Frequently Asked Questions

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Unlike talking to a close family member or friend, counselling allows an unbiased perspective and opportunity to evaluate and explore you or your child/youth’s behaviours, relationships, emotions, feelings, or thoughts that are disrupting “typical” functioning and thriving in everyday life. A counsellor will challenge, support, and encourage you when working on thoughts, feelings, or behaviours not serving you or your child/youth’s best interests. Counselling can be helpful in times of crisis, for occasional check-ins, or as ongoing therapeutic support and work.

If you have tried counselling before, I will ask you what worked well and what did not. This helps me determine how to best support and work with you or your child/youth in a uniquely tailored way. If you have not tried counselling before, I encourage you to have an open mind and to speak up if something does not feel or seem right. I also recommend meeting and consulting with other counsellors before settling on one counsellor. You need to do what is best for you and/or your child/youth, and I want you to know that I want what will be best for you and/or your child/youth too.

Counselling can bring deeper personal insight and awareness, better understanding and coping with challenges, and improved relationships. The benefits of receiving empathic support and changing unhelpful ways of thinking can be profound, including increased self-compassion, understanding of unhealthy habits, and the creation of new ways of thinking and behaving. 

 With benefits, there also come risks. While counselling can bring deeper personal insight and awareness, this benefit can also be triggering and bring up thoughts and feelings that are unexpected and overwhelming. It is possible that at the beginning of counselling or when moving into a new topic, you or your child/youth may feel worse before they feel better.

Counselling requires effort and active participation. This means discussing and examining difficult experiences, changing comfortable but harmful behaviour/thoughts, and sometimes experiencing stronger emotions than you are used to. Attending counselling may also change personal relationships, which can be positive and challenging.

The relationship quality between client and counsellor has been a high predictor in many research studies of success in counselling. Like typical relationship beginnings, you will first learn about me and how I work, while I also learn about you or your child/youth and what brought you to counselling. Feelings of comfort, respect, and validation should be present in sessions. An instant connection can be rare; sometimes, it can take between three to five sessions to build a therapeutic rapport in the relationship.

I have compared the counselling relationship to personal relationships, and now I would like to decipher between the two. The reason for the relationship is to benefit the client in the outcome. So, the relationship is more one-sided. As the client, you or your child/youth will likely share lots about your/their life, successes, and challenges, while I will only share about my life when it benefits you/them. This ensures that the focus remains on the reason for counselling therapy, you or your child/youth.

I will put in place and maintain the necessary boundaries for our relationship to ensure we do not participate in a dual relationship. I will not:

· Do business with you in any other capacity

· Be your therapist if you are my family member or personal friend

· Engage in a friendship, romantic, or sexual relationship with current or former clients

· Give medical, legal, or financial advice

· Receive gifts (other than a thank you card)

· Be your teacher, supervisor, or evaluator while we are in a counselling relationship together

· Be connected with you on social media (e.g. I cannot accept a “friend request”)

What we talk about and work on in counselling together is in your hands. You are the driver, and I am your roadside navigator. By using your strengths to support you in discovering your own solutions, my job is to work toward understanding what challenges you have and the goals you want to achieve.

I may recommend various therapeutic activities and assign “homework” for you or your child/youth to complete outside of our sessions; however, you are in control of giving or denying consent at any time during the counselling process. 

Jewel holds a Registered Professional Counsellor-Candidate (RPC-C) designation with the Canadian Professional Counsellors Association (CPCA) and works under a supervisor. The CPCA promotes continuing education requirements, supervision requirements, a code of ethics and standards of practice, and accountability in care.  

Every client is different, so the frequency of sessions will be determined and negotiated based on your challenges and goals during our time together. 

Because many companies write health insurance, I cannot tell you what your plan does or does not cover. Please read your plan’s booklet or call your employer’s benefits office to learn what you need to know. I will supply you with a receipt of payment for services, including my professional association ID number, which you can submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. Please note that not all insurance companies will reimburse these costs. You are responsible for checking your insurance coverage, deductibles, payment rates, etc.

If you determine certain professionals or types of counselling are not covered, you can write a letter to your employer or benefits provider to ask them to include me in your plan. This, however, will not guarantee you reimbursement or coverage.

Intake forms are essential for your counsellor to obtain and review with you during your first session. A challenge, struggle, or problem cannot begin to be worked on without an underlying backstory.

I only ask essential questions, and focus on why you chose to attend counselling therapy.

You can always request to complete the intake form together in our first session if you prefer.

The free 30-min consults are a semi-casual introduction between counsellor and client where we share a bit about ourselves. You will share a bit about why you are considering counselling therapy and I will share how I work and a bit about my background.

The 30-minute consult is optional, you can alternatively book an "Initial Session" which costs the same as an individual session ($120 for 50 minutes).