Typically for the first session (also known as an “intake” session) we will go through your (or your child’s) history, the presenting concerns, and what you/they are hoping to gain from therapy. At the end of that first meeting we will provide you with our recommendations for next steps. In the rare case that your (or your child’s) needs are outside of our scope of practice, we will do our best to connect you with a place that would be better suited.

You can let your child know that we help children and families with challenges they are struggling with, such as worries, dealing with big feelings, making friends, getting along at home. You can see if your child identifies anything that they find challenging, or something they hope the whole family could work on. Some children call us their “Feelings Doctors” and we love that title!

The purpose of a clinical assessment is to understand from a psychological perspective the nature of the problem that you are struggling with and provide you with ideas of what could help. A clinical assessment is necessary for the diagnosis of mental health disorders.

A clinical assessment usually takes 3-5 sessions, where information is gathered through interviews, completion of questionnaires, and observation.

At the end, the information is put together and presented to you in a “feedback” session. This is where we provide you with our understanding of the difficulties, and if appropriate, there may be a clinical diagnosis (i.e. ADHD, OCD, Depression etc). We will also give you recommendations for therapy.

Clients may come for only an assessment and not continue for therapy. For some people understanding the problem and being given some recommendations to try on their own, is enough.

Other clients may already be working with a therapist such a social worker or a psychotherapist, who are able to provide treatment but are not licensed to diagnose mental health disorders (only psychologists and psychiatrist/medical doctors can diagnose). If this is the case, we can provide recommendations to you and your therapist for ongoing treatment.

Yes. Registered psychologists are licensed to diagnose mental health disorders. If you are wondering whether you/your child meets criteria for a diagnosis, you will need to participate in a clinical assessment (see above).

We are NOT providing psychoeducational assessments at this time.

A psychoeducational assessment specifically looks at a client’s ability to think and learn. Usually an assessment is conducted when a child is having difficulty learning and may have a Learning Disability. This assessment takes between 6-10 hours of one-on-one testing, clinical interviewing and completion of questionnaires.

Treatment goes by many different words - therapy, psychotherapy, talk therapy. It is a way to help people with a broad variety of mental health disorders and emotional difficulties. Therapy can help eliminate or control troubling symptoms so a person can function better and can increase well-being and healing. At our practice we provide individual therapy, dyadic therapy (i.e. child-parent), and family therapy. We also use a variety of modalities of therapy - CBT, ACT, EFFT, DBT-skills, attachment based and relational psychotherapy.

Sessions are typically 50 mins. However, depending on the need (as determined by the client and clinican) sessions can be booked from 30 mins to 90 mins.

The protection of the information of our clients is of utmost importance and it is our ethical and legal obligation to keep your information private. This means, we will not disclose any information to third parties without your consent.

We do, however, have an ethical and legal responsibility to disclose certain information if it comes up in our work with you. In general, these deal with the safety of clients, children, vulnerable people in the community, as well as legal proceedings. We will review this in the first session.

Therapy can be short or long term. It really depends on your goals and the treatment plan created by you and your therapist. You are always allowed to stop therapy if the time or the fit is not right for you. We ask that you discuss the process and express any concerns with your therapist. Therapy is meant to be collaborative and your voice matters.

Due to COVID-19 we have paused our in-person sessions and are only providing assessment and therapy over video-based communication platforms.
We are ethically and legally obliged to only use video platforms that meet Canadian privacy laws (PHIPA).

The cost of the session will depend on the clinician that you are seeing which ranges from $180 - $250 per session. Sessions are 50 mins.

Phone calls or consultations with other professionals (i.e. teachers, family doctors) will be charged for 15 min intervals.

Payments can be made by e-transfer (Dr.Lafoyiannis@gmail.com), by cheque or cash. We do not take credit card at this time.

Invoices will be provided at the end of day, on the day of your session. It comes from our billing software email address: noreply@owlpractice.com.

Double check your ‘spam’ or ‘other’ folder if you did not receive it the first time.

E-transfers can be made to: Dr.Lafoyiannis@gmail.com

We ask that clients please provide 48 hours notice for cancellations or the full fee is applied.

The majority of insurance plans have some coverage for registered clinical psychologists. You will receive an invoice after every session and a receipt upon payment. You can provide these to your insurance provider for reimbursement depending on your coverage. Please note, we do not submit directly to your insurance provider.

Services with a psychologist are not covered by OHIP.

We do not provide assessments required for court proceedings in cases such as: child custody and access; parental competence; child abuse; pre-trial disposition reports; motor vehicle insurance claims, probation assessments, etc. Please seek a specialist in these areas.

Psychologists registered in Ontario cannot prescribe medication at this time. However, we can diagnose mental health disorders, and with that information you may then seek pharmacological treatment from your family physician and/or psychiatrist.

Yes! Dr. Lafoyiannis has over a decade of experience as a clinical supervisor. This includes supervision of psychology trainees, interns and supervised practice; as well as other mental health professionals like social workers and psychotherapists. If you are interested in supervision, please contact the practice.

Many people are confused about the different types of mental health professionals. The differences relate to the level of training and the scope of the practice. This handout from the Ontario Psychological Association helps explains the difference in practitioners:

Mental Health Comparison Chart