Yes, we are currently offering online therapy to clients, in accordance with the standards set forth by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and the General Data Protection Regulation. We use a video-call platform named Jane, which is specifically designed for use by health practitioners. It is like Zoom, but is fully encrypted so as to preserve your privacy and sessions’ confidentiality.
A couple of important differences.
First, becoming a psychologist in Ontario, compared to a psychotherapist, requires far more training hours and years of education. Specifically, the College of Psychologists of Ontario requires an average of 10 years of education (including a Doctoral-level education and training equivalent to a doctorate in Clinical Psychology), plus 4,000 hours of clinical training in the assessment and treatment of psychiatric issues. By comparison, the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario requires an undergraduate degree, and a total of 360 hours of academic and clinical training.
Second, mental health conditions can be diagnosed by psychologists (and psychiatrists), but not psychotherapists. This is a critical distinction because rigorous assessment and clear understanding of the presenting psychological concern(s) is the foundation of effective interventions.
When you reach out to Dr. Malak Psychology Group by email to schedule an intake with the clinic manager, please share only basic information to preserve your privacy.
The information learnt about you and your concerns during your telephone intake will be maintained in a secure file. This file will subsequently become your client record if you end up pursuing treatment. If you do not, this file will be destroyed.
More about my Privacy Policy can be viewed here.
This really depends on who the client is, their individual needs, circumstances, presenting concerns and treatment goals. Some goals (eg, improving assertiveness skills) require short-term treatment where significant gains can be experienced in as little as four sessions, while others (eg, working through childhood trauma) require longer term treatment.
No, you will not. You may have your initial session(s) and decide you do not have the connection with your psychologist that you are hoping for. In such case, you are welcome to ask for reassignment to another psychologist within the clinic, or keep exploring other options (we will be happy to provide you with a list of referrals).
You may also decide after having your initial session(s) that you do not feel as ready for therapy as you had initially thought you were. In such case, you are free to stop your appointments, and welcome to resume them if and when you feel the timing is right for you.
That said, once you have decided to commit to therapy on a regular basis, we would strongly recommend scheduling weekly or biweekly sessions, especially at the beginning of therapy, so as to promote the development of a therapeutic relationship and treatment progress.