After your initial phone consultation, and you have completed all the required intake forms you will book your first session with your therapist. During this first session the therapist will:

• Go over informed consent and the limits of confidentiality

• Discuss what brings you into therapy and gather important information

• Collaboratively begin to form a treatment plan

Individual sessions are $165 per 50 minute sessions

Couples sessions are $180 per 50 minute session

Sometimes 75 minute or 90 minute sessions are available. Please check with your therapist.

There is no standard for how long someone spends in therapy. It largely depends on your individual goals.

Some clients spend as a little as 3-4 sessions in therapy to gain necessary strategies for moving forward.

Complex therapeutic goals may require more in-depth work and longer-term counselling.

Some clients also find it helpful to maintain an ongoing relationship with their therapist for years.

In Canada, mental health therapy is regulated provincially. In Nova Scotia, we are regulated by the Nova Scotia College of Counselling Therapists (NSCCT) and hold the protected title of Registered Counselling Therapist (RCT). For the first 2-5 years of practice, therapists are considered candidates (RCT-C). All RCTs in Nova Scotia are required to have a master's level degree in counselling psychology or a related discipline.

Psychotherapy/psychotherapist is an equivalent protected title used in other jurisdictions, such as Ontario.

Psychologists are required to have graduate-level education in clinical psychology and can provide assessments and diagnoses.

Psychiatrists are medical doctors who focus on mental health. Like psychologists, they can administer assessments and provide diagnoses with the added ability to prescribe medications.