Frequency of sessions is wholly dependent upon the individual client’s needs in terms of presenting issue and sometimes finances. Typically, we will meet more regularly, often weekly, for the first part of the therapeutic process and then space sessions out as things move forward on the therapeutic journey.

Many health insurance providers will cover services offered by a Registered Psychotherapist (RP). Please check your plan coverage as each individual benefits plan is different in terms of what is covered Some plans only cover services provided by a Clinical Psychologist, for example.

Typically, the first 1-3 sessions of counselling involves getting to know more not only about your struggles, but also about who you are in a more holistic sense. Who you are now, where you came from and who you hope to become are all important factors when it comes to working through our struggles in counselling.

All discussions within the therapy sessions are 100% confidential. There are a few very rare circumstances under which confidentiality, by law, must be broken:

• If you reveal that you plan to harm yourself or someone else
• If you reveal that someone under the age of 16 is in danger
• If you reveal that a regulated health professional is engaging in misconduct
• If notes are subpoenaed by a court

All of these circumstances are very rare and a discussion of having to break confidentiality will always occur prior to taking any action.

Registered Psychotherapist is a new designation by the College of Registered Psychotherapist of Ontario (CRPO – crpo.ca) and is indicated by the RP designation. A registered psychotherapist is someone who has completed extensive schooling and training in the area of psychotherapy and is thus able to provide ongoing psychotherapeutic services to their clients. The act of Psychotherapy is described by the CRPO as the following:

To treat, by means of psychotherapy technique, delivered through a therapeutic relationship, an individual’s serious disorder of thought, cognition, mood, emotional regulation, perception, or memory that may seriously impair the individual’s judgment, insight, behaviour, communication, or social functioning.

A Clinical Psychologist goes by the designation of CPsych and is regulated by the College of Psychologists of Ontario. Clinical psychologists typically have a PhD in Clinical Psychology and more extensive training in diagnosis and assessment. A psychotherapist typically does not provide diagnoses of any kind, but is aware of various diagnoses and can work with these within the psychotherapeutic process.

A psychiatrist is a medical doctor with a specialization in psychiatry and thus regulated but the College of Physicians of Ontario. Psychiatrists typically require a doctor’s referral and rarely provide counselling services. Currently, the majority of psychiatrists provide formal assessments, diagnoses and medication management.