“We started to form an informal network of registered and qualifying mental health workers to donate some pro bono psychotherapy sessions”

1. What inspired you to create your virtual psychotherapy clinic, Free Counselling Society Canada? How are you able to provide free psychotherapy?

My wife and I were both working at the hospital. We noticed the waitlist for mental health and substance use psychotherapy slowly exceeded three months, six months and at some points one year. We started to form an informal network of psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, nurses, etc. to donate some pro bono psychotherapy sessions. Later on, some more volunteers, Master of Counselling Psychology students and psychotherapy clinics, joined forces. Today we have around 100+ active volunteers providing 300+ video call psychotherapy sessions a month. Some volunteers donated our website and admin. costs. We are a registered not-for-profit fully run by volunteers and no paid staff.

2. What services do you provide to refugee newcomers, and how do you tailor your approach to meet their unique needs, such as trauma, displacement, or cultural adjustment?

Our not-for-profit provides pro bono video calls for psychotherapy. My wife and I were from a new immigrant background. We understood the extra and enormous challenges for multicultural Canadians. Luckily, this vision is shared by many generous and kind volunteers who are knowledgeable on multicultural counselling techniques and can speak many other non-English languages such as Arabic, Cantonese, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Portugese, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Urdu, Vietnamese and more.

3. How do you build a team of qualified psychotherapists, particularly those skilled in working with refugee populations?

We rely on volunteers (registered and qualifying professional counsellors) who generously donate their time and expertise. Without these amazing individuals, this project won’t be possible.

4. Do you have multilingual registered and qualifying counsellors or translators to assist newcomers who may not speak English?

Our volunteer multi-lingual counsellors can speak many other non-English languages such as Arabic, Cantonese, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Urdu, Vietnamese and more. Generally speaking, translators do not work well with psychotherapy as psychotherapy requires a lot of details and subtleties in the language. Fortunately, we have many who can speak the client’s unique languages and dialects.

5. Can you share a success story where your counseling services significantly impacted a refugee newcomer or refugee family?

There are too many to share. Our psychotherapy addresses concerns ranging widely from PTSD with torture in a client’s home country to parenting and adjustment in a new country (Canada). If we have to pick one, I would say our dear volunteers provide a confidential, secure and safe space for clients to cry in the session and talk about taboo subjects that they told someone for the first time in their lives.

6. Who is eligible for your services? How would a newcomer sign up? 

We are open to all Canada-wide.  Clients can self refer by texting, emailing and calling. We also accept referrals from settlement staff, DR, social workers, nurses, etc.

(647) 490-2992
(778) 200-7823
TeamLead@FreeCounsellingCanada.ca
www.FreeCounsellingCanada.ca