Frequently Asked
Questions
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Preparing for your Consultation Call
Frequently Asked Questions
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Our consultation call is an opportunity to get a sense of how it might be working together before investing your time, energy, or finances into therapy.
This is your time to get clarity on questions you may have. You may be curious about my experience working with a certain issue, or have specific scheduling questions. Or maybe what matters most is seeing if our personalities mesh.
Please note that treatment interventions cannot be provided during our initial consultation call.
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Calls are 15-20 minutes long.
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It’s helpful for you to consider what’s important for you explore in our consultation call. Take some time beforehand to write down a few questions.
Some questions I typically explore:What’s led you to seek out therapy at this time in your life?
If you’ve engaged in therapy in the past, what worked well for you? What didn’t work so well?
What do you hope would be different, meaningful, or helpful for you to get out of therapy?
What does your current life circumstance look like? What are the other supports in your life?
What should I know about your identity, cultural values, or lived experiences that would help me in best supporting you?
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Make sure you schedule at least 10 minutes beforehand to get yourself settled into a private and calm space.
I’ll call you at the number you provide me with and we’ll chat for around 15-20 minutes.
It can be helpful to jot down the important questions you’d like to cover beforehand, and bring a notepad to scribble on.
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I always encourage folks to explore consultations with more than one therapist. Make sure you take the time to find the right fit for you!
Many clients feel ready to move forward together after our call. If that’s the case, I’ll send you a link to my client portal where you’ll be invited to create an account. Once you’ve done so, you’ll have access to view my calendar and book your first session at a time that suits you.
You’re welcome and encouraged to take your time processing after our call before making a decision. Feel free to reach back out by email or phone if/when you'd like to move forward together.
Your First Session
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sessions are 60 or 90 minutes in length depending on what you have chosen to book.
In our first session, we’ll review your intake documents to make sure you understand your rights and responsibilities. We’ll then explore your personal reasons and goals for coming into therapy.
Usually, we’ll spend the rest of our first session completing a “biopsychosocial assessment”. This just means I’ll be asking you about the many domains of your life to get an idea of the context of your struggles and your strengths.
We’ll prioritize your goals and collaborate on coming up with a treatment plan together. My work is always collaborative — you’re the expert on your life. I’ll help explain the science and rationale behind why we’re using the strategies or treatments we choose to help empower you along the way.
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Social Workers are trained to approach therapy from a “person in their environment” perspective. This helps us understand the complexities and uniqueness of your life and identity before jumping in and giving generic feedback that may not fit for you.
Because you and your story are unique, I tend to take the first 1-3 sessions to get to know you. We’ll explore what life looks like for you today and how your past may have shaped you.
Here’s a small sample of some of the questions we’ll explore
Why therapy, why now?
Diagnoses you’ve received and any medications you take; how you feel about these
How you prepare for sleep and your quality of sleep
What life looked like for you growing up
Your strengths and resources
Your current relationships and supports
Important aspects of your identity (e.g., gender, sexual identity, faith, culture, race, etc.)
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It’s important you have a private, quiet, and relatively distraction-free environment.
For the best experience, please attend your session on a laptop with headphones. Ensure your laptop is fully charged or plugged in to reduce disruptions.
Login in 10 minutes before your initial session to ensure your microphone and video is working.
You’re encouraged at any time in treatment to share if there are topics you’d prefer not to discuss.
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Please ensure your intake documents are completed and submitted before attending our initial session. The regulating bodies of OCSWSSW, ACSW, and PHIPA require you to provide your written consent to the information provided in these documents before we engage in treatment of any kind.
If you’re unable to complete your documents before session, or have outstanding questions, we’ll take time at the beginning of session to review these together.
Working Towards Your Goals in Treatment
Frequently Asked Questions
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The answer to this depends on many elements, including the nature of the goals we’re working towards, your resources and capacity, your state of “readiness” to make changes, the environmental factors influencing your life, the experiences you carry with you into treatment, and so on.
After completing your initial intake assessment, we’ll collaboratively discuss your goals and treatment interventions that may be useful. Together, we will develop an overall timeline for interventions and set benchmarks to measure your progress along the way.
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Typically speaking, my clients tend to benefit most from a holistic approach to treatment. This means we’ll use interventions that address all your vital domains to integrate your whole system: cognitive, behavioural, emotional, and somatic.
If you’re curious about a specific intervention modality, we’ll have the opportunity to talk about that in our consultation call.
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I keep office hours Monday through Friday with sessions beginning at 9:00AM and the last session of the day typically wrapping up by 6:00PM. If you need an alternative time, please get in touch with me and we can talk about availability of after-hour sessions in special circumstances.
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I’m unfortunately unable to provide services in crisis situations. Please contact crisis response services in your area to support you through emergency situations.
However, if you’re finding yourself having an exceptionally difficult time and the situation is not an emergency, please let me know and I’ll do my best to move appointments around to see you as soon as I’m able to.
Email and text can be used for scheduling purposes. The regulating bodies for Social Workers does not allow me to provide any interventions via these forms of communication.
“To heal is to touch with love that which we previously touched with fear.”
- Stephen Levine
Payment & Confidentiality
Frequently Asked Questions
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Many insurance providers/benefit plans provide partial or full coverage for counselling and psychotherapy services. You will be provided with a copy of your invoice/receipt after each session to submit for reimbursement. Each plan differs in the number of sessions that will be covered per calendar year, if the insurer will cover full or partial sessions, and the professional registration of the provider that is covered. Please connect with your insurer or plan provider to determine what kind of coverage you have.
Information you may need for your insurer or benefit provider:
Provider profession and education: Master of Social Work Degree (MSW).
Professional registration: Registered Social Worker in good standing with the Ontario College of Social Work (OCSWSSW #829772) and Alberta College of Social Work (ACSW #17722).
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Major credit cards are accepted for payment, including Mastercard, Visa, Discover, and American Express. E-Transfer is also available.
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Life happens! You're welcome to reschedule or cancel your session up to 24 hours in advance. Sessions cancelled without 24 hours notice will be billed at full rate.
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Your success in therapy will only go as far as your ability to be honest, open, and share your true experiences. This takes courage, vulnerability, and trust that you'll be supported and your information will be protected.
It’s important that you have a private and quiet space to attend therapy in where you won’t be interrupted.
Please know that what you share in treatment is kept strictly confidential according to PHIPA and PIPA laws and OCSWSSW and ACSW privacy guidelines. All services are provided virtually through the secure "Owl Practice" platform, which is PHIPA and PIPA compliant.
Sharing information about your treatment can only be done with your express written consent, except in the following circumstances:
Exceptions to Confidentiality
All regulated health care professionals - including social workers - are legally obligated to report information to the appropriate authorities if there is a risk that you may harm yourself or anyone else. More information on the limits to confidentiality and privacy will be provided to you before you attend your first session so that you're fully aware of your rights. If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch with me.
Have more questions?