Counselling

The Virtual Walk-In is an opportunity for you to speak to a therapist the same day or next day. If you are needing support with coping, parenting, struggles with relationships, bullying, anxiety, depression, stress, family or couple conflict or finding the right service for you then the Virtual Walk-In may be able to help.

We Offer Virtual Care!

FSYR has partnered with OnCall Health, a Canadian company, to offer clients a secure and convenient virtual counselling platform. You can access our services from the comfort of your own home or office, via telephone or most computer or mobile devices with a stable internet connection.

How Does It Work?

Virtual counselling works like traditional counselling except instead of having to come into an office for an appointment, the counselling session is done virtually via a video or phone call.  Our qualified counsellors have been trained to provide virtual counselling services, which has been shown to be as effective as face to face counselling.

Why Choose Virtual Counselling?

• Connect from anywhere with an internet connection
• Schedule your day with more flexibility
• Eliminate associated costs of transportation, parking, missing work or after school activities and finding childcare
• Great for people who prefer to use personal devices to communicate and find regular office visits challenging due to illness, weather, distance or inconvenience

Is it Safe and Secure?

FSYR and OnCall Health are committed to maintaining complete privacy.

• Video consultations are encrypted and the content of the video is never recorded or stored anywhere.
• Minimal personal information is required to use the system (only name and email). This data is completely private between FSYR and their clients.
• OnCall Health complies with the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA), The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and all equivalent personal health information protection legislation in Canada.
• OnCall Health servers are privately hosted and located in Canada, with the Amazon secure cloud.
• Fee payments are collected and processed through the platform via PCI-compliant Stripe.
• All personal information is deleted and no longer stored on the OnCall Health system.
• The technology is regularly audited by a third party to ensure privacy obligations are always being met.

Get Started With Our Virtual Care!

To access our services, please visit our Get Started section. We’re here to help!

FSYR is the Lead Agency and proud host of the York Rainbow Support Network and identifies as a safe, positive space for delivering services for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Two Spirit, Queer and Questioning individuals. The York Rainbow Support network is aimed at reducing barriers and building capacity to serve the 2SLGBTQ+ Communities.

All our staff are required to attend 2SLGBTQ+ sensitivity and awareness training. In addition, FSYR has professional counsellors who are members of the 2SLGBTQ+ communities. All our counsellors are experienced in 2SLGBTQ+ related issues such as:

• Coming out
• Sexual orientation & gender identity issues
• Life transitions
• Relationship issues
• Marriage transitions
• Couple conflict
• Discrimination
• Aging
• Parenting

FSYR also offers 2SLGBTQ+ Group Programs. 

York Rainbow Support Line: 1-888-York-LGBT (1-888-967-5542)

Single Session Consultation allows you to be seen sooner as generally there is no waitlist for this service. It can help you to find answers to some of your more immediate concerns, direct you to the appropriate resources and for some a Single Session can address your counselling needs. 

Single Session Consultation takes 1 to 1½ hours in total, and you will be asked to complete a questionnaire online, or when you arrive and again after completing your session.

Individual counselling for adults can assist you in coping with the ups and downs of everyday life, and with the stresses that can cause anxiety, depression and conflict. Counselling can help you to heal from the negative things that have happened such as, losses, separation, divorce, family conflict, violence or abuse.

Some people get a little “weirded “out when they hear the word “counselling.” That’s okay. Basically, counselling is about talking to someone who knows a lot about many different issues that teens and youth face. 

We think of counselling as a conversation with someone who you can trust, who won’t judge you, and who wants to help. Often youth come for counselling because they are having problems with their parents or other family members. Sometimes they come because something “bad” has happened to them or they feel sad, lonely, anxious or confused. 

Counselling can help with a variety of problems like bullying, not getting along with others or just feeling different. Asking for help is a healthy thing to do and often takes strength and courage.

Nothing can be more heartbreaking for parents than seeing their children struggle with the challenges of growing up and adapting to things like new schools, new communities, separation, divorce or getting along with others. Stress can affect children in different ways and can cause behavioural problems and/or symptoms like anxiety, and depression. 

Counselling can help parents and children in:

• Gaining relief
• Feeling calmer
• Reducing stress
• Strengthening parent child relationships

Many of our parents and families have found our Group Programs very helpful in better understanding and managing their children’s behaviours.

Counselling can help couples who are experiencing relationship difficulties such as poor communication, lack of intimacy, affairs, extended family pressures, or contemplating separation/divorce, to name a few. 

Relationships can be a challenge at the best of times but can become more difficult when a couple’s stresses increase. Our couple counselling is aimed at improving:

• Relationships
• Reducing emotional distress
• Reducing tensions and conflict
• Enhancing personal well-being

Our group programs help with developing skills such as parenting, managing conflict and anger, and improving communication, confidence and self-esteem. Topics include:

• Triple P, Parenting  
• Parenting for children/youth needing Emotional Regulation or Interpersonal skills support 
• Anger Management/Positive Living programs
• Self-Esteem/Mindfulness Groups
• Cultural Outreach
  • Farsi Groups: Women’s Support, Parenting and Mindfulness
  • South Asian Outreach Program: Counselling, Support Groups, Yoga, Parenting, Mindfulness, etc. (English, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu & Tamil)
  • Chinese Parenting Groups/Counselling: Cantonese and Mandarin