Northwestern Ontario Counselling and Consulting (NWOCC) will formally open a new, more prominent location in the former A Buck or Two building on Scott Street in Fort Frances on May 28, its owners hoping that a more visible setting will help reduce the stigma around seeking help for mental health issues.
The clinic, founded in 2023 by siblings Brady Heyens and Kaylee Heyens-McMahon, initially launched as an online-only service. It started offering in-person services in 2024 when Heyens and Heyens-McMahon rented space adjacent to Stylush Salon, further east on Scott Street.
In April of 2025, they acquired the former A Buck or Two location and began renovations to turn it into a professional and purpose-designed mental health clinic.
“The end of April 2025 was when our offer was officially accepted by Ted DeBenetti, the owner of A Buck or Two. There were a lot of things that needed to happen,” Heyens-McMahon said.
“So over the last year, we undertook a major, major renovation that included soundproofing. We have seven soundproof offices, we have a boardroom that’s called the Birch Room, and then we also have a rental side as well that has two offices and a kitchenette, and Agency One cultural organization is renting that from us.”
The renovation has also allowed them to make the building more accessible with washrooms and push-button doors. Most recently, they’ve renovated the exterior of the building as well, with a paint job and a new sign.
The practice has grown to include 20 different practitioners, with about half working online and half in-person.
“We have a team of about 20 clinicians now, and about half of them are virtual, located in southern Ontario,” Heyens-McMahon said. “But then there are about nine or 10 of us who are located in Fort Frances offering in-person services.”
Early feedback on the new location has been positive, she added.
“It’s generally a pretty bumping place; it’s pretty lively, but it’s gotten lots of good reviews already, that it’s warm and welcoming in the new space, and people walk in and just kind of take a deep breath and feel a lot calmer when they walk through our door.”
The move to their own space became necessary pretty quickly after they began offering in-person services, Heyens-McMahon said.
“We had outgrown our rental space at Stylush Salon. Alicia was an amazing landlord, and the space really served us well when we started offering in-person services in 2024, but we did quickly outgrow it,” she said. “Because it was three offices we were renting, and like I said, we have a team of 20 now. So it didn’t work anymore.”
Heyens-McMahon said that as they moved into their own space, they knew there were certain requirements, such as soundproofing, that would be necessary to create a safe mental health clinical space.
“It was super important for us to have our own space that we could soundproof and make very comfortable and very welcoming,” she said.
“Part of our mission is destigmatizing mental health therapy or mental health services in general. So we didn’t want it to feel like a sterile environment or too stuffy. The accessibility piece was super important to us. Having a building that was fully accessible to the public.”
They are also hoping a prominent location in the core of downtown Fort Frances will help normalize the process for those seeking help for mental health concerns.
“The location as well, on Scott Street, was actually a selling feature to us, because we’re trying to destigmatize mental health, just like you walk into the eye doctor off of Scott Street. So that was big for us as well.”
Heyens-McMahon said they also plan to keep growing the practice with additional mental health practitioners to serve different kinds of clients.
“This new space is just going to allow us to continue growing,” she said. “We’re not stopping at just 20 clinicians right now, we’re building out our assessment program with clinical psychologists and psychometrists to offer mental health diagnosis assessments for children as young as two, for Autism Spectrum Disorder, and ADHD, and so that’s kind of our next focus is building out that side of our of our practice, and the space will allow us to have those assessment services locally in Fort Frances as well.”
Northwest Ontario Counselling and Consulting will have a grand opening and open house on Thursday, May 28, to celebrate their new location at 209 Scott St. The event will kick off with a ribbon cutting at 11 a.m. with Mayor Andrew Hallikas, and they will be offering tours of the new location as well as information about their services and refreshments until 2 p.m.
