COVID-19 Updates

As things evolve and change, we will be posting updates to our practice on this page. this is where you can find our most up-to-date information.

November 4, 2022: Currently, our office does not require clients to wear masks. We still encourage you to do so, given that therapy rooms are enclosed spaces, but you are welcome to either wear a mask or not.

That said, for in-person sessions, our therapists are continuing to wear masks.

Additionally, please do not come to the office if you have had close contact with someone with a confirmed or presumed case of COVID in the last week; you currently have any symptoms of COVID. If any of these are true for you, we are happy to move your session to video. If video will not work for you, we are happy to cancel and reschedule your appointment and waive any cancellation fee in the case of COVID symptoms or exposure.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out - it is likely that this will be our policy for some time, and we will change this page when this approach changes!

March 3, 2022: We are providing an update in the wake of the Government of Alberta moving into Step 2 of the lifting of public health measures. The biggest change in this transition is the removal of mask mandates in non-high-risk settings.

It is unclear from the announcement whether a therapy office specifically constitutes a high-risk setting. Regardless of whether it does or does not, our office will still be requiring masks during therapy sessions.

We will continue to conduct our COVID pre-screen for any clients coming to the office. This means we are still asking you not to come to the office if: you have travelled internationally in the last 14 days; you have had close contact with someone with a confirmed or presumed case of COVID in the last 14 days; you currently have any symptoms of COVID. If any of these are true for you, we are happy to move your session to video. Your experience for in-person appointments for March will be, essentially, exactly the same as they were in February.

We will continue to monitor the impact of the change in public health measures, and we will review this decision again for April 1.

Our reasoning for this decision is:

• The nature of therapy involves being in a contained space for an extended period; in our estimation, this makes it a higher-risk activity than most public activities.

• Historically, infection rates have tended to rise in the period following loosening of restrictions; we intend to monitor these rates in the coming weeks.

• We have a variety of individuals who come to our office as clients/staff, including those who may have other health conditions that increase their risk. As COVID is airborne, we want to ensure the air in the office is as safe as possible for all individuals.

• On a personal note, although we are both double-vaccinated and boosted, we have a child under 5 years of age, who is unable to be vaccinated yet.

We understand that everyone has been navigating mandates and requirements for nearly two years, and people’s feelings about them can be complex. If you are not willing to continue to wear a mask for in-person sessions, we are happy to provide services virtually via video conferencing.

Ultimately, we appreciate everyone’s patience and flexibility. Our clients have been phenomenal and understanding during the last two years, and as a result, we have been able to maintain a remarkably safe environment. In two years, there has been only one close contact in our office (over a year ago and before vaccines were available) that we are aware of, and no COVID infections in our office at all.

September 19, 2021: Here is a brief update following the changes announced this past week. This past Summer, we were able to roll out some in-person sessions again for clients on a case-by-case basis, with therapists and clients all masked. Any in-person appointments will continue to be masked.

One thing that is important for us to communicate is around vaccine status. Based on a Practice Alert from the College of Alberta Psychologists, which advises us against asking clients about their vaccination status, your therapist will not ask you about your vaccination status. It is our understanding that the changes announced this week do not change this guideline. If that does change, we will announce it here.

We are, however, more than willing to share that both of our therapists have received both doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

We will continue to prioritize video sessions, and to conduct a COVID-19 prescreen before every in-person session. If you have any symptoms or risk factors, you will not be able to attend an in-person session; instead, the session will be moved to video.

We want to extend a note of thanks to our clients - we have found that people have been very proactive about sharing when they are unable to attend due to COVID risk factors or symptoms. This has been a challenging time, but people’s willingness to work together has helped all of us - therapists and clients alike - to provide ongoing service with as little interruption as possible.

June 1, 2021: Currently, all of our sessions are taking place by video conferencing. However, we look forward to offering in-person services as soon as we are able to do so safely, based on the vaccine rollout and the guidelines from our registering body. We appreciate everyone’s flexibility over the past year, and we look forward to seeing people in person soon!

June 1, 2020: The majority of our sessions are still taking place by video conferencing, but we have made several changes over the last several weeks to the in-person environment at our office. We have ensured that all seating is arranged in such a way as to maintain physical distancing, both within therapy rooms and the waiting room. We also provide hand sanitizer at the entrance of our office, and clients may feel free to wash their hands as needed. We have increased the frequency of sanitization practices, sanitizing surfaces and doorknobs between all sessions. We have removed items from the waiting room that are not easily cleaned, including our books and magazines, and are scheduling appointments such that clients are unlikely to overlap in the waiting room - and we provide access to our password-protected guest WiFi network if you do spend any time in the waiting room. We ask that all clients respect physical distancing guidelines, and have these guidelines posted at the entranceway. And as always: If you or someone in your household are experiencing symptoms (cough, fever, respiratory issues), do not come to the office – instead, your session can be done remotely by video.

April 17, 2020: We continue to work with our registering bodies to get clarity on how psychological services fit under the banner of essential services as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves.

We are always working with our clients to assess the level of risk and urgency of their mental health needs, as well as the access to service they may have, in person versus over video or phone. We will continue to work with you in a way that meets your needs, respects your life, health and safety, and ensures access to needed supports. We have implemented risk mitigation strategies in our physical office, and are doing video counselling for non-urgent cases.

As before: If you or someone in your household are experiencing symptoms (cough, fever, respiratory issues), do not come to the office – instead, your session can be done remotely by video. If you’re experiencing these symptoms and you have not done so already, please call 811 or visit Alberta Health’s self assessment tool. If your mental health needs are urgent and you are unable to use video counselling, please contact emergency services.

March 27, 2020: The Government of Alberta just announced closures of non-critical health services. Based on their website, mental health services are not included in the closed services at this time - we currently remain open but are prepared should we be directed to close our doors to in-office appointments, or should we ourselves experience symptoms and have to self-isolate. In that vein, we encourage any and all clients to take advantage of our video conferencing option to limit potential exposure and maintain best distancing practices.

A reminder that If you or someone in your household are experiencing symptoms (cough, fever, respiratory issues), please do not come to the office – instead, your session can be done remotely by video. If you’re experiencing these symptoms and you have not done so already, please call 811 or visit Alberta Health’s self assessment tool.

March 20, 2020: We recognize that mental health supports are very important, and we want to continue to provide services with as little interruption as possible. So here’s the latest on what we’re doing!

• We are still accepting new clients and meeting with existing clients. We will continue to provide face-to-face sessions as long as we are healthy and our office building remains open.

• We have incorporated video conferencing into our practice. It’s important to us that you have the same level of privacy and confidentiality as when we meet in person. This is why we have purchased licenses from On Call Health - a Toronto-based company that does end-to-end encryption, no recording or storage of sessions, and only uses Canadian servers (which means the information isn’t subject to other countries’ privacy laws).

• If you or someone in your household are experiencing symptoms (cough, fever, respiratory issues), please do not come to the office – instead, your session can be done remotely by video. If you’re experiencing these symptoms and you have not done so already, please call 811 or visit Alberta Health’s self assessment tool.

• You don’t have to have symptoms to use video counselling - whatever the reason, you can request your session by video. We don’t need to know your reason for switching - we just want to be accessible in whatever way works best for you.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.