Our dynamic and welcoming team is comprised of health professionals offering assessment and interventions services to adolescents, adults, older adults, and couples. In addition to offering psychological services for a number of difficulties, our team holds expertise in health psychology, which allows us to collaborate with other health professionals and contribute to the care of individuals living with various health conditions. Several of our team members are involved in complementary activities such as teaching, research, and offering psychological services in hospitals and community-based settings. These types of experiences are essential to help maintain our involvement in our community as well as to maintain and continue to further develop and diversify our expertise to better serve the needs of our clients.
We also offer specialised services for individuals who suffer from medical conditions
We ground our work in evidence-based therapeutic approaches. Flexibility has been the key to offering the best service, and we adapt as necessary to meet the specific needs of our clients. The practices and philosophies below guide our work and help us build strategies that work for treatment.
Learn how your emotions, thoughts and behaviours are connected and how you can improve and change these connections to face life's challenges through gradual changes in your daily life.
Learn to identify and better understand, feel, welcome and accept, express, regulate and transform your emotions in order to guide your actions to live a life better aligned with your needs, values and life vision.
Become more aware of your interpersonal context and how your interpersonal challenges may impact your well-being, as well as how to deal with them.
Develop the ability to deliberately pay attention to the present moment, without judgement, to decrease emotional distress, increase wellbeing, and enable you to take actions that are more aligned with your values and needs.
We are familiar with the stigmas associated with couple therapy! Rest assured, your clinician is trained to serve your relationship and will not be biased. Emotionally-focused therapy aims to create a sense of safety and emotional connection with your partner. It gets to the heart of the relationship issues by helping you: identify your difficult interaction patterns that maintain the feeling of emotional disconnection and unmet needs, and identify and express your relational needs and related emotions to make room for new interactions that promote a sense of safety and emotional connection.
EMDR is a therapeutic approach used to treat trauma and other difficult past experiences. It is based on standardized, empirically-validated protocols, and the use of bilateral stimuli (typically eye movements), which will promote a reduction in the emotional charge associated with your traumatic memories and painful experiences.
To make a service request, you can call us at 613-454-7770 and leave a message on our reception voicemail (ext. 0), send an e-mail to info@espo-opht.ca, or fill out the service request form on our website.
Before the first appointment : Following your request for services, we will contact you by phone to ask a few questions about your needs and the type of services requested, and to answer any questions you may have. Our office manager will ask you a few demographic questions in order to create a file and an account for you on our client portal. You will then be put in touch with one of our clinicians based on the type of services requested and our availability.
First appointment: Most of our services begin with an assessment of the presenting problem and your needs. Your clinician will ask you questions about your current difficulties, your life circumstances and certain elements of your personal history. Your clinician may also ask you to complete other questionnaires about different types of symptoms or personality traits. This helps us better identify the factors that may be contributing to the presenting problem, and to develop a treatment plan that meets your specific needs.
Following the assessment, and in the spirit of collaboration, we will give you feedback on the results of the assessment and make treatment recommendations. Successful therapy depends on: 1) feeling comfortable with the clinician and his or her approach; 2) agreeing with the treatment plan; and 3) feeling that the treatment plan will help you achieve your goals. If any of these criteria are not met, we encourage you to discuss them with your clinician.
You do not need a physician referral to access our services.
However, please note that some insurance companies require a doctor's referral to reimburse services. We advise you to check with your insurer.
Session fees may vary according to the type of service offered and the duration of sessions. Our Office manager will clarify the fees with you when you make a request for a specific service.
Our cancellation policy is implemented to facilitate accessibility to services and protect the working conditions of mental health professionals working in private practice. If you need to cancel or change an appointment, we ask that you do so at least 24 hours before your scheduled appointment. If an appointment is cancelled or missed within less than 24 hours, the full session fee will be applied.
We use a payment system integrated into the client portal that enables us to automatically apply the service fees at the end of each session. If you prefer not to use this system, we also accept payment by electronic transfer.
As a general rule, a session lasts one hour, including 50 minutes of direct clinical services and 10 minutes of administrative tasks, but it may vary depending on the type of service offered, your needs and your clinician's recommendations.
This is a very valid question that will be better answered with your clinician! A thorough assessment has to be completed by your clinician to recommend a treatment plan tailored to your needs and goals, as well as making an estimate of the numbers of sessions that will be needed to reach them. While a minimal level of commitment is required for any therapeutic process to be beneficial, please know that these recommendations are made in collaboration with you and aim at taking into account your current available resources (i.e., finances/benefits, time, level of energy…)
Each session is billed in the name of the client (or legal guardian), who is responsible for payment at the end of each session. If you have health insurance through your employer, please inquire whether our services are fully or partially covered. If so, you can then submit your receipts to your insurance plan for reimbursement. ESPO does not bill insurance companies directly.
When you make a request for services, our office manager will ask you if you have a preference for the clinician(s) you'd like to see. You may or may not have a preference based on a specific recommendation or on information you obtain from our profiles. In any case, at your first appointment, your clinician will assess whether he or she believes he or she can help you achieve your therapeutic goals, and you will also be able to determine whether you feel comfortable with your clinician. If either party has any doubts about the compatibility of this collaboration, we can refer you to another clinician on our team, or provide you with a list of external resources if necessary.
The treatment approaches used by our team are informed by evidence-based practices and are adapted based on individual differences and goals of our clients. Additional details on the treatment approaches used by our team is available here.
Most appointments are typically offered on weekdays between 9AM and 5PM with some evening and weekend appointments but specific availability differs by clinician and type of service requested. At the time of the request for services, our office manager will ask about your availability.
Yes, we offer virtual sessions. To opt for virtual sessions, you need access to a private space with a secure and reliable internet connection. You will have the opportunity to express your preference for virtual sessions during your interview with our office manager when you fill out the service request form.
The confidentiality of your personal information is very important to us. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services we provide to you. We strive to be open and transparent about how we handle personal information. Full details of our privacy policy can be found here.
Since communication by email carries certain risks for confidentiality, we encourage you to limit this type of communication to logistical purposes only and not to share personal and clinical information. In addition, we encourage you to prioritize out-of-session communication with your clinician by using OWL Practice Inc. secure messaging (available once you have started services). For more details, please see our Owl email and secure messaging policy here.
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