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Frequently Asked Questions
Getting Started
How do I know if therapy might be right for me?
You do not need to be in crisis or have a specific diagnosis to benefit from therapy. People often reach out when they feel overwhelmed, anxious, emotionally stuck, disconnected, burned out, affected by past experiences, or simply want to better understand themselves and their patterns.
Therapy provides a supportive and confidential space to explore what is happening, develop new ways of coping, and work toward meaningful change.
How do I choose the right therapist?
The relationship you develop with your therapist is an important part of therapy. We encourage you to review each therapist's profile, areas of focus, therapeutic style, availability, and fees, and choose the person who feels like the best fit for you.
If you're unsure, contact us and we can help you determine which therapist may best match your needs.
Do you offer a free consultation?
Yes. We offer a complimentary 15-minute consultation so you can briefly discuss what brings you to therapy, ask questions, and determine whether the therapist you're considering feels like a good fit.
What happens during the first therapy session?
Your first appointment is an opportunity for you and your therapist to get to know one another. Your therapist will ask about what brings you to therapy, relevant history, current concerns, strengths, and what you hope to accomplish.
You do not need to tell your entire story during your first appointment. Therapy develops at a pace that respects your comfort, needs, and readiness.
Do I need a diagnosis to start therapy?
No. Many people begin therapy without a formal mental health diagnosis. You may simply recognize that something in your life, relationships, emotions, or past experiences is affecting your well-being and would like professional support.
What if I'm nervous or unsure about starting therapy?
It is common to feel uncertain about beginning therapy, particularly if you have never worked with a therapist before. You can use the free consultation to ask questions, discuss concerns, and get a sense of whether you feel comfortable with the therapist before scheduling a full appointment.
Virtual Psychotherapy
Do you offer online therapy?
Yes. Solution Therapy & Coaching is a virtual practice. Psychotherapy sessions are provided through secure video appointments, allowing you to meet with your therapist from a private and comfortable location.
Where in Ontario can I receive virtual therapy?
Our Ontario therapists provide virtual psychotherapy to clients located throughout Ontario, including Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Because psychotherapy is provided virtually, you do not need to live near a physical office.
Is online therapy effective?
Virtual psychotherapy can be effective for many mental health concerns and allows many therapeutic approaches used in traditional therapy to be provided online.
Whether virtual therapy is appropriate for you depends on your individual circumstances, needs, privacy, safety, and the type of treatment being provided. Your therapist can discuss this with you.
What do I need for an online therapy session?
You will need a reliable internet connection, a device with a camera and microphone, and a private location where you feel comfortable speaking openly.
Before your first appointment, you will receive instructions for completing the required intake and consent forms and accessing your secure video session.
Are virtual therapy sessions private and secure?
We use a secure telehealth platform designed for healthcare services and take reasonable measures to protect client privacy.
You are also encouraged to participate from a private location, protect access to your device, and use a secure internet connection whenever possible.
Fees, Payment & Insurance
How much does therapy cost?
Session fees vary by therapist, session length, and service.
For current fees and pricing information, please visit our Therapy & Fees page, where you can review each therapist's current rates and available session options before booking.
View Current Fees →
Does insurance cover psychotherapy?
Many extended health benefit plans provide coverage for psychotherapy services delivered by a Registered Social Worker (RSW).
Coverage varies between insurance plans. Before beginning therapy, we recommend asking your insurance provider whether your plan covers services provided by an MSW, RSW, how much annual coverage is available, and whether there are any referral or eligibility requirements.
Do you direct bill insurance?
Clients generally pay for their session and receive a receipt that can be submitted to their insurance provider for reimbursement.
We recommend confirming the specific requirements of your insurance plan directly with your provider.
What payment methods do you accept?
We accept electronic payments through Stripe, including major credit cards. Credit card payments are subject to an additional processing fee.
You may also pay by Interac e-Transfer with no additional surcharge. Your invoice will include instructions for sending your Interac e-Transfer payment.
Payment is due according to the payment terms provided with your appointment and invoice.
Are psychotherapy services tax deductible in Canada?
Eligible psychotherapy or social work services may qualify as medical expenses for Canadian income tax purposes, depending on applicable tax rules and your individual circumstances.
Please consult the Canada Revenue Agency or a qualified tax professional regarding your eligibility.
What is your cancellation policy?
We require at least 48 hours' notice to cancel or reschedule an appointment. Late cancellations and missed appointments may be charged according to the practice cancellation policy.
This policy protects therapists' reserved clinical time and allows appointments to be made available to other clients when adequate notice is provided.
Appointments & Therapy Sessions
How long are therapy sessions?
Our standard psychotherapy appointments are 50 or 80 minutes, depending on your needs and your therapist's availability.
Longer sessions can also be arranged. You and your therapist may agree on a different or extended session length when additional time would be helpful and scheduling permits.
Your therapist can help determine the session length that best supports your therapeutic goals.
How often will I attend therapy?
Many clients begin with weekly appointments because consistency can help establish the therapeutic relationship and create momentum.
Depending on your needs, progress, goals, and circumstances, appointments may later move to biweekly or another mutually agreed-upon frequency.
How long will I need therapy?
There is no single timeline that applies to everyone. Some people seek support for a specific concern and attend therapy for a relatively short period, while others choose longer-term therapy to address trauma, relationship patterns, emotional regulation, or personal growth.
You and your therapist will periodically review your goals and progress together.
Can I change therapists if the fit doesn't feel right?
Yes. Finding the right therapeutic relationship matters. If you feel another therapist within the practice may be a better fit, you are welcome to explore your options.
Can I book directly with the therapist I want?
Yes. Each therapist has their own availability and booking options. You can review our therapist profiles and choose the practitioner you would like to meet.
If you're uncertain about whom to choose, contact us and we'll help you determine where to start.
What Can Therapy Help With?
Can therapy help with anxiety and overthinking?
Yes. Anxiety can appear as excessive worry, racing thoughts, difficulty relaxing, physical tension, sleep problems, irritability, avoidance, or feeling that your mind never switches off.
Therapy can help you understand what contributes to anxiety, recognize patterns that maintain it, develop strategies for regulating your nervous system, and change your relationship with anxious thoughts and feelings.
Why do I feel anxious when nothing is wrong?
Sometimes the body's stress or threat-response system remains activated even when there is no obvious immediate danger. Chronic stress, previous experiences, learned patterns, uncertainty, and nervous-system responses can all contribute.
Therapy can help you explore what may be happening emotionally and physically rather than simply trying to make the anxiety disappear.
Can therapy help if I feel overwhelmed all the time?
Yes. Feeling chronically overwhelmed can be related to stress, anxiety, burnout, trauma, relationship difficulties, life transitions, or carrying too many responsibilities for too long.
Therapy can help identify what is contributing to the overwhelm and develop more sustainable ways of responding to demands, emotions, boundaries, and stress.
How do I know if I'm experiencing burnout?
Burnout may include emotional or physical exhaustion, irritability, difficulty concentrating, reduced motivation, feeling detached from work or relationships, difficulty recovering during time off, and feeling that ordinary responsibilities require too much energy.
Therapy can help you understand the factors contributing to burnout and work toward healthier boundaries, recovery, emotional regulation, and sustainable change.
Can therapy help with trauma even if I don't have PTSD?
Yes. Trauma does not always result in PTSD, and you do not need a PTSD diagnosis to explore how difficult or overwhelming experiences may still be affecting you.
Past experiences can influence relationships, self-esteem, emotional reactions, physical sensations, anxiety, avoidance, trust, and your sense of safety.
How can I tell if past trauma is still affecting me?
Past experiences may continue to affect you through anxiety, emotional reactivity, avoidance, difficulty trusting others, relationship patterns, intrusive memories, physical tension, feeling disconnected, or becoming overwhelmed by situations that seem unrelated to the original experience.
A therapist can help you explore these patterns without requiring you to decide for yourself whether what happened "counts" as trauma.
Why do I keep repeating the same relationship patterns?
Recurring relationship patterns can develop from attachment experiences, learned beliefs, family dynamics, previous relationships, fears of rejection or abandonment, difficulties with boundaries, and ways we learned to protect ourselves.
Therapy can help you recognize these patterns and develop different ways of relating to yourself and others.
Can therapy help with low self-esteem and confidence?
Yes. Therapy can explore the experiences, beliefs, relationships, and internal patterns that influence how you see yourself.
The goal is not simply to "think positively," but to develop a more realistic, compassionate, and secure relationship with yourself.
Can therapy help with people-pleasing and difficulty setting boundaries?
Yes. People-pleasing can sometimes develop as a way of maintaining connection, avoiding conflict, gaining approval, or feeling safe in relationships.
Therapy can help you understand these patterns, identify your own needs, tolerate the discomfort that can come with setting limits, and develop healthier boundaries.
Why do I shut down or become emotionally numb?
Feeling emotionally numb or shutting down can sometimes be the nervous system's way of responding to overwhelming stress, difficult emotions, conflict, or previous experiences.
Therapy can help you understand when and why this response occurs and gradually develop greater awareness, emotional flexibility, and capacity to remain present.
Why do small things sometimes trigger such strong emotional reactions?
Strong reactions are not always about the immediate situation. Present experiences can activate emotions, beliefs, memories, or nervous-system responses connected with earlier experiences.
Therapy can help identify these connections and develop more choice in how you respond when something feels triggering.
Can therapy help during a major life transition?
Yes. Career changes, relationship changes, separation or divorce, relocation, becoming a parent, caregiving, retirement, grief, and other transitions can affect identity and emotional well-being even when the change is ultimately positive.
Therapy can provide support while you adjust, make decisions, process losses, and develop a clearer sense of what comes next.
Can therapy help if I understand my problems but still can't change them?
Yes. Intellectual insight does not always create emotional or behavioural change. You may understand exactly why a pattern exists while continuing to experience the same reactions.
Approaches such as Somatic Therapy, EMDR, IFS, mindfulness, and other evidence-informed therapies may help clients work with emotional and nervous-system experiences that aren't resolved through intellectual understanding alone.
Therapy Approaches
What therapeutic approaches do your therapists use?
Our therapists integrate evidence-informed approaches according to their individual training, professional scope, and each client's needs.
Approaches available within the practice may include Somatic Therapy, EMDR, Internal Family Systems (IFS)/Parts Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), mindfulness-based approaches, trauma-informed psychotherapy, and other evidence-informed methods.
Not every therapist provides every modality. Please review individual therapist profiles and therapy pages for specific training and approaches.
What is Somatic Therapy?
Somatic Therapy explores the connection between psychological experiences and the body. It can help clients become more aware of physical sensations, nervous-system responses, emotions, and patterns associated with stress or trauma.
Rather than focusing only on thoughts and conversation, somatic work can incorporate awareness of what is happening in the body as part of the therapeutic process.
What is EMDR Therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured psychotherapy approach used to help people process distressing or traumatic experiences.
EMDR uses bilateral stimulation while working with memories, beliefs, emotions, and body sensations. It may be appropriate for PTSD, trauma, and certain other concerns following assessment by a trained therapist.
What is Internal Family Systems (IFS) or Parts Therapy?
IFS is an approach that understands people as having different internal "parts" that may carry emotions, beliefs, protective strategies, or painful experiences.
Therapy helps you approach these parts with greater curiosity and compassion rather than fighting, judging, or suppressing them.
What is trauma-informed therapy?
Trauma-informed therapy recognizes that past and present experiences can influence the nervous system, emotions, relationships, behaviour, and sense of safety.
A trauma-informed therapist pays particular attention to safety, collaboration, choice, pacing, trust, and reducing the risk of unnecessary re-traumatization.
What is nervous-system regulation?
Nervous-system regulation refers to our capacity to respond to stress and return toward a more manageable state afterward.
Therapy may help you recognize your own patterns of activation, overwhelm, shutdown, or disconnection and develop ways of increasing your capacity to remain present with difficult experiences.
What is Polyvagal Theory and how is it used in therapy?
Polyvagal Theory provides one framework for understanding how the nervous system may respond to experiences of safety, stress, connection, and perceived threat.
Some therapists use concepts informed by Polyvagal Theory to help clients notice patterns such as activation, shutdown, disconnection, and social engagement and to develop greater awareness of their nervous-system responses.
Do you incorporate mindfulness into therapy?
Mindfulness may be incorporated when appropriate. It can help develop awareness of thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, and present-moment experiences without immediately reacting to them.
Mindfulness is generally integrated as a therapeutic tool rather than treated as a one-size-fits-all solution.
How do I know whether EMDR, Somatic Therapy, IFS, or another approach is right for me?
You do not need to choose your treatment method before beginning therapy.
Your therapist will consider your goals, concerns, history, preferences, current circumstances, and response to therapy when recommending an approach. Treatment can also evolve as your needs change.
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy
Do you offer Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy?
The practice provides psychotherapy services associated with Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), including preparation and integration.
The psychotherapy and medical components of ketamine treatment are provided by different professionals working collaboratively.
Do your therapists administer ketamine?
No. Ketamine is prescribed, administered, and medically monitored by qualified medical professionals.
Our role is focused on the psychotherapy component, which may include assessment within the therapist's professional scope, preparation, integration, therapeutic support, and coordination with appropriate medical providers.
Do I have to find a ketamine clinic myself?
No. For clients pursuing KAP through our coordinated-care pathway, we can help facilitate a referral and connect you with an experienced medical team through our partner clinic network in Ontario.
The medical provider conducts its own assessment and independently determines whether ketamine treatment is medically appropriate for you.
What happens before a ketamine treatment?
Preparation sessions help you understand the process, explore your goals and intentions, discuss concerns, and prepare psychologically for the experience.
Your medical provider separately provides instructions related to the medical aspects of ketamine treatment.
What is ketamine integration therapy?
Integration therapy takes place after a ketamine experience and provides an opportunity to explore emotions, insights, memories, perspectives, or experiences that emerged.
The goal is to help connect the experience with your therapeutic goals and everyday life rather than treating the ketamine session as an isolated event.
Privacy & Confidentiality
Is therapy confidential?
Yes. Protecting your privacy is fundamental to psychotherapy.
Our therapists follow the confidentiality requirements of their professional and ethical standards as well as applicable privacy legislation. There are specific circumstances in which a therapist may be legally or professionally required to disclose information. These limits to confidentiality are explained as part of the informed-consent process.
Will information be shared between therapists in the practice?
Client information is handled according to applicable privacy requirements, professional standards, and our informed-consent and privacy policies.
Your therapist can explain how your information is managed and circumstances in which your consent may be required before information is shared.
What if I need help between therapy sessions?
Psychotherapy appointments are scheduled professional services and are not an emergency or crisis-response service.
Your therapist will discuss appropriate communication between sessions and available supports based on your individual treatment needs.
Booking & Next Steps
How do I schedule an appointment?
Visit our Our Practice page to learn about our therapists and choose the practitioner who feels right for you. You can then use the appropriate booking option to view available appointments.
You can also contact Solution Therapy & Coaching if you would like help deciding which therapist may be the best fit.
What happens after I book my first appointment?
Before your first session, you will receive information about completing the required intake and consent documents and instructions for accessing your virtual appointment.
Completing these forms in advance provides your therapist with important information and allows more of your first session to focus on you.
Can I contact you before booking?
Yes. If you have a question that isn't answered here or aren't sure where to begin, you can contact the practice or schedule a complimentary 15-minute consultation.
I'm ready to start therapy. What should I do next?
Explore our therapist profiles, choose the practitioner you feel most comfortable with, and schedule a complimentary 15-minute consultation or your first psychotherapy appointment.
You do not need to know exactly what type of therapy you need before reaching out. You and your therapist can determine that together.
Ask Your Question Below
Finding the right therapist and understanding how therapy works can bring up many questions. Below you'll find answers about our virtual psychotherapy practice, choosing a therapist, fees and insurance, common concerns that bring people to therapy, and the therapeutic approaches available at Solution Therapy & Coaching.
Phone: 437-747-6416
Somatic & trauma-informed virtual psychotherapy and education.
This website provides educational information and does not replace psychotherapy or medical care.
