Counselling

Centre for Sexuality offers free, short-term counselling services to help individuals and/or families address sexuality, gender, sexual health and/or relationship concerns. Our counselling services are provided by a registered social worker.

Our counselling supports take a holistic and client-centred approach, meaning we recognize individuals as experts on their own lives and agents of their own change. In all our work, we celebrate individuality. We respect each person’s values, personal resources and capacity for self-determination in the context of their own lived experience.

To book a session, please click the button below.

PLEASE NOTE:

Due to staff turnover, we can only accept intakes for STI Education and Pregnancy Options Education. We do not have a counsellor, so only educators are available for these sessions.

If you are seeking counselling services related to gender, sexuality, and relationships and would like to be referred to a different organization, please indicate this on your intake form.

All other counselling intakes will be added to a waitlist, with sessions resuming mid-to-late November. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Topics covered by our counselling services include but are not limited to:

Our counselling sessions offer a collaborative discussion in a supportive and confidential environment. You choose which topics you’d like to talk about, and the conversation goes from there. In all sessions, we focus on helping you build effective tools to understand yourself better and achieve your own self-identified goals. We do not offer advice or tell you what to do.

Centre for Sexuality counselling supports are based on a single-session model. We offer this type of counselling so that we can see you sooner when you need assistance. Our sessions are 50 minutes long. During this time, you can explore your concerns, gain new insights, and work with your counsellor to find strategies and tools that you can use after the appointment. Most people are generally satisfied with the change they can achieve in a single session. However, if you feel that more than one session is needed, you can discuss this with your counsellor, and additional sessions may be provided on a case-by-case basis.

Our staff focus on normalizing healthy sexuality and supporting clients with making informed choices that are right for them. We do not offer or support any type of conversion therapy. We are a feminist and pro-choice organization. Our support model emphasizes individual choice and self-determination, and participation in any of our sessions is purely voluntary.

Due to the structure of our support services, we’re unable to offer court-ordered or otherwise mandated counselling services. Likewise, we do not accept referrals for individuals involved in the justice system. If you’re looking to access these services, contact us for information on an appropriate referral.

We’re here to help direct you to the services and supports most useful to you. If you’d like to talk to someone about your options, contact our Information Specialist: intake@centreforsexuality.ca

These short sessions are intended to enhance a client’s understanding of sexual health topics, normalize healthy sexuality and support clients with making informed decisions about their own sexual health. Our team of educators can provide information on topics such as:

We use a Natural Supports approach to support youth who identify as Two Spirit & LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, +) and the supportive people in their lives. This can include parents, guardians, adoptive or foster parents, peers, family friends, neighbours and extended family.

We’ll meet with youth (12-24) to discuss issues like identity, questioning identity, sexual orientation and coming out. We’re also available to meet with the young person’s natural supports—family members or other supportive individuals—looking for resources and more information to help support the young person.

We provide tools, resources, and information on community supports and services. In our approach, we help natural supports understand the important role they play to support a youth with their exploration of gender identity and/or sexual orientation.

Centre for Sexuality offers free, short-term education for individuals with disabilities and the people who support them. These one-on-one sessions are intended to enhance a client’s understanding of sexual health topics, normalize healthy sexuality and support clients in making informed decisions about their own sexual health. Session topics may include birth control options, information on Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), anatomy, communication and guidance around different types of relationships and boundaries.

Support services are delivered primarily at the Centre for Sexuality during regular office hours (9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.). Sessions are generally one hour in length but can be longer if needed.

Arrangements can be made to meet in public or community locations (schools, hospitals, group homes) or outside of regular office hours. In addition to face-to-face, our counsellors are available to meet by phone, online or email.

To ensure that clients have access to the full range of services available, we also offer referral services.

The purpose of our referral service is to match clients to the most appropriate and beneficial services and resources based on client choice, assessment, and availability of community resources. All referrals are discussed with clients, and consent is obtained to disclose information before contacting the community service on the client’s behalf and making the connection.