But access to counselling is about more than affordability.
Sometimes cost is the barrier. Sometimes it is finding an appointment that works, getting to the clinic, finding the right fit with your counsellor, finding counselling in a language in which you feel comfortable, managing mobility or distance, understanding your options, or simply knowing where to begin.
If any of those things are making you wonder whether counselling is possible, we encourage you to contact us before deciding that care is out of reach.
You do not need to know which counsellor you need, what kind of therapy is right for you, or which fee pathway might fit.
We can begin there and find out together.
Access to Care at Gentle Currents
- Graduate practicum counsellingcurrently $40–$120 per session
- Experienced clinicianslimited reduced-fee appointments may be available
- Hoursseven days a week, 8:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
- LanguagesEnglish, Punjabi, Hindi, Spanish and Welsh
- Care optionsin-person and online
- Physical accessstep-free entry, automatic doors, accessible washroom, curb cuts and free on-site parking
- Not sure where to begin?We can help you explore the options and find an appropriate fit
Access to Care Is Part of Care
We believe care begins before a counselling session ever takes place.
A person first has to be able to find help, understand their options, reach the service, afford the care, find a time that works, communicate comfortably, and feel safe enough to take the next step.
Our goal is not simply to offer the lowest possible fee.
Our goal is to help each person explore a realistic pathway to care that is clinically appropriate, financially possible, and respectful of who they are.
That means preserving the things that should not be lost in the effort to make counselling more accessible: dignity, thoughtful matching, clinical responsibility, appropriate supervision, respect for individual circumstances, and genuine human connection.
Why Access Matters
Many people who recognize that counselling could help still encounter barriers before they ever sit down with a counsellor.
Canadian research has documented significant unmet need for mental-health care, including counselling and psychotherapy. Cost is one important barrier, but availability, navigation, transportation, geography, stigma, language, and uncertainty about where to seek help can also affect whether someone receives care.
These are larger challenges than any single counselling practice can solve.
Our response is practical: wherever we reasonably can, we work to reduce barriers and help people find a realistic way into appropriate care.
Access Is More Than Affordability
For one person, access may mean a reduced counselling fee.
For another, it may mean an evening or weekend appointment, online counselling because travel is difficult, a therapist who speaks a familiar language, a physically accessible clinic, or simply help understanding where to begin.
We do not think people should have to diagnose themselves or fully understand the mental-health system before contacting us.
Part of access is helping someone understand the choices available and find a pathway that fits their needs, circumstances, and preferences.
Reduced-Fee Counselling With Experienced Clinicians
Affordable counselling is not limited to graduate practicum care.
Experienced, credentialed therapists may make a limited number of reduced-fee appointments available when circumstances and availability permit.
Because availability changes over time, we encourage people to contact us about current options rather than assuming a particular therapist or fee level is available.
When we consider a reduced-fee placement, cost is only one part of the conversation. We may also consider the nature of the concerns bringing someone to counselling, therapist experience, clinical fit, scheduling, language, availability, and whether online or in-person care is most appropriate.
The goal is not simply to find the least expensive appointment. It is to help find a level of care that is both financially realistic and clinically appropriate.
Our Graduate Practicum Counselling Program
Graduate practicum counselling is another important way we work to make counselling more accessible.
Our practicum counsellors are graduate students completing advanced professional training in counselling or counselling psychology. They are not beginning their education when they arrive here. Practicum generally follows substantial graduate-level academic and clinical preparation and represents an advanced stage of professional training.
We interview prospective practicum counsellors carefully and select students whose developing clinical approach, professional values, and way of relating are a good fit with our Statement of Care.
Practicum counsellors work within a supervised clinical environment where they can reflect on their work, consult when questions arise, receive feedback, and continue developing clinical judgment.
They receive scheduled weekly individual supervision, regular group supervision, and access to clinical consultation when concerns arise.
The practicum counsellor remains the person providing counselling to the client. Supervision supports the counsellor’s development and clinical thinking rather than replacing the therapeutic relationship.
In selected situations, an experienced credentialed clinician may also participate collaboratively in a session when this is considered clinically useful and appropriate.
Reduced Fees, Supported Clinical Development
Graduate practicum counselling currently ranges from $40 to $120 per session.
The reduced fee should not be understood as a measure of the counsellor’s worth, commitment, or the importance of the care being provided.
Practicum brings graduate clinical education, supervision, consultation, reflective practice, and real counselling experience together in a way that can benefit both the client and the developing counsellor.
When that process is done thoughtfully, two important things can happen at the same time: developing counsellors can grow in competence and professional judgment, while more people in the community gain access to counselling.
What Research Says About Therapists in Training
It is reasonable to wonder whether counselling with a graduate practicum counsellor can be effective.
Research suggests that therapists in training can provide meaningful clinical benefit when they are working within appropriate training and supervision environments.
One community-clinic study followed 558 clients treated by 179 therapists in their first clinical placement. Clients showed significant improvement in depression, anxiety, general psychological distress, and post-traumatic stress.
Other research adds an important qualification. In a study of people receiving treatment for anxiety disorders, overall outcomes were comparable between trainee and qualified therapists, but more experienced therapists showed an advantage for clients with more severe anxiety.
A broader meta-analysis of 22 studies and 208 effect sizes found only a small overall relationship between therapist experience and outcomes for internalizing concerns, with differences varying by clinical presentation.
For us, the important message is not that experience does not matter.
It is that graduate practicum counsellors can provide meaningful care for many people, while thoughtful matching, supervision, and recognition of clinical complexity remain essential.
That is why we consider both accessibility and appropriateness when helping someone decide whether a practicum counsellor or a more experienced clinician may be the better fit.
Research referenced on this page
- Canadian Institute for Health Information. “Challenges persist in access to mental health and substance use care.” View source
- Statistics Canada. Mental health needs and access to services among Canadians meeting diagnostic criteria for mood, anxiety and substance-use disorders (2022 data). View source
- Vos, J., Chryssafidou, E., van Rijn, B., & Stiles, W. B. (2022). Outcomes of beginning trainee therapists in an outpatient community clinic. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 22, 471–479. View source
- Mason, L., Grey, N., & Veale, D. (2016). My therapist is a student? The impact of therapist experience and client severity on cognitive behavioural therapy outcomes for people with anxiety disorders. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 44(2), 193–202. View source
- Walsh, L. M., Roddy, M. K., Scott, K., Lewis, C. C., & Jensen-Doss, A. (2019). A meta-analysis of the effect of therapist experience on outcomes for clients with internalizing disorders. Psychotherapy Research, 29(7), 846–859. View source
Clinical Supervision Is Part of the Care Environment
Clinical supervision is an important part of the environment surrounding graduate practicum counselling.
Supervision creates space to reflect on clinical work, consider different ways of understanding what may be happening, examine the counsellor’s own responses, think carefully about ethics and boundaries, and recognize when additional consultation or a different level of care may be needed.
The supervisor does not replace the practicum counsellor or become the client’s treating therapist. Instead, supervision supports the counsellor’s developing clinical judgment and helps create a more thoughtful care environment around the work.
A Culture of Ongoing Learning
The practicum program also reflects something broader about how we think about clinical work.
We believe good clinical work requires continuous learning.
That commitment does not end when someone completes a degree or becomes registered. Experienced clinicians also continue developing through supervision, consultation, research, reflection, professional education, clinical experience, and attention to what each therapeutic relationship can teach us.
Graduate practicum training makes that commitment especially visible.
Interns are learning openly and intentionally, but they are entering a clinical environment where experienced counsellors are also expected to remain curious, reflective, evidence-informed, and willing to keep developing.
In that sense, supervision is not simply something we provide to students.
It reflects the kind of clinical culture we want to create: one in which knowledge matters, experience matters, humility matters, and learning continues throughout professional life.
A Longstanding Commitment to Training and Access
Clinical supervision and the development of emerging counsellors have been part of Dr. Michael “Mike” Dadson’s professional work for more than two decades.
Across university, community, private-practice, and clinical-leadership settings, he has supervised or mentored more than 50 graduate students and developing clinicians.
That experience has reinforced an important principle: Developing good counsellors requires more than completing courses. It also involves developing the person of the therapist.
Clinical growth involves learning how to listen carefully, reflect on one’s own responses, recognize the limits of current knowledge, remain open to feedback, use supervision well, and continue developing professional judgment over time.
We want our practicum environment to support that kind of growth through thoughtful supervision, reflective practice, professional development, and responsible care.
We have also had the privilege of seeing our practicum counsellors complete their graduate training and continue forward professionally. All graduates of the Gentle Currents practicum program to date have successfully moved into registered clinical practice.
Their accomplishments belong to them.
Our role is to help create an environment in which developing counsellors can learn, grow, receive meaningful supervision, and contribute to increasing access to care in the community.
Finding the Right Level of Care
Affordable care still needs to be appropriate care.
A graduate practicum counsellor may be a very good fit for many people. For others, the nature, severity, or complexity of what they are experiencing may make a more experienced or credentialed clinician a better fit.
That decision should not be based on cost alone.
When we help someone explore counselling options, we may consider: the concerns bringing the person to counselling; clinical complexity; counsellor experience and areas of practice; relational fit; supervision and support needs; language; scheduling; online or in-person preferences; current availability; and financial circumstances.
Sometimes the right pathway is clear from the beginning. Sometimes it becomes clearer through conversation.
You do not need to determine the answer before reaching out.
Part of our role is to help you understand the options and explore a pathway that is both realistic and clinically appropriate.
How Matching Works
Matching is not simply about finding the first available appointment.
It means thinking about you as a person, the counsellor, the concerns bringing you to counselling, and the conditions that may help the therapeutic relationship work well.
That may mean connecting you with a graduate practicum counsellor, an experienced clinician offering a reduced-fee space, or another therapist whose experience and approach may be a better fit.
If we believe a different level of care may be more appropriate, we will be honest about that.
Different pathways may involve different clinicians, fee structures, or levels of experience, but they do not change your value as a person.
Whatever pathway you enter through, you should be met with the same dignity, respect, integrity, and commitment to thoughtful care. The pathway may differ, but our responsibility to you does not.
Meet the People Behind the Care
Finding the right pathway into counselling is also about finding the right person.
Our counsellors bring different professional backgrounds, areas of experience, languages, personalities, and ways of working. Some are experienced credentialed clinicians. Others are graduate practicum counsellors developing their clinical practice within our supervised training environment.
We want you to have enough information to consider who you may feel comfortable speaking with and whose experience may fit what is bringing you to counselling.
You can explore our team, learn more about each counsellor, and begin considering who may be a good fit for you.
If you would also like a broader introduction to how we think about counselling, relationships, change, and the kinds of support we offer, you can explore our Counselling in Langley page.
Languages, Scheduling, Online and Physical Access
Accessibility often depends on practical details that are easy to overlook until they become a barrier.
We try to make counselling easier to reach in several different ways.
Seven-Day Availability
Gentle Currents Therapy is open seven days a week, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. That can make counselling more workable for people balancing work, school, caregiving, shift work, or other scheduling demands. Individual counsellor schedules and current openings vary, so please contact us if you would like to know what is available.
Counselling in Multiple Languages
Members of our clinical team currently provide counselling in English, Punjabi, Hindi, Spanish, and Welsh. For some people, being able to speak in a familiar language can make it easier to talk about experiences, relationships, emotions, culture, and meaning. Language availability depends on which counsellors are currently accepting clients.
In-Person and Online Counselling
We offer both in-person and online counselling when online care is appropriate for your needs and circumstances. Online counselling can make care more practical when transportation, distance, mobility, caregiving, scheduling, or other circumstances make travelling to the clinic difficult. If you are unsure which format may suit you better, we can talk through the options with you.
Physical and Transportation Access
Our Langley clinic includes step-free entry, automatic doors, wheelchair-accessible clinic space, an accessible washroom, curb cuts, free on-site parking, and access by public transit. Elevator access is not applicable at our location.
If you use a wheelchair, walker, or another mobility device, or if there is something specific that would make your visit easier, you are welcome to contact us before your appointment.
We want to understand what you need so that, when you arrive, you feel your questions have been answered and your specific needs have been addressed.
Current Fees and Availability
There is more than one possible pathway into counselling.
Graduate Practicum Counselling
Graduate practicum counselling currently ranges from $40 to $120 per session, depending on the counsellor and arrangement.
Reduced-Fee Counselling With Experienced Clinicians
Limited reduced-fee appointments may also be available with experienced, credentialed therapists when availability permits. Because availability changes over time, please contact us rather than assuming that a particular therapist or fee level is currently available based only on information online.
Regular-Fee Counselling
Regular-fee counselling is also available with members of our clinical team. Fees may vary by counsellor, service, and professional designation.
Benefits and Funding
Some people may have extended-health benefits, workplace coverage, third-party funding, or another source of support that can help with counselling costs. Coverage varies by plan and funding source. We are happy to help you understand what information you may need when checking your benefits, but reimbursement decisions are made by your insurer or funding provider.
If cost is making you unsure whether counselling is possible, you are welcome to contact us.
We can help you explore what options are currently available and consider a pathway that is both financially realistic and clinically appropriate.
Practical FAQs
How much does affordable counselling cost?
Graduate practicum counselling currently ranges from $40 to $120 per session. Limited reduced-fee appointments may also be available with experienced, credentialed therapists.
Are graduate practicum counsellors supervised?
Yes. Practicum counsellors receive scheduled weekly individual supervision, regular group supervision, and access to clinical consultation when questions or concerns arise.
Will my extended-health benefits cover practicum counselling?
Possibly. Practicum counselling may not be reimbursable under every extended-health plan. Coverage depends on your insurer or funding source. We can help you understand what information to check, but your provider determines whether a session is eligible for reimbursement.
How do I know whether a practicum counsellor or an experienced clinician is right for me?
There is no single answer for everyone. We can help you consider clinical needs, complexity, counsellor experience, relational fit, language, scheduling, availability, financial circumstances, and your preferences.
Do I need to know what kind of counselling I need before I contact you?
No. You do not need to diagnose yourself, choose a therapy approach, or know which counsellor is right for you before reaching out. You can begin with what you know, and we can explore the next step together.
Our Statement of Care
Our approach to accessibility grows from the same commitments that shape the rest of our work.
We believe every person has dignity and worth, that people should be treated with compassion and respect, and that evidence-informed care and genuine human connection belong together.
Those commitments do not change because someone enters counselling through a different fee pathway, works with a graduate practicum counsellor, receives reduced-fee care, or needs additional support in order to access services.
Different people may enter care in different ways.
Our responsibility is to meet each person with the same dignity, integrity, respect, and commitment to thoughtful care.
Every person is welcomed with dignity, compassion, and hope.
Beginning the Conversation
If you are wondering whether counselling might be possible for you, you can begin with what you know.
Maybe cost is the concern. Maybe you are unsure who to speak with. Maybe there is a practical need that has to be considered before counselling can work.
We can help you explore the options, answer your questions, and consider what kind of care may fit your needs, circumstances, and preferences.
There is no expectation that you arrive with everything figured out.
You are beginning a conversation, not taking a test.
