I have found that telepsychology works great for a lot of clients and allows me to work with clients who live outside my commuting zone. The research comparing in-person to telepsychology finds that virtual therapy works just as well as in-person!

I specialize in rural and remote populations and telepsychology can increase access to people who don’t have a psychologist in their community or when they’re not comfortable accessing local services because “everybody seems to know everything” in a small community. This also applies to first responders like the RCMP, who often work in rural communities and the one or two psychologists there, if any, might already be working with members from their detachment. It allows for a bit more privacy and reduces costs for clients such as gas money and time away from work.

Here are a few things that will improve your experience:

• For video therapy, you need a device with video and audio capabilities.

• Ideally, having a laptop or desktop computer is best but some clients use iPads, tablets, or their phones for video calls. In my experience, it feels more comfortable to have a bigger screen across from you rather than looking down at something small.

• A strong internet connection is necessary.

• The best thing is an ethernet connection (plugged into your modem), but a strong Wi-Fi connection also works.

• Have a private space where no children or partners can come into the room or hear you. While I love to see pets, if you are doing an important processing session that requires focus, sometimes having a pet on your lap or walking on your table-top can reduce the effectiveness of the treatment.

• If you have children, it is important to get child-care during your session so that you have this private time to work on your goals.

1. Set up a free 15-minute phone consultation: You can reach out through the links on this website or through the contact email at the bottom of this site. This consultation also acts as an intake to open a file if working with Dr. Friesen seems like a good fit.

2. Getting started: After the phone consultation, if it feels like a good fit to both of you, Dr. Friesen will send a “Getting Started” email with information (some of this information is listed below).

3. Before the first session: Please look for an email from Warrior’s Way Psychological Services. This email sometimes ends up in spam folders so be sure to check it if you don’t receive it. In this email, you will find a link to intake, consent forms, and payment instructions. These forms will take approximately 10-20 minutes to complete, and you can do so online. Please submit these forms prior to your first session. Dr. Friesen will also set you up with a secure account for online booking or secure messaging.

4. Zoom links: You can easily join sessions through Zoom links that will be sent to you prior to each of our meetings (usually the morning of the session date). The professional version of Zoom used is compliant with Canadian privacy laws. After clicking the Zoom link sent to you via email, you will automatically enter the virtual "waiting room." Dr. Friesen will be with you as soon as she is ready. After the room opens, just hit the button to connect to computer audio and turn on your video (usually the button at the bottom left of the screen) and you will be ready to start.

5. The session: Appointments are typically 50 minutes in length and the session fee is $220. Longer sessions may be available and fees are adjusted accordingly. In the first session, Dr. Friesen will review important points in the consent forms, especially confidentiality, and then she would like to spend some time getting more of a sense of who you are as well as what you hope to get out of therapy.

6. After the session - payment: E-transfers are the preferred method of payment for amounts not covered by insurance. Payments are due on the day of the session, after the session when you get the session invoice sent to your email. Credit cards are kept on file for overdue payments only by 5+ days (those not covered by insurance). You will receive an invoice after your session and a receipt after we receive your payment. Receipts are usually sent within a week of the session at the latest.

A lot of people are hesitant about online therapy at first. Over time, most people gain comfort with it and may actually end up preferring it over in-person. With online therapy, you have your own comfortable space and do not have to take extra time out of your day to drive to a physical clinic. It also saves on gas money. I usually suggest giving it a chance and if it still doesn't feel right, I will find referral options if in-person services in your area exist. With online therapy, I also like that clients can show me their spaces and what is important to them or brings them comfort.

Regarding my virtual office, I treat my remote location just like a clinic. No people are allowed to enter my office without my permission and locks, encryptions, and passwords are used just like I did in my in-person offices before I moved online. I ensure that my office is reasonably sound-proofed and use headphones as an additional measure. Your files are stored securely and electronically so that no paper files exist. Your confidentiality is extremely important to me.

It’s rare that both the internet and cell towers go down. However, I know this does happen, especially in rural areas or when storms are happening. If only the internet goes down, I will contact you by email, text message, or phone to continue the session on the phone. If both go down for either of us, I will contact you as soon as possible and I ask that clients do so as well if the outage is on their end. I try to stay up to date on my client’s local area so I will check online to see if any outages have been reported in your area.

In the first session, I will go over points on the consent form like confidentiality, fees, the cancelation policy and more. After that I like to spend time getting to know you, what you are going through, and what your goals for counselling are. I can also describe my main approaches if you would like to learn about them.

I aim to make counselling a comfortable experience that becomes familiar over time. Counselling can involve “talk therapy” where we work through things verbally. This can involve a conversation and exploration of what you are experiencing or it can involve specific skills and strategies. I have special training in EMDR therapy and this is considered more of a brain treatment than a talk therapy, though it incorporates conversation. To learn more about EMDR, see the Approaches tab.

Overall, counselling is a professional relationship and having a solid trusting relationship has been found to be the most important part of counselling. Within this relationship, we will have a very different kind of conversation about what you are going through to help you get to your goals.

Sessions often tend to be 50 minutes. This allows the psychologist some administration time to write your clinical notes, find resources for you, consult, or do other activities to support your progress. It often takes much longer than 10 minutes to do the background work, some of which has fees (e.g., writing reports or notes for your family doctor). Having 10 minutes between sessions also ensures that the psychologist can take a few moments to rest and refocus so they can direct their full attention to you.

How long counselling takes really depends on client needs, client budget or insurance coverage, how long the problem has been developing, and the current context.

Warrior’s Way Psychological Services has a 24-hour cancellation policy. If sessions are cancelled outside of that time-frame or missed, your account will be charged the session fee. If you had an emergency, please contact me as soon as possible and under certain situations, I may be able to waive the cancellation fee.

Fit is very important. Sometimes it may not feel like a fit if a psychologist does not work in certain areas or take certain approaches. Other times, it’s simply a personality difference where a fit doesn’t happen naturally. In any case, you can rescind your consent any time without any prejudice from me. I will be happy to support you in your decision and will provide you with alternative resources or referrals.

I often take an integrated therapy approach. What this means is that I will incorporate concepts and ideas from evidence-based practice when appropriate to create a unique treatment plan for you. Our brains, personality styles, and cultural backgrounds are unique and I want to make sure that I am providing treatment that matches your worldview and culture to the best of my ability.