Psychotherapy for children, adolescents, and adults.
Our Psychotherapy Services
At Riverwise, we offer psychotherapy through four distinct “tracks” designed to meet children, youth, and adults where they are. Each track has a clear purpose - whether the goal is emotional support, practical skill building, parent support, or structured treatment for specific mental health concerns - while remaining flexible and responsive to changing needs over time. Clients may move between tracks as their goals evolve, creating a thoughtful continuum of care rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. This structure helps ensure that individuals are matched with the right level and type of support from the start, promotes consistency and quality across our team, and allows us to provide clear, transparent guidance to our clients and referral sources about what to expect from therapy at Riverwise.
Supportive
Psychotherapy Track
This track is designed for older children, youth, or adults looking for a safe and supportive space to process emotions, life transitions, or ongoing stressors. Sessions focus on helping clients better understand themselves, develop coping strategies, and build resilience.
Approach: Compassionate listening, emotion coaching, guided exploration, validation, psychoeducation and practical coping tools; Clinicians draw from various therapeutic modalities, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Motivational Interviewing, Emotion focused approaches, psychodynamic approaches, and others.
Typical Goals:
Reduce stress, worry, or emotional overwhelm
Support adjustment to changes (e.g., transitions, family stress, loss)
Strengthen self-awareness, insights, and self-acceptance
Who it’s for: Individuals (children, adolescents, adults) seeking counselling for general emotional support rather than structured treatment of a specific mental health concern. For children and adolescents, parents and caregivers may be involved in sessions as needed.
How many sessions are needed? This is flexible depending on the needs of the individual.
Goal Focused Psychotherapy Track
This track focuses on addressing specific goals to support success at home, school, community, or work. Sessions are practical and goal-focused, emphasizing active practice, feedback, and real-world application. For children and adolescents, parent involvement is encouraged to support skill building.
Approach: Coaching, modelling, behavioural strategies, and strength-based feedback. Clinicians draw from various modalities, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), solution focused approaches, emotion focused approaches, and others. Typically, goal focused approaches include measurement of change over time.
Typical Goals:
Build/strengthen executive functioning skills (organization, time management, planning)
Build/strengthen emotion regulation (e.g., learn how to handle worries/anxiety)
Build coping skills for a particular situation (e.g., preparing for a medical procedure, preparing to move to a new school)
Develop assertiveness or self-advocacy skills
Build understanding about a specific diagnosis
Who it’s for: Individuals (children, adolescents, adults) who would benefit from more structured, skill-based support. For children and adolescents, parents and caregivers may be involved in sessions as needed.
How many sessions are needed? The number of sessions is structured and will depend on your goal.
Structured Treatment Track
This track offers structured, goal-oriented therapy for clients experiencing clinically significant symptoms or challenges such as specific phobias, anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, or misophonia. Treatment is tailored to the client’s needs and grounded in evidence-based approaches. For children and adolescents, parent involvement is encouraged to support skill building.
Approach: Structured approaches may draw from various modalities, including CBT, ACT, ERP, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Exposure/Response Prevention (ERP), or other structured modalities. Typically structured treatment includes formal measurement of symptom reduction.
Typical Goals:
Reduce specific symptoms (e.g., phobias, anxiety, depression, or OCD)
Increase emotional regulation and distress tolerance
Build healthier thought patterns, behaviours, and coping skills
Who it’s for: Individuals (children, adolescents, and some adults) with identified emotional or mental health difficulties requiring structured treatment. For children and adolescents, parents and caregivers may be involved in sessions as needed.
How many sessions are needed? The number of sessions is structured and will depend on the presenting concern.
Parent/Caregiver Support Track
This track offers support directly to parents and caregivers, offering an opportunity to build confidence, insight, and practical tools to support a child or teen’s emotional, behavioural, and learning needs. Parent support can be a standalone service, or can happen alongside therapy for a child or adolescent.
Approach: Collaborative sessions with parents to deepen their understanding of their child’s unique profile strengths and needs and to translate this understanding into effective day-to-day strategies. Clinicians draw from various modalities and resources, including psychoeducation, Emotion-Focused Family Therapy (EFFT), Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) and others.
Typical Goals:
Increase parent confidence and reduce overwhelm
Improve co-regulation, emotional understanding, and connection
Develop consistent strategies for managing behaviour, emotions, and daily routines
Who it’s for: Parents and caregivers who are seeking guidance and support around their child’s emotional, behavioural, or learning needs.
How many sessions are needed? The number of sessions may be structured or flexible, and will depend on the presenting concern.