What to Expect
It can be hard to come into counselling or for a psychological assessment. We want you to know what you can expect and understand the process for your visits with Hope Restored. We believe in honesty and collaboration with our clients. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns and we’re always open to feedback.
We look forward to journeying with you in your mental health journey!
Counselling
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Book a Free 15 Minute Phone Consultation!
All of our licensed professionals have been carefully selected and rigorously trained, ensuring that you receive the best experience. A phone consultation allows you to explain some of your story and what you’re looking for to your counsellor. You and your counsellor can see if this would be a good fit, and you can book a service if you want to continue. You can get a referral to another counsellor or service if needed. We want to make sure you are comfortable and receive the service you are looking for.
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First Session
Your first session with a counsellor includes a few important elements. First, you will go through a consent process and any other forms your counsellor has for you. After this you have opportunity to work with your counsellor to create goals and let them know your history or concern that is bringing you into Hope Restored Psychology. Goals are important to lead and guide the counselling sessions moving forward and to know where you’re going. You and your counsellor will then have the bulk of the session together getting to know one another and working on your concern. Toward the end of the session your counsellor may assign you some homework to work on – it’s our belief that if you work on things in session and out of session you’ll see more progress and growth as you move forward. At the end you and your counsellor will book another session as well as settle fees for the session.
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Later Sessions
Later counselling sessions will be focus on your goals and outcomes you’re looking for from counselling. If you don’t like something or want something changed we encourage you to let your counsellor know – we want to collaborate with you to give you the best service possible. We are very open to feedback! These later sessions get into the roots of issues and where we see change happen – stick with it!
The amount of sessions people need varies person to person and issue to issue. Chat with your counsellor about your insurance and history to get more information and to work together to serve your needs best.
Psychological Assessment
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Book a Free 15 Minute Phone Consultation!
A phone consultation allows you to explain some of your story and what you’re looking for from your Psychologist. The assessments we offer include Mental Health Assessments, Executive Functioning/ADHD Assessments, and Adoption Assessments. You and your Psychologist will discuss questions and concerns you have to guide the assessment (called referral questions). From here you can book a session and discuss fees for the assessment to start the process. Fees for an assessment depend on the symptoms and concerns as well as questions you have.
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First Session
Your first session with your Assessment Psychologist includes a few important elements. First, you will go through a consent process and any other forms your psychologist has for you. After this there will be a clinical interview with questions about your life and functioning. These areas can include (but aren’t limited to) concerns or symptoms, mental health history, medical history, education and vocational history, as well as your strengths and weaknesses. This interview builds a foundation for the assessment and allows your Psychologist to get to know you and see a bigger picture of your functioning and history. This is then used as a baseline for the Assessment measures as you go forward.
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Sessions for Assessment Measures
Following a clinical interview your Psychologist will carefully and mindfully choose assessment measures that fit your needs. Some assessment measures will be questionnaires you fill out on your own (and can ask questions to your Psychologist if needed), and some assessments measures will be done in collaboration with your Psychologist. The number of sessions needed depends on your concern, assessments your Psychologist chooses, as well as how long the clinical interview may take.
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Report Writing
Your Psychologist will then synthesize your information from the clinical interview and assessment measures into a report for you. This report includes your referral question or reason for the assessment, symptoms, history, assessment results, any diagnoses from the assessment, as well as recommendations to help you forward. These recommendations often include things you can do with a physician, a psychologist, and yourself to improve your functioning.
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Debrief Session
The last part of an assessment is a debrief session. This is usually an hour long session to go through the results and recommendations from your assessment. Your Psychologist will answer any questions you have and help you understand your report. Any recommendations and steps forward will also be discussed to help you to the best of our ability. You will also be given a PDF of your report for future reference.