FAQ’s

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Welcome to the Crossroads Counselling & Psychological Services information hub. Below you will find answers regarding our clinical therapy services, diagnostic assessment options, scheduling parameters, and operational clinic policies.

🏢 General Clinic Information

Q1: Where is Crossroads Counselling & Psychological Services located?

Our primary clinic is centrally located in Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia. We proudly serve families, adults, post-secondary students, and working professionals across the Halifax area—including Bedford, Hammonds Plains, Sackville, Clayton Park, Dartmouth, Tantallon, and the greater Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM).

Q2: What are your operational hours?

Our administrative intake team is available Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM to assist with bookings, invoicing, and documentation. Therapy and testing appointments are scheduled individually by each clinician, with select morning, evening, and weekend slots available to accommodate school and work commitments.

Q3: What types of professionals practice at Crossroads?

Crossroads is a multidisciplinary mental health practice. Our team consists of Registered Psychologists, and Registered Counselling Therapists (RCT) who provide evidence-based therapeutic care and testing.

🛋️ Therapy & Counselling Services

Q4: What types of therapy services do you offer?

We offer comprehensive mental health counselling tailored to different life stages and relationship dynamics, including:

• Individual Therapy: For children, adolescents, and adults navigating personal challenges.
• Couples & Marriage Counselling: To improve communication, rebuild trust, and navigate relational transitions.
• Family Therapy: To mend communication fractures, support parenting strategies, and process collective family transitions.
• Grief Therapy: To assist those who are impacted by grief and loss.
• PTSD Therapy: To support those processing trauma and working toward recovery and resilience.
  

Q5: What clinical issues can your counselling team help address?

Our therapists utilize evidence-based modalities (such as CBT, DBT, ACT, and mindfulness frameworks) to treat a wide range of concerns, including:

• Anxiety, chronic stress, and panic disorders
• Depression, mood irregularities, and burnout
• Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Grief, loss, and life-stage adjustments
• Childhood behavioral challenges, emotional regulation issues, and school-related anxieties

Q6: How long is a standard therapy session?

Standard individual, couples, or family therapy sessions run for 50 minutes of direct clinical time. The remaining 10 minutes of the clinical hour are utilized by your therapist to update clinical progress notes, review treatment plans, and prepare resources for your next visit. Exceptions to this — including intake sessions — can be confirmed with your therapist or our office in advance.

Q7: How many therapy sessions will I or my family need?

The number of sessions a client chooses to complete varies based on the goals of the therapy and issues addressed. The frequency also varies. Often clients dialogue with their therapist to agree on goals and parameters for the sessions.

📝 Psychoeducational & Diagnostic Assessments

Q8: What is a psychoeducational assessment?

A psychoeducational assessment is a formal, highly structured scientific evaluation of an individual’s cognitive, academic, and psychological processing systems. It goes beyond standard therapy by utilizing standardized psychometric tests, clinical interviews, and behavioral rating scales to construct a definitive diagnostic profile.

Q9: What specific diagnoses can an assessment identify?

Our psychoeducational testing batteries can officially diagnose or rule out:

• Specific Learning Disabilities (e.g., Dyslexia in reading, Dysgraphia in writing, Dyscalculia in mathematics).
• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (Inattentive, Hyperactive, or Combined presentations).
• Intellectual Developmental Profiles, including identifying Intellectual Disabilities or Cognitive Giftedness.
• Executive Dysfunction and underlying processing speed or memory deficits.

Q10: Do you offer assessments for both children and adults?

Yes. We provide youth assessments for children and adolescents starting at age 6 up through age 18 to support primary and secondary schooling success. Additionally, we provide ADHD and psychoeducational assessments specifically for students up to the age of 30 who require formal documentation to secure official academic accommodations (at institutions like Dalhousie, SMU, MSVU, etc.).

Q11: Will your assessment reports be accepted by local school boards and universities?

Yes. All evaluations are conducted, interpreted, and signed by a Registered Psychologist in good standing with the Nova Scotia Regulator of Psychology (NSRP). Our reports strictly meet the rigorous legal and clinical diagnostic criteria required by the Halifax Regional Centre for Education (HRCE), private academies, and post-secondary accessibility centers across Canada.

🔒 Confidentiality, Consent, & Privacy

Q12: How is my personal clinical data protected?

Your privacy is our highest priority. All clinical intakes, developmental histories, therapy session notes, raw testing metrics, and finalized diagnostic reports are stored securely.

Q13: What are the limits to clinical confidentiality?

By provincial law and professional ethical standards, all conversations and records are strictly private unless:

1. There is clear and imminent risk of serious bodily harm to yourself or another person.
2. There is reason to suspect that a child (under 16) or a vulnerable adult is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect.
3. Your records are formally subpoenaed by a judge or court order.
4. A provincial regulatory board exercises its right to audit clinical files for public safety and quality control purposes.

💳 Billing, Insurance, & Administrative Policies

Q14: How much do therapy and assessment services cost?

Therapy sessions are billed at a standard hourly rate based on the practitioner’s registration status. Comprehensive assessments are billed based on the number of clinical hours covering intake, testing, scoring, report writing, and feedback plus additional fees. A transparent financial estimate will be provided to you by our intake team before your first session. All fee information can be found at crossroadscpc.ca/fees.

Q16: Are your services covered by MSI or private health insurance?

While private psychological and counseling services are not covered under provincial MSI, the vast majority of extended health insurance plans (such as Blue Cross, Canada Life, Sun Life, Manulife, Telus Health and public service plans) offer partial or complete coverage under “Psychological Services” or “Psychotherapy Services”. We highly recommend verifying your specific plan’s coverage parameters prior to booking.

Q17: Do you offer direct billing to insurance companies?

We provide direct billing to a selection of major extended health insurance providers for standard therapy sessions, depending on your individual policy configurations. For multi-hour diagnostic assessments, policies vary; our administrative assistant will help you check your direct-billing eligibility prior to your intake date. If direct billing is unavailable for your plan, we issue immediate, detailed medical receipts for rapid manual reimbursement.

Q18: What is your appointment cancellation policy?

We require a minimum of 24 business hours’ notice to cancel or reschedule an appointment. Because your session time is exclusively reserved for you, late cancellations or missed appointments without the required 24 business hours’ notice are subject to a missed-appointment fee equivalent to the full cost of the scheduled session.

Q19: How can I get started with therapy or book an assessment intake?

You can get started today by calling our admin team directly, emailing us through our secure website contact form, or using our online booking platform. Our intake coordinator will match you or your child with the clinician best suited to your specific therapeutic needs or assessment goals.