Canada Online Therapy

Training

Here are the Red flags for a therapist, it is our personal and professional opinion.

Training: In my opinion a therapist who has not engaged in continuous professional development is problematic. The field is changing and growing all the time at exponential degrees. A therapist who has not trained continuously may mean, 1. They may have become burnt out in their training period. I have heard some colleagues report, and PhD graduates report, they never wanted to hear about their thesis topics ever again. However, therapists need to regularly upskill to protect their practice and to give back to our clients. Continuous learning is a testament of love to what we do and how we do it, and we need to be fully engaged, as active engagement is synonymous with caring. 2. They are more concerned with filling their time slots than they are actively with your care.

Scheduling

Scheduling: In my opinion, a therapist needs to be flexible. I have had my own experiences being in therapy, and as the therapeutic relationship has an inherent power differential, it is important this dynamic is neutralized with flexibility, humility, and an egalitarian approach so you can feel totally at ease with your sacred information. I have had supervisors and therapists cut it exactly 50 minutes. God forbid some past supervisors show up ten minutes late and leave ten minutes early, charging a whopping $225 for the 50 minutes. This was an awful experience, as I felt I was holding and closing my own sensitive material. Frankly, I have no idea how clinicians slot 5 to 8 clients a day exactly 50 minutes apart with 10 minutes to write their notes. In my opinion, rigidly prioritizing back-to-back schedules can sometimes risk compromising client-centered care. A therapist needs to be flexible. If a therapist is rigid and more concerned with their routine, I suggest looking elsewhere for care.

Here is the Blog Post to this:

Red flags when looking for a Therapist

Virtual therapy, also known as teletherapy or online counseling, is mental health treatment where you meet with a licensed therapist remotely rather than in person. 

Therapy sessions are conducted with Canada Online Therapy via secure video zoom calls or phone calls, allowing you to become your own therapist from the comfort of your home from guidance from a licensed and registered seasoned therapist.

Virtual therapy has become a popular and effective alternative to traditional in-person visits especially after 2020 COVID outbreak globally demonstrating virtual therapy at times can be superior to in person therapy. 

How Online Therapy Works

Communication: Sessions are held using secure video platforms - Canada Online Therapy uses Zoom Healthcare or you can choose your therapy sessions over the phone. You will need a reliable internet connection and a private, quiet space to ensure confidentiality. If you do not have a private space, some clients close their bedroom door, put classical or piano music on in the background (music without lyrics) to create a sound buffer. Additionally putting on earphones, speaking in a lower voice, or going to a friends or going to a building with private rooms. Some clients, if they have access to a car, go to a private park or parking lot to conduct their sessions.

Canada Online Therapy is founder-led, offering a seasoned clinical therapist for your presenting concerns. We integrate the most trusted evidence based approaches of psychotherapy so you get a good idea of how to apply these approaches with your past, present, future challenges. 

Online Therapy provides ultimate vonvenience. 

Virtual therapy eliminates the commute, parking, and time away from work, which is ideal if you have a busy schedule.

Remote therapy increases accessibility. Online therapy removes geographic barriers. 

If you live in a rural area or have mobility issues, or just want to simplify you life, you can easily access top-tier specialist for psychotherapy. 

Online Therapy provides comfortable care our clients report to find therapy less intimidating and feel more relaxed speaking to our therapist from their own living space.

Yes therapy is covered in Canada if you have insurance that covers therapy. Please look under clinical counselling and psychotherapy. How much does a therapy session cost in Canada after we apply your insurance coverage depends on your plan. Usually, you co-pay $0 to $60. If you do not have insurance we apply an honouriam sliding pay scale therapy if our capacity allows.

Please reach out to us if you are looking for online therapy covered by insurance in Canada.
We provide online treatment for depression and anxiety and much more.

Are Online Therapists Legit ?

I remember when I first started seeing clients at the McGill Psychoeducational clinic and during my first internship at Ometz, I persistently asked myself, "Am I doing anything at all? Is what I am doing helping, or is it harming? How can I be sure? How can I know what I'm doing is benefiting people long-term?" My choice to go from in-person to online was for a few reasons. One, new clients would come to the office and be so nervous; the sterile environments and medical clerks, who may or may not be friendly, their hands would literally be shaking. I would look at the clock and think, "Oh, geez, this took most of their session. They only have an x amount of sessions yearly in their plan." Two, my own self-care has everything to do with how I show up for my client, how we collaborate in reading their mental status, their nervous system, their basic self-care, and their well-being. 

So, how can we be sure online therapists are legit? 

How can I guide you to find one that is legitimate so your investment of time and money goes a long way? 

Here are a few factors I would suggest to make sure the therapist you pick is legitimate.

Licensing and Registration

Not too long ago, we started licensing and registering therapists. 

Part of the stigma of mental health is because we come from a background where it wasn't licensed, nor was registration required. Also, there's a stigma because we come from a history of mental health being associated with witchcraft and lobotomies. 

But to stay on track, licensing and registration is important. Becoming a therapist is no walk in the park. 

The criteria to get into grad school is hard: you have to have nearly perfect grades from undergrad, you have to make sure you have work and volunteer experience, an excellent letter of intent, and then amazing reference letters. 

Then, you have to go through an interview process, sometimes a group interview process. That's just grad school. 

In undergrad, your marks have to be high, you have to do research, special projects, and special research; you have to work for free for professors to stand out; you have to volunteer and do work experience. 

In grad school, you have to work for free for what seems like forever to get good references. After grad school, the licensing portion is just as grueling. Throughout grad school and licensing supervision, you have to bring video and audio tapes of your work and justify everything you are doing, so you have to know your stuff. 

For myself, in my therapy journey, I went from being an outgoing extrovert musician to now, in order to preserve my energy and my focus, an introvert so I can show up fully for all my clients I love and wish they would excel. 

So, licensing and registration matter. These provincial and registration boards do the work for you to make sure that all their approved therapists have what it takes to serve the public. That's what they are there for: to protect, mentor, and guide therapists and the public, and to act as a liaison for the greater good.

Passion

I would say from my own journey as a client, a supervisee, and a therapist, that therapists are people with vast motives. Like all people, motives are different. Some go in it for the money, some go for the prestige, some go in to help people, and some go in to help people then forget about helping people and become mercenaries. 

A way to differentiate who is truly passionate, in my opinion, is their ongoing training that they pay for. Money talks. If a therapist is persistently training, they are saying without words that they are investing this training back into their clients. This matters. Therapy is a truly unique field where a person's energy, outlook, and their own spirituality matter. 

What they bring into the room, how they see themselves, and how they treat themselves matters. So, if you are looking for a legitimate therapist, look to see if they have had recent training.

Hours of Work

My motive for going online also stems from finding that in the private and public clinics I was working for, alot of clinicians were more concerned with their routine and the office space than the clients. I didn't agree with therapists who pushed 5 to 10 clients a day in 5 to 10 hours, expected 5 to 10 reports, and called it a day. I was like, "Holy crap, a 10-minute break in between trauma work, how?" I myself, when I went to go see a therapist with a fancy title, was left hanging with my own vulnerability for the rest of the day, if not weeks, because he abruptly ended the meeting at exactly 50 minutes. 

So looking at their working hours and how they run their business and care for their clients, I think, matters. 

Are they lenient between clients? Do they take care of themselves? How do they close your session? Therapy is to some a sacred space, where confessions are made. This is highly sensitive personal information; nothing to me could be more sacred. So, how a therapist structures their day to see you, I think, matters if they are legitimate or not, in terms of if they genuinely care for you. And fundamentally, this really matters, despite therapy approach they use: you are cared for. You come to a person totally present, alive, attuned.

Hope this helps and hope it's not too "out there" or critical of the therapy field. LP

Please visit our Blog post: Are Online Therapists Legit.

Therapy works by first assigning a time and a space where you acknowledge you must come first to elevate yourself to empower others. We then, combine a supportive, trusting relationship, known as the therapeutic alliance. From here we integrate an individualized plan with evidence-based techniques that rewire brain pathways, known as neuroplasticity, to process emotions. 

We identify change by addressing thought patterns and behaviors.
Psychotherapy and counselling therapy provides a safe space to process emotions, gain self-awareness, and learn coping skills, ultimately reaching your personal and professional goals.

Key reasons why therapy is effective includes developing a stronger secure more trusting relationship with yourself to obtain authentic confidence. We then work on greater processes such as Executive functioning and Neuroplasticity. These however cannot be done without your core self-care skills being solid such as sleep, how you talk, feel, think about yourself.

Counselling psychotherapy can ultimately protect your health, immune system, physically alter brain structure, strengthening connections between the prefrontal cortex, reasoning and the amygdala, fear response, helping individuals not only process emotions better but understand themsleves and others.

The Therapeutic Alliance

A strong, trusting relationship with a therapist is one of the best predictors of success, providing a secure base to explore difficult issues. Clients test drive ideas, thoughts, goals, to bring these experiments out into their world more confident to apply what they have found in therapy in real life.

Skill Building and Insight

Therapy provides practical tools to see stress as challenges, increasing problem solving skills, assets, and to develop executive functioning like sense of humor, awareness and emotional processing. Counselling and psychotherapy guides clients to understand past and present patterns, leading to healthier choices, aligning to their true selves, core values, purpose and calling in life. 

Processing Trauma and Emotions

Counselling and Psychotherapy offers a safe environment to confront and work through past experiences, reducing their power over the present. 

Behavioral Change

Psychotherapy Techniques like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy CBT, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing EMDR, Internal Family Systems IFS, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction MBSR trains therapy clients how to approach life; identify and break concerning behavior cycles; protect themselves with adaptive, healthier outlooks and approaches.
Progress in therapy often happens through gradual, steady growth rather than a single moment of change. 

Talking is Technology

Therapy is what's called an externalization process, as with any health presentations, better out than in usually is the healthier process.

We specialize in providing depth oriented, insight oriented therapy, along with emotional processing for lasting change. 

We specialize in locating original problems and pains to presenting concerns.

Yes, couples counselling helps by improving communication, rebuilding trust, and providing tools to manage conflicts, most couples report positive outcomes. Couples counselling assists in navigating issues like infidelity, stress, and life transitions, fostering a healthier, more understanding relationship when both partners are committed to the process.  

Key Benefits of Couples Counselling are Improved Communication: Learning to express feelings without blame and active listening; Conflict Resolution: Moving through tension with empathy and constructive, rather than destructive, arguments; Rebuilding Trust/Intimacy: Healing from broken promises or emotional/physical distance; Shared Understanding: Gaining insight into individual and partner behaviors to reduce frustration; Navigating Transitions: Support through major life changes like having children, blending families, or financial stress.  

Factors for Success of couples therapy are Commitment: Therapy for couples requires active effort and a desire from both partners to work on the relationship.

Timing matters: Seeking help earlier rather than waiting until the relationship is in extreme distress often leads to better outcomes. Finding the Right Fit: Choosing a therapist whose approach, personality, and specialty match the couple's needs is crucial.  While it is highly effective, it is not a quick fix and requires a willingness to look inward and change personal patterns. 

Canada Online Therapy offers a highly specialized couples therapist, We use the most trusted couples therapy approach Emotion Focused Therapy for Couples.

You may not necessarily have to pay for therapy in Canada if you go through the healthcare system. Many clients however report their waitlist are long. Clients also report state health care provided therapy disappointing in their experience.

Counselling private pay rate can start at $0 for interns, students working under an advisor, supervisor to starting rates for beginning therapists in private practice at $40 to $80.
After approximately 5 years of practice, in private practice clinical counselling therapists are expected to charge an average of $175 an hour. 

Canada Online Therapy provides you with a seasoned therapist starting new clients with insurance covered therapy at $195 for individual clients and couples therapy for new clients start at $210. 

If you do not have insurance, we provide a sliding pay scale therapy if capacity allows.

Common approved insurance that covers therapy is not limited to: Blue cross counselling coverage, Manulife psychotherapy coverage, Canada Life counselling coverage, Greenshield counselling, NIHB counselling, Assurance SSQ therapy, to name a few.

Canada Online Therapy is founder led, your therapist is the founder of Canada Online Therapist with over 15 years experience in psychotherapy, offering over a combined approach with the latest technologies of psychotherapy with the core competencies of therapy individualizing your care.
We offer specialized services in efficiently locating the source of problems with a psychodynamic investigation, to offer to treat this for long term benefits and lasting change. With us, you pay per session, with TalkSpace or BetterHelp you pay once a month or biweekly for services.
Betterhelp or Talkspace you get matched according to your presenting concerns to a variety of therapists who may be seasoned or entry level therapists. Any competent therapist will tailor their approach to your presenting needs, be sensitive to your differences. Look for recent training from your therapist as this indicates ongoing passion, investment in their work. You may or may not have control over who you get matched with TalkSpace or BetterHelp.

Canada Online Therapy's founder and operator Lee Park works to provide therapy in the time and day you need, where you need it. We like to provide you the day and time that is ideal for you, with remote therapy you can trust we can take care of yourselves to show up for you 100%, and we hope our work togeher will restore you to do the same. For efficient booking process, please inform of your schedule with as much detail as you feel comfortable, the ideal day and time you wish for therapy, when you wish for therapy - how soon, we will work to meet your expectations. We ask for you to schedule your sessions when you have your best energy, therapy work is work, in terms of being vulnerable, having courage, emotional spiritual work.

Our starting rate for new clients is $195 for individual therapy clients, $220 for couples therapy sessions. this in co-pay with your possible insurance plan ends up being $0 to the highest end we have seen is $60. If you cannot pay your co-pay or if you do not have insurance we offer sliding scale fees at a discounted rate if our capacity allows, considering your presenting concerns, requirements for therapy.

Common insurance plans are Blue Cross, Manulife, SunLife, NIHB, SSQ, GreenShield - to name a few.

Sessions are 50 mins to 1 hour long, this does not include admin work, rescheduling.

Canada Online Therapy apologizes we do not have the capacity to offer free consults at this time.

Becoming a therapist in Canada generally takes 6 to 10 years, combining a four-year bachelor’s degree with a 2- to 3-year master’s degree and supervised clinical experience. 

While specific requirements vary by province and role, most if not all professionals need a Master’s degree to practice independently as a counsellor or psychotherapist.  

Key Timeline Breakdown 

Bachelor's Degree: 3–4 years, usually in Psychology, Social Work, or related fields such as nursing. 

Master’s Degree/Graduate Studies: 2–3 years, specialized education in counselling, psychotherapy or advanced social work. Supervised Clinical Experience: most often requires 1,000 or more hours of direct client work, often integrated into the master's program or as a post-graduate internship. 

Total Time: 6–8 years to become fully registered/licensed.  

Post graduate: most therapists during licensing take 2 to 4 years to become independently licensed, must practice under a fully licensed therapist with over average 5 years experience to qualify for a full license to practice independently.