Important Information about Counselling & Psychotherapy

All our services strive to help people improve their emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual well-being by promoting positive relationships with themselves, others and the larger community. Despite their similarities, however, each service is different, and it is important to know what you are seeking. 

Psychotherapy and counselling are helping modalities that recognize that you, as the client, are the expert of your life. In these sessions we may address difficult experiences, thoughts and feelings. Bringing up struggles and facing them can often make us feel worse before we feel better. The therapeutic relationship is key in providing support and encouragement as we challenge limiting beliefs in a compassionate and safe atmosphere. Through this therapeutic relationship, clients develop understanding and skills to practice in their day-to-day lives.  

Psychotherapy is a regulated practice covered by most insurances, where counselling is not regulated and generally not covered. If your benefits do not include psychotherapy, you can advocate to have it included! 

Life coaching helps to clarify your goals, identify the obstacles holding you back, and guides you in coming up with strategies to overcome each obstacle. Life coaches will address your blocks but do not utilize psychotherapy skills to work through them. Life coaches help you make the most of your strengths by targeting your unique skills and building on those. Life coaches provide the support you need to achieve long-lasting change.

Life coaching is not a regulated profession and is thus generally not covered by insurance. 

For information about the differences between psychologists, psychiatrists and registered psychotherapists, please see the Ontario Mental Health Practitioners comparison chart on our information downloads page. 

Everyone is different and there is no guarantee that counselling will help. However, when you feel comfortable with your therapist and the treatment approaches you participate in, there is a very good chance that you will see improvement. Together we work to develop trust so you feel comfortable with the process of counselling and open to the gains that can come from it.  

For all billing and investment information and policies, please see our Investment Info page. 

Most individual sessions are an hour long.  This includes 50 minutes of meeting time and 10 minutes to complete charting.  Longer sessions (90-minute) are available upon request.  

Couples sessions can range from an hour to an hour and a half.  Children's sessions may be shorter if an hour session is too long.  These variations in time need to be discussed with your therapist.  

With Life Coaching, you can buy packages for a set number of sessions. Counselling and psychotherapy, however, do not have a set number of sessions, and that is for a reason. Every person's experiences, needs and goals are unique, and so is their counselling process. When we have our initial session, we can discuss your goals for therapy, establishing a plan for our work together. 

My approach is very person-centred, meaning that I believe you are the export of your experience. It is not my place to tell you what is best for you and your growth but to explore what has worked for you in the past and help you gain avenues of growth that fit your journey. 

I do not believe anyone fits neatly in a box, and thus no one approach neatly addresses every issue. Instead of focusing on one theory, I bring a range of resources to our session, and you decide what feels like the best fit for you. There are several approaches I like to draw from, specifically Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Gestalt, and existential theories such as shadow work and transcendental schema processing.  Solution-Focused, Positive Psychology and Cognitive-Behavioural (CBT) are great when we only have a few sessions to address specific issues.   For those who want to go deeper into spiritual principles, we can use the Enneagram, take a deeper dive into shadow work or utilize quantum psychology to explore the True Self.

Throughout the therapeutic process, your goals and feedback help to establish what theories and modalities we use. I ask that you express when you resonate with a modality or feel something is not working.  This feedback will ensure we maintain a path of growth on our journey together. 

Some clients love the idea of homework, while others do not.  I provide my clients with resources to access between sessions and ask them to journal about issues throughout their week that we can discuss in session. Together we explore specific activities for you to work on between sessions to enhance your progress.  Anything I provide for "homework" is a recommendation and not a requirement.  

As is the case with most things in life, you will get out of therapy the amount of work you put in. The more work you do between sessions, the more we will have to explore, and the more progress you can make. 

I do not prescribe medication as this is outside my scope of practice.  I can, however, discuss the pros and cons of medication, help with brining this concern to your doctor, and work with you to monitor how you feel the medication is or is not working for you.  

Assessments help to identify areas of concern for building a therapeutic plan and track therapy progress. I refer clients to my GreenSpace Health account to complete most assessments. There are also some assessments that we may do together in session, for example, the Enneagram questionnaire, if we decide to use this tool to help understand patterns, core beliefs, etc. 

Please note that I do not provide clinical assessments or psycho-educational assessments. Should we feel that one of these assessments is necessary, I am part of Psychotherapy Matters and would refer you to one of their psychiatrists (if you do not have one already) for this service.

The relationship you form with your therapist is an essential component of your treatment. It is important to have a professional, yet strong connection with your therapist within the therapeutic framework.  Part of building that connection includes keeping the therapeutic relationship professional and confidential.  As such, I do not accept any friend requests or respond to client's on social media, but I do offer a facebook page that everyone is welcome to follow.  

Should we run into each other outside of therapy, I will respect your privacy and not acknowledge you or disclose that you are a client. Should you choose to acknowledge me, you have the right to do so and I will acknowledge you in return (if I see you without my glasses!). Any disclosure regarding our therapeutic relationship is at your discretion.

Client Rights include the protection of personal information consistent with federal and provincial law as laid out by PHIPA,  PIPEDA and the Regulated Health Professions Act. As such, your personal and medical information is confidential and will only be disclosed to third parties with prior written consent, or verbal consent in the case of an emergency. 

Exceptions include: (1) under 14 years of age, and parents/legal guardians want access to the file, (2) risk of imminent danger, such as suicide, death, risk of running away, or serious bodily harm to an identifiable person or group, (2) suspected or known abuse or neglect of a child or older adult, (3) unsafe operation of a motor vehicle, (4) requests ordered by a court of law or professional governing body (CRPO), (5) access is required by other personnel within My Holistic Self Counselling who are trained to collect, use, store, and disclose personal information only as necessary to fulfill their duties in accordance with our privacy policy, or (6) should the therapist's situation require activation of a contingency plan (see Therapist Responsibilities section).   

Therapists must, as soon as the interest of their client so requires, receive supervision or consult with another therapist or a member of a professional order.  My Holistic Self Counselling may choose to seek peer consultation regarding your situation by another Registered Psychotherapist and/or by a Clinical Psychologist as needed.  Should this consultation become necessary, your therapist will be sure to minimize disclosure of identifying information.  

Registered Psychotherapists are required to develop a contingency plan by The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) and the Canadian Health Act .  As part of that contingency plan, a therapist must delegated a trusted person with the task of notifying all clients should the therapist become unable to work due to severe illness, incapacitation or unexpected loss of life. This delegate would then have access to client records to ensure all clients are notified regarding the therapist's condition and help ensure the continuation of therapy.  

My Holistic Self Counselling uses Jane App for scheduling appointments. New clients need to call or email to book their first appointment.  Current clients are able to access the app to book, change, and cancel appointments.  Changes or cancellations less than 24 hours from the appointment time cannot be done online.  Should a client need to adjust within the 24 hour window, they need to call or email and are subject to a cancellation fee equal to the amount of the full session fee. 

Clients are encouraged to use the online scheduling to book ongoing appointments in advance in order to ensure they are able to maintain their appointment time. Appointments can also be booked directly with your therapist during your session. 

Currently, My Holistic Self Counselling is offering limited in-person sessions.  In the case of inclement weather or a health concern, sessions will be switched to virtual.  Should there be extenuating circumstances that cause virtual sessions to not be viable, sessions can be rescheduled.  

My Holistic Self Counselling uses email to communicate with clients for the purposes of scheduling appointments only, as confidentiality of any correspondence or documents sent virtually  can not be guaranteed.  Emails and phone messages of a therapeutic nature will not be replied to with any clinical information, but will be noted in the client’s chart for discussion at their next appointment.  

My Holistic Self Counselling offers virtual appointments using Jane App, a PIPEDA & PHIPA compliant platform.  We recognize that virtual therapy is not the same as an in-person session and may not be appropriate for everyone. If the client or provider feel virtual appointments are not adequate, alternate forms of sessions will be discussed and measures taken to provide such as long as it is feasible and within the guidelines put forth by the government and CRPO. Clients engaging in virtual therapy are required to ensure they have a confidential space and that internet capability for video sessions, session time will not be extended and fees will not be reimbursed for poor internet connection. 

My Holistic Self Counselling can not provide therapy to youth in situations where their parents are involved in high-conflict divorce or separation. 

Information for youth:

When you engage in counselling services, you are the client.  Your therapist will discuss your treatment directly with you and will ask for your input. Your information is confidential and will not be shared with your parent(s) without your consent, except for a few situations as outlined in the Client's Rights to Privacy & Exceptions section above. 

If your parent(s) are paying for your therapy, they will receive notice of appointments, invoices, and receipts.

Information for parents: 

Youth can consent to their counselling in most situations.  The therapist will discuss this with you before your youth’s first appointment. Youth may or may not wish to have their parent(s) participate in the intake and ongoing sessions with them. My Holistic Self Counselling requires that parent(s) consent to supporting their youth.  They do this by scheduling, ensuring attendance, and provide consent to pay for their youth’s therapy.

Youth sessions adhere to the same rules and limits regarding confidentiality as stated above. Parents should understand that their youth’s therapist will not disclose information shared in counselling sessions without their youth’s consent except in the case of a safety concern or safety risk.

With individual counselling, my client is a single person.  With couples counselling, though we are working with two individuals, my client is the couple. Accordingly, my allegiance is to the couple as a unit and not to either partner as an individual. I find this is particularly important in creating a space where both partners can feel safe. 

As part of therapy, I may meet with each member of the couple individually for a counselling session.  In this case, the individual session is still part of the couple’s counselling therapy. Clients need to understand that I generally adhere to a “No Secrets” policy. This policy is in place to prevent, to the extent possible, a conflict of interest from arising by addressing when an individual’s interest may not be consistent with the interests of the unit. 

Information disclosed during individual sessions may be relevant or even essential to the proper treatment of the couple. If an individual chooses to share such information with me, I will offer the individual every opportunity to disclose the relevant information while guiding this process.  If the individual refuses to disclose this information within the couple’s session, it may become necessary to discontinue the counselling relationship with the couple.  Should an individual desire to address issues within a context of individual confidentiality, I will be happy to provide referrals to therapists who can support concurrent individual therapy. This policy helps to maintain the integrity of the couples/marital counselling relationship.

Should concurrent individual therapy become necessary to facilitate the progress of our work together, I will address this in session.  If individual therapy is deemed necessary, My Holistic Self Counselling may choose to place couples sessions on hold until individual therapy work is progressing. 

My Holistic Self Counselling has the right to refuse treatment should a client disrespect, threaten, or intimidate any of the staff, associates, or other clients.  The decision to refuse to provide services is at the sole discretion of My Holistic Self Counselling.