Frequently Asked Questions

Therapy offers you the opportunity to connect with a compassionate person who accepts and doesn’t judge you so you can build a safe relationship and space to explore your wants and needs. Going to therapy doesn’t mean anything is wrong with you. Therapy can help you understand what you are experiencing, why it's happening, and support you to form new patterns.

Therapy can support you with a wide range of issues, whether at home, school, work, or in relationships. People seek therapy for ADHD, anxiety, conflict, depression, dissociation, grief, personal growth, identity issues, trauma from motor vehicle accidents, pain, stress, substance use, and more. Our goal is to help you improve your mental, emotional, physical, and relational health. Learn more about our specialties here.

We help everyone in Alberta, and all are welcome. We serve individuals, couples, families, youth, and adults. Our therapists are inclusive of marginalized groups, rural communities, BIPOC and 2SLGTBQIA+ communities.

Each therapist has a unique process of building a relationship and helping you. At Therapy Alberta, we know you have different experiences, preferences and needs so we draw on many types of therapy including attachment theory, cognitive, emotion-focused, mindfulness, relational, and somatic. All our approaches to therapy are trauma-informed. You can read more about our approaches here.

Somatic therapy embraces a whole-person approach to healing and focuses on the relationship between mind and body. Negative experiences affect both your mental and physical self and your nervous system, which controls your breath, digestion, and heart. Somatic therapists incorporate both talk therapy (mind down) and body therapy (body up) to help you understand what your body and mind are doing and why, how to regulate, and how to change.

Because then you can connect to a therapist anywhere in the province. The best therapist to meet your needs might live in a different area. Online services with a licensed and regulated professional are covered by insurance the same as in-person therapy. By focusing only on virtual services, we can commit to providing the highest quality support for all people anywhere in Alberta, especially in areas where therapy may not be readily available. Online therapy provides benefits such as convenience, flexibility, privacy, saved time, and continuity of care. Some people even find it easier and more comfortable - there's no commute, waiting room, or bumping into others. You are familiar with your environment, and have all your favorite comforts within reach.

Yes, research shows online therapy is as or more effective than in-person therapy. Online therapy can increase privacy, ease, and access. Though they do miss some visual cues, online therapists can tune in to the many available verbal, non-verbal, and sensory cues to help inform their work and can still build great relationships even when they can't see all of you. With online therapy, you can connect to a therapist anywhere in the province. The best therapist to meet your needs might live in a different area. Virtual services with a licensed and regulated professional are covered by insurance the same as in-person. You may even find it's easier to connect online. There's no commute, waiting room, or bumping into others. You are familiar with your environment and have all your favorite comforts within reach. All you need for a video session is a phone or device with internet, and a quiet place to talk.

For online therapy, you'll need a quiet, private space like your bedroom, office, car, or a friend's place. If others are at home, use headphones, fans, white noise, or music to enhance privacy. Ensure you have internet access and a device (computer, smartphone, or tablet) capable of connecting online. Phone sessions are also an option.

Mostly, the words are used interchangeably. In Alberta, only psychology & psychological services are regulated words. Sometimes therapy refers to long-term more in-depth work, while counselling refers to short-term solution-focused work. Referring to ourselves as therapists allows us to capture multiple roles, including psychologists, social workers, and counsellors, but you'll see both words for ease of understanding.