FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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In an age when there are so many different types of “therapists”, it can be hard to differentiate among the options. The Ontario Psychological Association has published the following chart which summarizes the education, training, and scope of some of the more common types of mental health professionals.
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Psychologists’ services are not covered by OHIP; however, most extended health care plans will cover some portion of the cost of our services. Private plans such as those offered to University of Western Ontario or Fanshawe students also cover services provided by a Psychologist. It is best to consult your particular insurer as to coverage for services provided by a registered, doctoral-level Psychologist.
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You do not need a Physician’s referral to make an appointment with us. If you are considering making an appointment the first step is to send us an email. One of us will get back to you to answer any questions you might have and to help decide whether our practice will meet your needs, and which of us might be the best fit for you based on your goals and your schedule. The Doctor of your choice will then contact you to set up an initial meeting and will direct you to the intake forms necessary.
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All appointments, including the initial meeting, are 50 minutes in length. The first appointment allows us to begin to get a sense of you as a person and to become familiar with the issues that you are facing and your goals for therapy. It also allows you to assess what we call “fit,” or the extent to which you feel you can relax, relate to, and eventually open up to your psychologist. We will also decide together on how frequently you will attend therapy.
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Many people want to know how long it will be before they start to realize some improvement. This is hard to assess until we have had a chance to get to know you a bit. In general though, our practice provides both long-term therapy (over a year) and shorter term therapy (12-20 sessions). If you know from the outset that you have a limited number of sessions in mind (for example, you have coverage for only 5 sessions) it is helpful for us to know this at the outset, as it will allow us to plan and pace your therapy accordingly.