FAQs

The Centre charges an hourly fee for service that is based on a sliding-scale depending on current family income. As a non-profit charitable organization, we provide a sliding-scale fee structure to be as accessible as possible to all.

The Centre relies on sponsoring from volunteer donors to support financial assistance for low-income clients. These sponsorships are very limited, in high demand, and may not always be currently available. So to help as many people as possible, we request that clients pay what they can afford, up to the full fee.

To determine who qualifies for the subsidy the Centre uses Statistics Canada low-income cut-off (LICOs) guidelines to define who is considered low income. These figures were developed from a survey of what average Canadian families spend on food, shelter, and clothing per year. Currently, families that usually spend more than 54.7% of their income on food shelter and clothing, are considered low income.

The Centre recognizes that people and families have different financial needs. For example, a family that includes a person who uses a wheelchair may have extra expenses. As well, some basic expenses such as child care, tuition fees, and transportation that are not included in standard income calculations can be taken into consideration in setting the fee.

In collaboration with the client, the session fee will be determined during the intake/assessment appointment, which will be charged at the determined sliding-scale fee. These fees are tax-deductible and appropriate receipts for income tax purposes will be issued.

We also charge the determined hourly fee for any clinical letters that you request to be written by your therapist.

The rules of what is covered vary among extended health care plans. You can check with your individual insurance provider to find out if they cover psychotherapy and their specific guidelines.

There are a number of other sources of funding such as Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, and motor vehicle insurance (if the issues are related to a car accident). Some social services and community groups may have discretionary funds available for helping people they service access to therapy. You can ask your social service worker about this.

Insurance and Other Third Party Payers:

The sliding scale is for individual clients only, since Centre volunteers must fundraise to subsidize any low-income fees. It is the policy of the Centre that third party payers will be expected to pay the current full fee.

The Centre will allow some reasonable negotiation of the full fee for other non-profit organizations who are sponsoring a clients, with permission from our Board of Directors.

Many insurance companies or other third party payers require prior authorization and/or referrals for our services. It is the client ’s responsibility to obtain this authorization. When insurance or other third party coverage is available, clients are charged a full fee and the client submits to their insurance company for reimbursement.

If you have obtained prior authorization for insurance coverage in some cases we can bill the insurance company or another third party payee directly for therapy sessions. Insurance and other third-party payers do not pay for missed sessions and therefore you are responsible for these fees if 18-hour notice of cancellation is not given.

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