Therapy for children & teens

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!

This is a great question, and unfortunately one that doesn’t have a straightforward answer. We are bound by specific legislation around confidentiality when it comes to children and youth accessing our services. There is no set age at which a child is deemed capable of deciding who they want involved in their therapy and whether information is shared with parents/guardians; this is determined by the therapist who will assess your child’s capacity in an initial consultation.

If your child is deemed capable by the therapist, they would have the right to confidentiality, and their therapist could only share information with you if your child expressly consented to this (unless there are specific concerns regarding safety). If your child is deemed incapable, you as their parent/guardian would need to consent to them receiving therapy, and you would be involved with and informed of their progress.

Our goal is to work with your child and your family to support connection, while respecting your child’s need for independence depending on their age and developmental stage. We will customize a plan that fits your family. Sometimes that means that parents have weekly direct involvement in therapy and sometimes that means that your child will give you updates. Sometimes this also means that with your child’s consent we will ask about having family therapy sessions. These decisions are made together with you and your child as we are in process. We are happy to discuss what meets your needs.

Children are all so different, and will likely want and need different things from their parents while in therapy.  Depending on your child’s age and developmental stage, simply asking them this question, and being open to the answer is a great place to start.  Letting your child know they can always come to you to share how they are feeling is helpful, and if you can carve out some quiet time with them at bedtime, this is often a time when a child is more open to talking.  If they are reluctant to share, respecting this boundary is also important. With teens especially, it’s often best to say a lot less than you want, and avoid directly asking questions about therapy – waiting for your teen to come to you is hard, but necessary.

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.

For younger children who struggle to engage in an hour-long session, we offer 45 minute sessions as well at a reduced rate.