General Frequently Asked Questions
These are the most frequently asked questions we’ve received at Hopewoods. They address general information regarding psychotherapy, as well as our roles at Hopewoods, what we do, and why we provide our services.
A psychotherapist uses talk therapy to treat people for emotional and mental issues. Some therapists/counsellors in our practice also utilize different modalities including play and art therapy.
Psychotherapists are registrants of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO). They have completed psychotherapy training. They are legally authorized to perform the controlled act of psychotherapy.
A Registered Clinical Counsellor is a professional who has completed masters-level counselling education/training and has met the necessary standard requirements to receive the classification as a Registered Clinical Counsellor from the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC). A Registered Clinical Counsellor in BC is the equivalent to a Registered Psychotherapist in Ontario.
Clinical social workers work with their clients to address their mental health challenges. Their role is entirely focused on enhancing the mental well-being of individuals, couples, and families within their community. While both Registered Psychotherapists and Social Workers are trained to offer psychotherapy sessions, Social Workers are also knowledgeable in connecting clients to the community and support services available to them.
A Registered Social Worker is a professional who has obtained a Master of Social Work (MSW). They have met the necessary standard requirements to receive the classification of Registered Social Worker from the Ontario College of Social Workers (OCSSW).
Yes, there is a difference between psychologists and psychotherapists.
Psychologists are professionals who study psychology: how people think, feel, and behave. Psychologists apply this knowledge to help people understand, explain, and change those behaviours. Clinical psychologists focus on assessments, provide diagnoses for mental disorders, construct interventions through treatment plans and provide specialized types of therapy for addressing mental health issues. Despite their doctoral degree, they are not medical doctors, and so they’re unable to prescribe medications. If you feel that you have a mental disorder that requires treatment beyond talk therapy and would like to seek options for psychotropic medication, your family doctor may refer you to a psychiatrist to further explore medication possibilities.
Psychotherapists are mental health professionals who have specialized training in talk therapy. Psychotherapists offer a diverse range of services that help people deal with stress, anxiety, and other emotional problems through therapy. Psychotherapists may work in areas of the government, private practice, and community organizations. A range of topics are covered including mental health concerns, relationship issues, parenting issues, couples counselling, and family therapy.
This answer depends entirely on you, your current situation in life, and any other mental health struggles you and your loved ones currently face. Please book a free consultation to meet with us, and then we can decide what would be the best approach to work with you.
No, not at this moment. However, our NGO WeConnect Community has received funding to provide free counselling and psychotherapy services if you are in need of mental care and are on a budget. Details can be found in the community resources page on our website.
This is a tougher question to answer on our website alone. That’s because the answer varies so much and truly depends on yourself and your own needs.
Please book a free consultation to meet with us, and then we can decide what would be the best approach to work with you.
We have other sections on our website where we address frequently asked questions about the following topics:
Have more questions?
Do you have more questions to ask our staff? Please contact us today if you’re seeking answers to questions that were not addressed here or on our website.
Frequently Asked Questions About Therapy
Since 2011, our staff has received several questions regarding our psychotherapy services and how therapy can help the communities in Ontario that we serve.
Below are our answers to your most frequently asked questions regarding therapy and some of our therapeutic modalities.
Hundreds of studies have found that psychotherapy helps individuals make positive changes in their lives. Psychotherapists, who study and understand the architecture of the various range of mental health conditions, and are emphatic, provide you with support, problem solving skills, and coping strategies, as well as a fresh perspective for an extensive range of issues you may be struggling with.
The benefits you obtain will depend on how committed you are and your level of readiness to receive them. Such benefits can include boosting your self-confidence, improving your communication skills, learning/finding new coping skills, reaching a better understanding of yourself, changing old patterns and developing new ones, or regulating your emotional difficulties like sadness, anger, or other highly charged emotions you may be feeling.
Using play therapy and Creative Intervention methods, our staff members can support your child with art, music, and sand. We can help your child to feel understood and help manage their emotional difficulties and conditions such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, or learning disability.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a short-term evidence-based couples therapy that is based in attachment theory and experiential-systematic model. It is also an approach based on the idea that emotions are the source of identity, and also a manual for individual choice and decision making.
A couple often becomes stuck in their negative cycle because of their strong emotions. They can change this cycle by working through these emotions and develop appropriate emotional responses, learn a better way of connecting, and create a secure bond between them.
Most of us enter our adult love life and family building while carrying a burden from our family of origin and our past experiences, some of which might be traumatic. Sadly, for couples, the trauma experience does not just affect one partner. It causes disconnect, arguments, and emotional pain, with partners struggling and fighting each other instead of working together to heal.
As counsellors/psychotherapists, we go beyond just helping couples stop the arguments and fights. We help couples reconnect and attune to each other’s attachment needs.
This is what you can expect when you see an EFT therapist for couples therapy: in the first session, both of you will meet with the therapist. You will share your situation where you are stuck in your relationship. Together, your therapist and you as a couple, will begin identifying the negative interactive cycles (the dance) you are experiencing in your partnership.
In your second and third sessions, each of you will meet separately with your therapist for individual history, i.e., what did you learn about relationships growing up?
These sessions help your therapist understand how your past affects your present relationship. What is discussed in these sessions is summarized and discussed in your future sessions, so you are able to work on these issues together as a couple. Your next sessions you will both work with your EFT therapist learning to de-escalate the conflict, work together to change your negative cycle, and build a secure connection between the two of you.
Standard private practice rates for counselling/psychotherapy in Toronto tend to range between $100 and $180 per session depending on your assigned therapist’s education and experience, with HST payable because it’s not regarded as a medical expense.
As a private practice, our services are not covered by OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan). However, they are covered partly or entirely by many extended health insurance plans. Make sure to check with your extended health insurance provider to determine whether you have coverage for psychotherapy/counselling services and whether a referral letter is needed.
You can also visit the below sections for an idea of our fees based on each of our practices:
Fees & Practice for Assessments
Fees & Practice for Consultations
Fees & Practice for Therapy
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a type of psychotherapy supporting people to heal from symptoms and emotional distress as a result of disturbing life experiences, usually used in treating PTSD. It combines different components to maximize treatment effects and is broken down into 8 phases, with about 6-12 sessions needed, possibly more.
EMDR is a highly involved process requiring you to be vulnerable and speak up about your mental health. Each phase consists of addressing certain memories while providing you with several techniques to cope with the strong feelings associated with your memories being targeted such as deep breathing and mindfulness exercises. These can be used any time when preparing for your sessions and also after them.
CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) is primarily about learning to recognize and change difficult thoughts and behaviors while DBT (Dialectical Behavioural Therapy), may help individuals learn the skills to accept their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours and focuses on methods to help change them.
The goal of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) is to help individuals understand their current ways of thinking and behaving. Additionally, CBT helps individuals identify automatic thoughts or feelings that may lead to certain behaviors and gain skills in changing maladaptive thoughts that lead to unwanted behaviours.
If you have more questions that weren’t answered here, don’t worry. We have a few other sections on our website where we address frequently asked questions about the following:
Have more questions?
Do you have more questions to ask our staff? Please contact us today if you’re seeking answers to questions that were not addressed here or on our website.
Assessment Frequently Asked Questions
Are you considering sitting down with one of our clinicians for an assessment? It can be the first step to understanding your mental health and can act as the starting point for true recovery that lasts a lifetime.
Despite how invaluable a mental health assessment can be, it can be a big step. That’s why we try to provide as much information as we can ahead of time so that you show up feeling comfortable and confident for your appointment. Here are the questions we get asked most often about our assessments.
You can think of an assessment as the gateway to a journey of recovery. Whether you’re struggling with chronic mental illness, learning disabilities, addiction, or any other number of challenges, you can’t truly address the problem without first understanding it. A mental health assessment is your chance to learn what’s at the heart of your issues and provides the tools you need to move through it.
A mental health assessment is the first step in understanding what may be causing distress in your (or your child’s) life. During the assessment, we learn about what kinds of challenges you’re facing, your strengths, vulnerabilities, and specific areas of concern. After the assessment, we’re able to create a detailed plan, complete with a step-by-step treatment process should you wish to use it.
We use scientific, evidence-based measures and testing methods to learn all about your background, psychological functioning, current symptoms, and specific areas of concern. Depending on what kind of assessment we provide for you, the assessment usually consists of an interview, psychometric tests, or a combination.
We currently offer psychodiagnostic, psychoeducational, and psychovocational assessments for adults and children ages 6 and up.
A child’s mental health assessment is split into two sessions, each 3-4 hours. This assessment consists of a semi-structured, clinical interview with the parent/caregiver as well as their child, which lets us gather information on their background and health history. After that, we perform a series of psychometric tests, such as exercises with blocks, reading, writing, numbers, and more. All of this gives us the information we need to create a detailed report of our findings, as well as recommendations and supports for your child.
In total, our assessment takes about 3-4 hours. We break the assessment up into two sessions, which each run 1.5-2 hours depending on the specifics of your situation. After the assessment, we meet one more time to go over our report—this can take approximately one hour.
We offer three types of mental health assessment assessments. They are:
Psychodiagnostic Assessments
Hopewoods offers a psychodiagnostic assessment service to help people who are struggling with their mental health learn the nature of their concerns such as clients suffer injuries from MVA or work-related accidents. Psychodiagnostic assessments can diagnose mental illness, as well as provide recommendations for treatments and other resources to help. But even if there isn’t a diagnosis, this assessment can provide valuable insight into your mental well-being and provide you with support for more acute challenges.
Learn more about psychodiagnostic assessments here.
Psychovocational Assessments
Psychovocational assessments are for people seeking insight into their strengths and points of vulnerability as a professional. Adults spend a large part of their time working, so why not take advantage of this assessment to find out what careers might truly suit you? Psychovocational assessments may also be helpful for those who are looking into transitioning to other professions. A psychovocational assessment consists of an interview and a series of tests and exercises. Through these tools, we can learn about your unique interests, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, work style, and more.
Learn more about psychovocational assessments here.
Psychoeducational Assessments
A psychoeducational assessment examines how a child thinks, learns, and applies their knowledge in their life. We’re learning more about the unique ways that different children learn, and this assessment is the perfect way for parents to support their children.
Like all of our assessments, the specifics will change from client to client. However, we begin with a conversation—learning about their background, social history, how things are going at school, and more. Then, we perform a series of examinations and tests on reading, writing, math, and more. All of this leads to a scientific final report, where we share your child’s strengths and points of vulnerability as a learner.
Learn more about psychoeducational assessments here.
We work with many people who have been referred to us, often by a school, workplace, insurance, law firms, or physician. However, many of our patients are self-referred, and you can book an assessment any time by contacting us.
Have more questions?
Do you have more questions to ask our staff? Please contact us today if you’re seeking answers to questions about assessments that were not addressed here or on our website.
The real magic of therapy happens when we can be vulnerable and emotional with another person and experience their empathy, understanding and support.
Sue Johnson
The healing process is not just about fixing the past, it’s about creating a future in which one can feel safe, secure, and deserving of love.
Bessel Van Der Kolk
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