Therapist Session

When you contact Sullivan + Associates, our goal is always to have you speak to a live person. One of our friendly administrative staff members will greet you warmly and assist. 

If you are interested in a psychological assessment, your call will be transferred to our Assessment Coordinator, Sairine Manebo. Sairine will be happy to answer any questions you have and will help identify the best assessment for your needs. If the assessment question is particularly complex, Sairine will consult with a Clinical Psychologist at our clinic to ensure that the appropriate assessment is offered. Before booking an appointment, the client will be given a general overview of the assessment process, as well as the cost.

For psychotherapy/counselling appointments, an administrative assistant will conduct a brief intake interview over the phone. You will be asked questions about basic demographic information (i.e., address, city, postal code, phone number, email address, etc.), referral sources (we want to know how you heard about us!) and a brief explanation about why you are seeking our services. For anyone uncomfortable providing this information, it can be skipped, although a short answer is often helpful, as we do our best to place clients with the appropriate therapist. If you have a particular therapist you are interested in seeing before contracting with us, please inform our administrative staff so we can ensure you are scheduled appropriately.

At Sullivan + Associates, we feel it is extremely important that you not only feel comfortable but also confident that your therapist can help you to achieve the results you want. If for any reason you don’t feel you were placed with the best therapist for you, please get in touch with our Office manager, Roberta Barrow. Roverta will arrange a transfer to a new therapist, with the first appointment being free of charge.

Sullivan + Associates is located at 960 Alloy Drive, and our company logo is easily visible from the street. When you enter our clinic, you will be warmly greeted by one of our administrative assistants, who will confirm your appointment and invite you to take a seat in the waiting area. If your appointment is for psychotherapy, you will be given a short questionnaire to complete, which will help provide the therapist with additional information before you meet (unless you completed and emailed the pre-appointment questionnaire before the appointment!). Once completed, the questionnaire is returned to the administrative staff and forwarded to your therapist for review before the session. 

While waiting, please feel free to relax and get comfortable. We have satellite radio playing quietly in the waiting area, as well as free Wifi. There is also a secondary waiting area located beside the primary waiting area that is typically reserved for family members who have varying appointment times. A big screen TV with various streaming services is available for viewing while waiting. Filtered water and complimentary coffee are available, and there is an accessible washroom located across from the waiting area. 

Your assessor or therapist will meet you in the waiting area shortly after you arrive. You will be accompanied to their office, and are welcome to bring your beverage with you. If the appointment is for your child, we recommend that parents attend the first session. Our offices are designed to be warm and comfortable, and you are invited to make yourself comfortable on a loveseat or chair.

Psychotherapy/counselling sessions begin by reviewing the consent to treatment and limits of confidentiality forms. These forms are crucial for outlining the treatment process so the client can confidently make an informed decision. This form is crucial for outlining the benefits and risks of treatment, as well as providing a basic framework for what will be involved in participating in psychotherapy/counselling. All discussions in sessions are confidential; however, there are a few limitations, and clients must be aware of these limitations before providing personal information to the assessor.

Once these forms are signed, the clinician will ask the client if a consent to release information form needs to be completed. This form would allow the therapist to release a client’s information to a specific person such as a family physician, a lawyer, an insurance adjuster, a nurse consultant or an adjudicator with WSIB, etc. Older adolescent clients may also wish to sign a consent to release information form so the therapist can communicate with their parents/caregivers. 

After these forms are signed, the clinician will commence with the clinical interview. The therapist will ask questions about your presenting concerns (reasons for making the appointment), history with this issue and inquire about past psychological treatment (if applicable). If the personal health questionnaire was completed before the session, the therapist will likely ask further questions about mental health history, medical history, family psychological/psychiatric history, relationships with family members, social concerns, etc., to gain a deeper understanding of the client’s problems. It may not be necessary to gather all of the information above, but the goal of the clinician is to be thorough and develop an effective treatment plan. Please note, despite our desire to be careful, a client will NEVER be coerced or forced to discuss an issue they are unwilling to discuss. 

Once this portion of the session is completed, the clinician will provide an opinion about the presenting problem, and a treatment plan will be developed in collaboration with the client. Specific goals are identified, and psychoeducational reading material and/or homework assignments may be given in between sessions to facilitate progress.

After the first session, psychotherapy/counselling often begins with psychoeducation (i.e., the therapist provides important information about the client’s issue and helps the client to develop a greater understanding of how this issue impacts their life). The complexity of the issue will determine how much time is spent at this stage of treatment. For most issues, the clinician will provide psychoeducation about Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and help the client to develop effective CBT strategies to achieve their goals. It is very important to note that all treatment plans are created in collaboration with the client, as the client must be comfortable with their treatment plan. In future sessions, the therapist will help to further customize these strategies for greater effectiveness. This may involve adjusting self-talk, finding new ways to challenge distorted thinking, learn new psychological strategy, etc. The frequency of future sessions will be determined by the client in collaboration with the therapist. As the client experiences improvement and gains mastery with their issue, the frequency of sessions is typically reduced (i.e. weekly to bi-weekly or bi-weekly to monthly) and eventually terminated. Once psychotherapy/counselling is terminated, the client can always come back for “booster sessions” to fine-tune the skills they have learned or resume regular psychotherapy/counselling sessions if they would like to work more intensively on their original issue or seek treatment for a different issue.

The first part of a psychological assessment is known as the clinical interview. The Psychologist will begin by reviewing the Consent to Assessment/Limits of Confidentiality form with you. This form is crucial for outlining the benefits and risks of treatment, as well as providing a basic framework for the assessment process. Information provided in an assessment is always confidential; however, there are a few limitations, and clients must be aware of these limitations before providing personal information to the assessor. A Consent to Release form will be provided as well and would be completed if the client would like a copy of the report released to a third party, such as a family physician, school, etc.

Once these forms are signed, the remainder of the interview will involve answering questions about mental health history, medical history, family psychiatric history, relationships with family members, and, of course, specific questions about the assessment concern. For psychoeducational assessments, there will be additional questions related to academic achievement, learning difficulties (and strengths) and attentional issues.

Once the clinical interview is completed, you will be asked to complete several psychological measures and/or performance-based subtests. For mental health tests, self-report psychological measures are completed, and this typically involves being relocated to a private space. Such as an empty office or the conference room, to complete the questionnaires. With psychoeducational ADHD, autism and neuropsychological assessments, you or your child will be introduced to the Psychometrist who will be administering the performance-based subtests. Psychological (mental health) assessments are typically completed in 1.5-2 hours, while more specialized assessments, such as psychoeducational, ADHD, autism and neuropsychological assessments take approximately 3-6 hours to complete. 

The results of these measures will be used in conjunction with the information from the clinical interview, the Psychologist’s/Psychometrist’s observations, etc., to help formulate a diagnostic impression and, most importantly, lead to treatment recommendations and/or accommodations.

After the assessment has been completed, the psychological measures are scored, the data is analyzed, and a psychological report is written which discusses clinical background, results of the measures, behavioural observations, diagnostic impressions and treatment recommendations/accommodations. Our goal is to complete psychological (mental health) assessment reports and schedule a feedback appointment within 1-2 weeks of the assessment date. For psychoeducational, ADHD, autism and neuropsychological assessments, the timeframe is 6 weeks. At the feedback appointment, the Psychologist will provide a draft copy of the report and discuss the results of the assessment. This will include the results of psychological measures, the Psychologist’s diagnostic conclusions and a detailed explanation about the treatment recommendations and/or accommodations. After this appointment, the report is finalized and released to the client and anyone else the client has requested.