Whole Family Psychotherapy

The Whole Family Psychotherapy team offers services during the week and on weekends, with both daytime and evening availability. Each therapist has a unique schedule and availability which is visible on our online booking portal. You are welcome to contact us at hello@wholefamilypsychotherapy.com if you’d like assistance being matched with a therapist whose schedule can meet your needs.

Our session fee ranges from $165-$185 per hour based on the experience of the therapist you are seeing. All of our therapists have Master’s level education in either Social Work, Psychotherapy or Counselling. The session fee will be discussed with you during your free consult, and you can also see each therapist’s session fee outlined in our online booking portal under “our team”.

We sometimes have reduced-rate counselling available with an MSW intern. The reduced rate is $100/hr and is subject to availability.

We require you to add a valid credit card to your client profile prior to your first paid session, so we don’t eat up your time with this during your initial session. Upon completion of each session, we will charge the card on file and email you a receipt.

Most extended healthcare benefit plans cover our services. Our therapists are Registered Social Workers, Registered Psychotherapists and Master’s level Counsellors. You should check with your plan to see which mental health services you have coverage for, and we’ll make sure to set you up with a therapist that you are covered for. At this time we do not offer direct billing to insurance; we provide a receipt for services after payment is collected, and you would need to submit the receipt to your provider and make the claim yourself.

The length of treatment varies from one person to another and will depend on your goals and history. In your first sessions, you and your therapist will begin these discussions and have an idea of what the treatment length may be. Research suggests that the majority of individuals will remain in therapy for approximately 12-20 sessions to achieve their goals. Some may need less sessions, especially if the therapy is for a specific shorter-term problem, while others may need more sessions if they have complex and ongoing challenges or are looking to understand and make changes to life-long patterns.

No! You can always self-refer for therapy, but if you are planning to use insurance benefits to cover the expense, it’s always a good idea to make sure your insurance provider doesn’t have any requirements around this.

Yes! Of course. We get it, the fit is everything, and we want you to feel sure that you’re working with the right person. We offer complimentary 15 minute virtual consultations, where you can share a bit about what is going on for you, hear from the therapist how they could help, and see how it all sits with you.

Click here to schedule a free consultation with one of our therapists.

Many people feel a bit nervous for their first session, so it’s nice to understand what to expect. While each therapist will be a little different in how they structure a first appointment, you can expect a low pressure dialogue around what’s going on for you. Your therapist wants to get to know you, and will likely have some questions to help them understand the whole picture. There is no rush either, this process of getting to know one another unfolds over many sessions; you are allowed to share parts of yourself at a pace that feels comfortable.

Our services are primarily virtual, which means you get to join the session from the comfort of your own home or really in any private space! Parents are SO busy, and we know that when you are able to carve out some time for yourself, the last thing you want to do is waste any of that time on a drive to and from therapy. We also recognize that many parents, especially of babies and young children, have full hands, and may not have childcare to get to an appointment, and so being home, where they can be feeding the baby, sneaking in a session during a nap, or monitoring dinner cooking on the stove, is a big plus.

We have limited in-person therapy sessions available in Waterloo and Markham.

Gone are the days when virtual therapy was seen as inferior to in-person therapy – extensive research conducted on virtual therapy throughout the pandemic showed us how valid an approach this is. Over the past several years, virtual therapy clients have also shared their positive experiences with us; particularly the impact of having therapy be so much more flexible and accessible when our time is so valuable and hard to come by.

Benefits of virtual therapy:

• Allows you to be in your environment, where you are most comfortable.
• Removes the need for child care – babies and young children can be cared for or sleeping at home while a parent receives the support they need.
• Removes the travel time, making appointments easier to schedule for busy parents.
  Allows couples/family members to join a session from multiple locations.

If you feel deeply drawn to in-person therapy, we see you – and we do offer limited in person services in Waterloo and Markham Ontario for those who aren’t open to trying virtual – but we always encourage folks to at least TRY working virtually – you might be surprised at how much you enjoy it!

Whole Family Psychotherapy requires 24 business hours notice for appointment cancellations or changes. (The clinic admin business hours are Monday 8am through Saturday 4pm). This cancellation policy is out of respect for your therapist’s time, and out of consideration for other clients waiting to be booked. If you cancel with less than 24 business hours notice, the full session fee will be charged to the credit card on file.