Counselling Services

Why should you start counselling?

Going to see a counsellor or therapist when you're feeling sad or overwhelmed is as normal as going to the doctor when you're sick. 

Therapy is an incredibly useful tool that helps with a range of issues anywhere from anxiety to sleep to relationships to trauma. Research shows that counselling is incredibly effective in helping people manage mental health conditions and symptoms. Just being able to talk to someone without fear of judgment or criticism is a powerful way to better ourselves. 
If you need to talk,
​we are here to listen.

Counselling Sessions are provided to individuals, couples, and families to help address issues including but not limited to:

  • depression​
  • anxiety
  • stress
  • ​trauma
  • ​grief
  • motivation
  • ​self-esteem
  • abuse
  • abuse
  • anger
  • family violence
  • relationships​
  • violence and harassment
  • sexual violence & assault 
  • and many more
Not sure which type to choose? 
Contact us and our wonderful team will gladly assist you!
  • Individual Counselling
  • Couples Counselling
  • EMDR
  • Children and Youth
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Social Workers and Psychotherapists at Kelly Mental Health provide assessment and treatment (psychotherapy/counselling) for individuals, couples, and families. As a trauma-informed facility, many of our practitioners are trained in specialized trauma treatment protocols including EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Prolonged Exposure Therapy, and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT).

Our Counselling Services can be provided virtually, to clients anywhere in Ontario!
Relationship Counselling services are informed by the Gottman Method, which focuses on disarming conflict, increasing intimacy, respect, and affection, removing barriers that create a feeling of stagnancy in conflicting situations, and creating a heightened sense of empathy and understanding within the context of the relationship. 

​Our Couples Counselling begins with a five-session block to help you, your partner and your therapist get to know each other, identify presenting issues, establish clear treatment goals and begin progressing towards a happier, healthier relationship dynamic. ​
​Following this five-session block, clients may either be discharged or proceed working with their counsellor toward treatment goals. 
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Session Outline:
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  • Initial intake: this is a 15 minute phone consultation with one of our therapists to help identify an overview of the current relationship dynamic, and identify any immediate goals 
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  • Session One: Couples begin with the first 1.5 hour session together, where presenting issues and background information are gathered.

  • Sessions Two and Three: these are separate, individual sessions for each partner to meet with the therapist, one-on-one.

  • Session Four: 1.5 hour joint session; this is when treatment recommendations are made and clients may either be discharged or provided a further treatment plan to continue with our counselling services.
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  • ​Session Five: 1.5 hour subsequent joint session with both parties to follow-up on treatment recommendations and progress.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a therapeutic approach designed to help individuals process and heal from trauma, anxiety, PTSD, and distressing memories. Using guided eye movements and other bilateral stimulation techniques, EMDR helps reframe negative experiences, promoting emotional healing and resilience.
We proudly provide counselling services to children and youth as long as our approach of talk therapy is appropriate for their needs and goals. It is important to note that although our clinicians often incorporate play into their sessions with children, we are not Play Therapists. It is essential that children and youth accessing our services are able to sit during their sessions and are capable of participating in talk therapy. Here are some of the things we consider before taking on children and youth clients;
  • Informed consent: Just like our adult clients, our child and youth clients need to be able to consent to services. This means they are willingly participating in counselling, understand the nature of treatment and feel empowered to actively participate in counselling and to cease services at any time. Although parents are able to provide consent on behalf of their children, it is necessary for the therapeutic relationship that the child themselves to be engaged in services.
 
  • Comprehension: While our practitioners use elements of therapy styles known to be effective with children (e.g., Play Therapy, Art Therapy, etc.), our primary intervention requires the ability to talk about things. We require child and youth clients to be able to talk on their own, understand their goals and presenting issues, and to have the attention span and energy to remain focused in the therapy room for our 50-minute sessions. We do our best to accommodate each child/youth’s needs by taking breaks and playing games but sometimes sitting in the therapy room can be challenging for our younger clients.
 
  • Custody: If there is a custody agreement in place and/or child welfare services are involved, we do require some basic information to ensure we know who has access to the child’s clinical information/records, who is bringing them to appointments and who has the authority to consent on the child’s behalf. To engage in mental health services, informed consent must be obtained by the most appropriate party before proceeding.

    In circumstances of high conflict separation/divorce, we require legal custody to be established prior to accepting children and youth clients.
 
  • Support during sessions: We require that children have access to a trusted adult, ideally a parent/guardian, throughout each session to ensure that adequate background information is provided to the therapist, and the therapist is able to provide direction and guidance on the work to be continued at home. Additionally, an adult responsible for that child should be on-site in case of an emergency and to ensure that children are supervised adequately. Exceptions can be made for adolescent clients who are capable of managing their own transportation following the session. Note: If a child has finished their session and their parent is not on-site, we cannot guarantee that the child can be adequately supervised and prevented from leaving the building, if they choose to do so.
 
  • Support outside of sessions: Most of the important work with children occurs at home outside of therapy sessions. It is vital that children attending sessions have a trusted parent or guardian in their home environment who will support and reinforce the work they are doing in sessions.

You Could Benefit From Counselling if...

Frequently Asked Questions

“Aren’t people just lying there on a couch?”  ​
Yes, some therapists have couches in their offices, but few will actually insist you lie down on it and look away from them. There are many offices with no couch too - only chairs and some tissue boxes. This perception of lying on a couch lingers because in the early beginnings of counselling; it was common for therapists to insist patients lie down on a couch and look away from them because they believed it made the patient more open, but it can really make it more difficult to bond with the therapist. Some people actually do prefer to recline or lie down on the couch to help them relax, and that’s okay! Most others simply prefer sitting face to face and talking. Ultimately, you should do whatever makes you feel comfortable so you can benefit fully from your session.  
“Does therapy try to ‘fix’ you'?”
This is a major misconception about counselling. Psychotherapy and counselling are different from most conventional medical treatments. With medical treatment, the best outcome is a cure where you eradicate the illness and ensure it doesn’t return. But the things that bring people to counselling are a little different. Life struggles, negative beliefs, and maladaptive behaviours are not simple viruses that can be cured. In therapy, we look at uncovering your strengths and use those to learn new skills that allow you to deal with the challenges in life more effectively. Therapy will not “cure” a client, but it will help build up inner and outer resources to better manage the ups and downs of life.
“Are you just going to ask me “how does that make you feel?” ​
Of course, we are going to ask you how you feel because until we learn that, we can’t really help. Now, with that being said, there is a lot more to counselling than just feelings. Feelings, thoughts, experiences, behaviours, relationship dynamics and patterns, and so much more are looked at in counselling. Counsellors can help clients define goals and action plans, and gain insight, as well as suggest supports and services that might be beneficial.
“Is counselling just for women?”
Anyone, regardless of gender, can benefit from talking through a problem until the answer becomes clearer! Counselling is absolutely not just for women. Men are not immune to mental health issues or hard times. Men, women, non-binary and transgender folks can equally benefit from counselling because mental health issues are part of being human. Because of the stigma that surrounds men and the “tough guys don’t need to talk about our feelings” mentality, it is very important that we encourage and support men who seek counselling because it is an effective tool to use in addressing mental health issues.​
“You only do this for the money don’t you”
Counsellors spend years and years getting educated and receiving training in order to be able to provide you with the best possible service. This takes time and energy, but it also takes passion. At the end of the day, therapists have families and bills just like everyone else, so making money is important; however, the love and passion we all have for helping people, as well as the excitement we experience when our clients improve… there is no paycheque that will top that feeling.  
“If I'm your friend, why can't I come to you for counselling?”
One of the most important things for us as therapists is to remain objective. In order to help you, we need to leave our biases, preconceived notions, and opinions out of the room and be impartial. What happens when we work with a client that we have known for a while is that sometimes, those biases can creep in, or our emotional attachments to that individual can sway our judgments. This can sometimes lead to a perceived power imbalances or other concerns. Think of this like a surgeon. Would he be allowed to operate on his friends or family? No, because ultimately this isn’t in the best interests of the client. 
What If I don't live in Thunder bay but still want to utilize your services?
We have great news! Our Individual Counselling Services are available to clients virtually, anywhere in Ontario!

A NOTE ON CONFIDENTIALITY:

Our organization serves individuals from all walks of life that are expected to divulge critical personal information during vulnerable periods of their lives. You can expect that information about your visit is kept confidential at all times.
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As Health Information Custodians, each of our employees is bound to the laws regulating the protection of personal health information (PHIPA, 2004). 

We can't wait to meet you!

Please review our policies ​prior to booking an appointment with us. Thank you!