

Online counselling with Jaya may be available to clients in St. John’s, Mount Pearl, Paradise, Conception Bay South, Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, Corner Brook, Clarenville, Bonavista, Marystown, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador City, and communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

Clients must be physically located in Newfoundland and Labrador at the time of their virtual appointment.

Areas of Focus

Jaya’s areas of focus include:

• Youth and teen mental health

• Young adult mental health

• Anxiety and overthinking

• Depression and low mood

• School and academic stress

• Life transitions

• Emotional regulation

• Distress tolerance

• Coping skills

• Self-harm

• Interpersonal and relationship challenges

• Autism and neurodivergence

• Self-esteem and confidence

  
  

Book Virtual Counselling With Jaya

If you are looking for a youth counsellor, young-adult therapist, or virtual counsellor in Newfoundland and Labrador, Jaya offers compassionate and practical support tailored to your needs and goals.

You can book a virtual counselling appointment with Jaya or schedule a complimentary 15-minute consultation to ask questions, learn more about her approach, and decide whether she may be the right therapist for you.