The Network

Learn about the Hope Counselling Network and how we’re helping people in Ontario

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The Network

About Our Network

The Hope Counselling Network was established in 2024 to improve access to professional counselling for those who live and/or work in our service area. Our member agencies agree that everyone who requires mental health support should receive it in a timely fashion and without barriers to service.

We thank Catholic Charities, ShareLife and the parish communities across the Archdiocese of Toronto for supporting the work of this network and our member agencies. Please note, you do not have to be Catholic to receive professional support from our network.

While each of our member agencies provide community-specific supports that differ somewhat from each other, we have many more things in common, as listed below. Please connect with your local agency to determine the details of their current programs.

Charitable Status

Professional counselling can be delivered through the public or government service, through private practice, or via the charitable sector. As registered charities, our agencies are community experts and can provide high-quality services that are tailored to the needs of local residents, especially filling service gaps that aren’t being addressed elsewhere.

Our agencies work actively to break down barriers to service to provide equitable access. We demonstrate this by using different models of service and evaluation, offering our programs in multiple languages, and providing receipts for clients who wish to use their insurance benefits. We also offer programs subsidies through sliding-scale or “pay-what-you-can” options for clients with limited income.

Single-session Counselling Clinics

Member agencies of The Hope Counselling Network all offer 50-minute single-session counselling services, which offer timely emotional support, feedback, skills or strategies to make positive changes in your life.

Research shows this model of service is sufficient and helpful for most clients.

Multi-session Counselling Services

For those clients who require more than one session, we offer multi-session blocks of therapy for individuals, couples and families.

This approach to therapy has been particularly successful when the counsellor and client work together toward a clearly defined goal.

Flexible Service Delivery

Our network agencies have learned a great deal from operating throughout the recent pandemic. Before COVID-19, all services were delivered in person only, and appointments were made by phone. This served some clients well, and others not at all. During the pandemic, all services moved online. This also served some clients well, and others not at all.

Today’s programs are delivered in a hybrid model, offering in-person and virtual services in response to client preference or need. In some of our network agencies, walk-in clinics have also made a return, and appointments are moving online (with phone support, if required).

Language and / or Interpreter Services

Our province is diversifying and the member agencies at The Hope Counselling Network are too! Our counselling services are now welcoming clients from dozens of ethnocultural groups and are able to meet all language needs through in-house language capacity or via interpreter services.

Safer Spaces

The Hope Counselling Network member agencies work hard to ensure our processes and programs are supportive and welcoming for all members of our communities. Our clinical centres offer inclusive spaces and non-judgmental services. We are 100% committed to best practices in equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. If you have any suggestions to improve our practices, please let us know by emailing [email protected].

Registered Professionals

Our clinicians are experienced social workers and psychotherapists who are registered and in good standing with their professional colleges, either the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario, or the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. Through their colleges and other opportunities, our clinical teams stay up-to-date on their practices through regular professional development and clinical supervision.

Accreditation

All network agencies are accredited by independent, third-party accreditation organizations that evaluate all areas of an organization for compliance to best-practice standards in governance, stewardship, human resources and service delivery.

Membership

The agency members of The Hope Counselling Network are all members of Family Service Ontario and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Toronto.

These affiliations provide opportunities for program and research partnerships, shared services and professional development, capacity-building and a greater voice and avenue for advocacy.

Stories of Hope

Our client satisfaction rates approach 100%. The impact of our counselling efforts is demonstrated in their words.

My therapist is remarkable and made a dark time in my life brighter and more bearable. She gave me some understanding and tools to help me move forward. I am so fortunate and grateful to have received her aid and counselling.

I feel heard and seen by my therapist. I’m getting help and techniques I can actually use. My therapist lets me be myself comfortably.

Thank you for your service, it’s amazing and a life-changing experience for me.

My counsellor is a pleasure, so important to have a professional ear to help sort life's challenges, very grateful for her time and expertise. I feel better for having unburdened myself on her... whatever she's being paid isn't enough!!

The counselor was very compassionate and on point. Made me feel heard and understood.

I like that I was provided with some resources that could help me to manage my anxiety/life better and that I was listened to/understood.

Video conferencing makes getting help much more accessible.

Really like the opportunity to book online and that the bookings are so available! With all that is a challenge in our health system I have experienced ready access to the services I've needed since beginning this journey. Thank you.

This service is amazing for me. I am currently making $78/week from EI for this sick leave, so obviously a paid therapist is not an option for me. It's nice to know we don't have to be alone and that help isn't financially based.

Every clinician I have seen since starting there in January has been amazing. I am so impressed by the knowledge and professionalism I have witnessed there and I appreciate the help I’ve gotten throughout the last few months. I’m looking forward to meeting weekly with the same therapist and working through my current challenges. I will and have recommended this service to others I know who are also seeking support with their mental health. Thank you!

You are one of my greatest blessings in my life and, with your help, I am already becoming a blessing to someone else…I am eternally grateful.

Everything was conducted in a professional manner in a calming and tranquil environment. Kudos!

The counsellor was very careful to make sure she understood our points of view and gave both me and my partner equal opportunity to say what we wanted to.

I am very grateful that there is this service available in our community to support people who are struggling, mentally, emotionally and financially. Thank you!

I think this was a great service and I felt so much lighter after the session.

I have recommended this agency to many people.

I like how she hears what I say, reframes it for me to know she hears and understands and offers helpful insight to be able to work through things in between sessions. Suggestions are relatable to what can help in the moment and are easy enough to manage. I also appreciate the validation I receive, the sense of normalcy that is brought to the sessions, and how it always feels better and more manageable after.

The very best service I ever imagined or could possibly get ‼ I need this service just like an alcoholic needs AA ❤

I was offered a timely appointment which helped alleviate my stress more quickly. Thank you.

Safe environment, clean environment. Effective counselling.

My counsellor was a very helpful person and a fantastic listener. She was always able to make sense of a given situation. I feel that I'm in a much better place now than I was when I started speaking with her. The service is a very helpful one to be made available to people in the world we find ourselves in today, I'm very thankful that I found it when I did.

Service was excellent! Life changing. Thank you!

I truly found the services offered extremely helpful. It is exactly what I needed and hoped to get since I was a young child.