{"id":103753,"date":"2025-08-28T18:58:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T18:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/103753\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T18:58:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T18:58:07","slug":"how-public-therapy-programs-are-quietly-re-shaping-individuals-and-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/103753\/","title":{"rendered":"How public therapy programs are quietly re-shaping individuals and communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

When it comes to accessing mental healthcare in Canada, therapists say prohibitive costs create a \u201ctwo-tier system.\u201dGETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Therapy can be transformational, says therapist Roxanne Francis. Take one of her former patients, a woman we\u2019ll call Nina. When she started therapy, she was at a low point in her life. As a child, she had experienced severe trauma and as an adult, it was impacting her ability to parent her own children. Child protective services had become involved, and there was the chance that she might lose custody. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the point that she came to me, she said, \u2018I don\u2019t even know why I\u2019m here,\u2019\u201d Francis says. \u201cWe put in a safety plan to ensure that she called me the next morning, because she didn\u2019t really see herself living through the night.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Nina did call, and Francis was able to help her find a way forward. They began to work through the childhood trauma that was at the root of Nina\u2019s current situation, but they also explored practical strategies and solutions, like re-connecting with some relatives who could help with childcare or figuring out how to get into a better paying field of work. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time that she stopped seeing me, she had started school and was working at night, and her cousin was helping her with childcare,\u201d says Francis. \u201cThings had turned around, and she was no longer thinking about ending her life.\u201d <\/p>\n

A crucial point? Nina was able to get some of the help she needed because she had access to free therapy through the community agency that Francis worked for at the time. <\/p>\n

\u201cI met so many wonderful people who needed therapy. I met people who were contemplating suicide and figured out that life was worth it. I met people who were diagnosed with bipolar disorder and figured out how to live a regular life. I met people who were trying to leave abusive relationships and were able to leave and find support because accessible therapy was there for them,\u201d says Francis, who worked in community-based care for over a decade before opening her own private practice, which offers a sliding fee-scale to support those who may not be able to afford the full rate. \u201cIt really makes a world of difference.\u201d <\/p>\n

As Francis explains, there is a \u201ctwo-tier system\u201d when it comes to access to therapy in Canada: <\/p>\n

Those who are able to afford it and those who can\u2019t \u2014 who also are often the people who need this service the most. (Private therapy can cost between $150 to $250 per session, which is out of reach for many people.)<\/p>\n

Helping to bridge some of that gap is EveryMind, a not-for-profit funded by the Ontario government that offers free mental health services to children, youth and families in Peel region. This includes a crisis line and single session counselling services, with appointments often available within a day or two through their Tangerine program.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust last week, one of our clinicians met with a young person struggling with auditory hallucinations,\u201d says Karen Anslow, director of clinical services at EveryMind. \u201cThis young person had the experience of people not taking him seriously. But through this process, he expressed to the clinician that he felt heard and not judged.\u201d <\/p>\n

As a result of a single session, this young man received a report that he could show to his family doctor and get the kind of follow-up care that he needed. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor children and young people who are struggling with their mental health, or maybe feeling alone and isolated, this is a safe space where they don\u2019t feel judged, and [to] get actionable resources to walk away with,\u201d says Anslow. \u201cA lot of young people, children and families really struggle to find the help to meet their needs. If we or other community partners weren\u2019t an option, it just shuts another door on them.\u201d <\/p>\n

The spectrum of need is as diverse as the growing population EveryMind serves: Since the pandemic, they\u2019re noticing an \u201cexplosion\u201d in anxiety, alongside eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, selective mutism, and ADHD and caregiver burnout. <\/p>\n

And while these free or low-fee offerings are imperfect \u2014 there can be months-long waitlists in some areas, and some services may cap the number of sessions \u2014 access to public therapy services can profoundly improve both individuals and their communities. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe therapist isn\u2019t just there to catch your tears and be a \u2018yes\u2019 person, but to also hold you accountable and challenge you,\u201d says Francis. \u201cWhat would happen if you actually applied for this thing you\u2019re so scared of? What would happen if you put things in place and left this person that\u2019s no good for you? We help you actually make steps so you can climb the ladder and make your life better.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: When it comes to accessing mental healthcare in Canada, therapists say prohibitive costs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,59598,84,393,59597,394,59596,19970],"class_list":{"0":"post-103753","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-free-therapy","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-mental-healthcare","14":"tag-mentalhealth","15":"tag-ordid3815653568te","16":"tag-therapy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}