Counselling for Children & Teens

Children don’t need to be in crisis to benefit from support. Counselling may be helpful when emotions, behaviour, anxiety, attention, relationships, or school difficulties are causing significant distress, interfering with everyday life, or becoming increasingly difficult for the family to manage.

That is completely okay. You don’t need to arrive with a diagnosis. Part of our role is helping you understand the patterns you are seeing and determine what kind of support may be most appropriate.

Often, yes. The degree of parent involvement depends on your child’s age, needs, and therapy goals. Younger children typically require greater caregiver involvement, while adolescents also need appropriate privacy and autonomy.

This is common, particularly with teens. We work to understand their concerns rather than assuming resistance means they cannot benefit. In some circumstances, parent-focused work may also be a useful place to begin.

Skills can be important, but therapy goes beyond collecting strategies. We want to understand what is driving the difficulty and help your child develop skills they can actually access when they need them.

Yes. Anxiety, ADHD, autism, learning differences, depression, and regulation difficulties frequently overlap. Therapy should address the whole child rather than treating each concern in isolation.

Yes, where clinically appropriate. Parent consultation or coaching can be valuable when changes in adult responses, family routines, accommodation, boundaries, or environmental supports are part of the intervention.

When clinically appropriate and with consent, school consultation may be possible. Your psychologist can discuss whether this would be useful and any additional fees involved.

There is no single timeline. Therapy length depends on your child’s needs, goals, severity of difficulty, developmental stage, and response to treatment. Progress should be reviewed collaboratively rather than assuming every child needs the same number of sessions.

Psychological services are privately billed. Many extended health benefit plans provide coverage for services delivered by registered psychologists, although coverage and annual maximums vary by plan. Please confirm your individual plan directly with your insurer.

Many extended health plans cover some psychology services, though eligible providers and annual limits vary — it’s worth checking your specific plan. Reach out and our team will walk you through fees, receipts for reimbursement, and direct billing where it’s available.