A mental health practice based in Fort Frances is opening the door to helping even more people by offering virtual therapy services in order to eliminate some of the associated struggles and stigmas.
NorthWest Ontario Counselling and Consulting (NWOCC) is a local mental health and therapy practice that aims to provide therapy, counselling and other services to the entirety of northwestern Ontario. Opened by siblings Kaylee Heyens-McMahon and Brady Heyens in 2023, their practice has since expanded its team and scope to be as accessible to as many residents as possible. Part of how they are accomplishing their goals is by providing virtual therapy services through their practice, which eliminates the face-to-face aspect of traditional therapy in favour of meeting over a web camera service similar to Zoom or Skype. Heyens-McMahon said the push for virtual services helps to address some of the specific challenges associated with providing care in the region.
“Our mission at NWOCC is to provide rural communities with quality mental health care, and virtual therapy is a modern take on addressing the barriers associated with mental health care in rural communities,” she explained.
“Virtual therapy means no wait lists. We have 15 therapists on our team now, they’re registered social workers, registered psychotherapists, a couple of them are PhD level therapists. We have this large team of qualified, passionate therapists that don’t necessarily want to relocate to northwestern Ontario, but they’re more than happy to learn about the specific issues and problems in our area that clients are coming to address. We ensure they have tons of training and experience. We have a very high standard for hiring our therapists, so we’re bringing those quality therapy services to our rural communities without clients having to go on long drives, without clients having to wait on a list for six months to a year. It’s quality care, connection and, we say, ‘support from the comfort of your own space.’”
Virtual therapy sessions are functionally the same as in-person meetings, though Heyens-McMahon said each client meets with their therapist from a comfortable, private location in their own home, and connects through a private, virtual app that allows them to speak with their therapist over video. Heyens-McMahon shared that the video aspect of the calls are preferred over telephone only calls because that way the therapist can also see their clients body language, which better helps them deliver their services. All of the same types of therapy can be delivered virtually as in person, and Heyens-McMahon said there is a growing body of research that is showing virtual therapy is as effective, potentially more so, than traditional face-to-face sessions.
“They’re os comparable.
The research is there showing that virtual therapy is just as effective for the client, and often even more effective, because virtual therapy allows us to break down those barriers of long wait times, long drives, lack of childcare. Those can sometimes be a barrier for people accessing therapy. If you’re doing virtual, you go to a room in your house and your kids are set up playing or watching a show. Then childcare is no longer a barrier.”
The expanded team of professionals at NWOCC has also reduced wait time for clients who might otherwise go half a year before their appointment, with Heyens-McMahon saying their clients can often access same day therapy services.
Taken altogether, the increase in accessibility and decrease in barriers will hopefully help to eliminate some of the stigmas Heyens-McMahon said are still surrounding virtual and in-person therapy services. While conceptions around accessing therapy mean an individual is weak, or not suffering enough to require therapy, Heyens-McMahon said virtual therapy can work just as well as a preventative measure, a way to check in with someone who will listen and provide exercises to improve mental health, rather than acting solely as an emergency measure. Virtual therapy could also help those individuals who might worry about encountering their regular therapist in their day-to-day lives, say at the arena or while grocery shopping, since so many of NWOCC’s therapists are not located in Fort Frances or the Rainy River District.
“We do kind of see it as the best of both worlds,” Heyens-McMahon said.
“Where they’re coming to us, NWOCC, they know it’s a local company they can trust and have faith in, but then they’re also getting that privacy of knowing their therapist isn’t located here. So I think it does break down some of that stigma.”
However, Heyens-McMahon acknowledged there are some other barriers that could arise from virtual therapy services, especially with individuals who might not be as tech-savvy, as they will have to learn how to navigate the app that NWOCC uses to connect their clients to therapists.
Another misconception Heyens-McMahon said NWOCC is working to correct is that of the cost of therapy. Rather than the conception that a private therapists visit will cost someone hundreds of dollars per session, NWOCC has worked with local communities, agencies and organizations to offer services to those without health insurance coverage, and does accept private insurance coverage, which many in the district will have through their employers. For those who still don’t qualify, NWOCC has a low-cost program individuals may qualify for that can see the cost of a session drop to as low as $25, making therapy services more accessible, and therefore more normalized, to even more of the region’s population.
NWOCC has also added a clinical psychologist to their team over the past few years, which means that referrals for specific mental health diagnoses can also be processed much quicker than having to wait months on end to travel to a larger centre like Thunder Bay to receive a diagnosis. This means people are receiving quality care much quicker, which leads to better treatment overall.
The future of virtual therapy looks bright, with Heyens-McMahon estimating more and more people will see the benefits and begin to access virtual therapy services over the next five to ten years. She said she believes the research will also continue to grow and potentially show more and more benefits to virtual therapy, or taking other therapeutic practices virtual, allowing more and more people to access the support and care they need.
“The mental health field, we’ve got to be innovative,” she said.
“We just have to if we’re going to try and meet the need for mental health care in Ontario and Canada and across the world. We’ve got to get inventive, creative, and I think that’s what’s going to happen with virtual therapy over the next five, ten years. It’s just going to keep growing.”
For anyone who is still unsure about therapy, both in-person and virtual, Heyens-McMahon said the public can reach out to them at NWOCC by visiting their website at nwocc.ca, by phone at 807-271-5573 or by emailing admin@nwocc.ca in order to learn more about what they do and what services an individual might benefit from. Prospective clients can book free 15 minute consultation calls with different therapists in order to find someone they connect with and who is best poised to help them. Heyens-McMahon recommended anyone thinking of pursuing therapy should ask themselves what they are looking to achieve in therapy, what approach or style might work best for them, how often can they realistically commit to sessions and what qualities they want in a therapist, to best prepare for starting with their therapist.
“I think it takes a little bit of people putting their faith in us, trusting us at NWOCC, this local business that started from the ground up, just trusting that we’re very passionate about bringing these services to northwestern Ontario,” Heyens-McMahon said.
“It is a leap of faith from people, but I think it’s going to catch on, and we’re going to keep advocating for it, for sure. It’s certainly going to become the norm. I mean, we’ve already seen it become more popular since the pandemic, and I think it’s just going to expand.”
