The first session focuses on assessment and goal setting, which is a bit different from follow up sessions. In this first meeting, I will ask you questions about your mental health history, family and relationship history, school and/or work history. We will work together to identify the main areas of concern that you would like to address and improve through therapy.

For clients with a more complex history, this initial assessment may span across two sessions. Typically, I can provide you with my first impressions and a simple treatment plan by the end of the first one or two meetings.

It depends on your needs. I usually advise meeting more frequently at the beginning (i.e., once every 1-2 weeks), so that we can keep the momentum going. People generally lessen the frequency of meeting after a few months and/or when they start to notice improvement.

If you can only attend a limited number of sessions due to your extended health benefit coverage, I try to tailor the content of sessions to meet your needs as much as possible.

This depends. A standard trial of CBT (an evidence based approach for anxiety and depression) usually takes about 6-8 sessions for people to start seeing notable progress, though this can vary based on individual concerns.

I also understand that your extended health coverage may not last for this long, and would be happy to discuss with you what might a shorter term treatment look like.

Services offered by psychologists are currently not covered under MSP. However, you may be eligible to ask for some or all of the session fee to be reimbursed by your employer or school through their extended health coverage.

Please check your extended health coverage to confirm. I do not offer direct-billing, so you will need to pay for the sessions in full first. A receipt will be provided to you with the necessary information required for getting reimbursement by insurance.

I currently only take e-transfer payments.

I see all clients virtually using Zoom, which is a HIPPA compliant web and video conferencing platform. If you are not familiar with Zoom, please be assured that it’s very user friendly and requires minimal technology for set-up. All you need is a smartphone, laptop or PC. I am happy to provide further instructions when we set up our initial appointment.

As a psychologist, I am ethically required to keep your information confidential. This includes your personal information (e.g., name, demographics, contact info) and the content of our sessions. However, there are some exceptions:

If in the process of therapy, I am made aware of 1) any imminent risk of harm to you or others, 2) a child in need of protection, and 3) professional misconduct by health care professionals, I will need to potentially disclose this information to a third party as required by law and my licensing regulations.