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The protocolHow treatment works
Four phases, usually over about 12 weeks, from your first phone call to lasting integration.
Four phases, in order, with nothing skipped.
Nothing here happens quickly or by accident. You will know what the next appointment is for before you book it, and you can stop at any point. Each phase is set out in full further down this page.
Screening and assessment
A free safety screening first, then a free consultation, a clinical team review, and a full medical and psychological assessment.
Before any commitmentSkills and intentions
Two sessions to build trust and safety, teach you what to expect, and clarify what you actually want to change.
Two sessions, 90 minutes eachSupervised journey sessions
Three hours each, in a private supervised setting, with your own familiar therapist present throughout.
Typically six, three hours eachIntegration that lasts
Outcome measures repeated, an extended integration session, and a self-care practice you carry forward on your own.
Plus follow-up to 12 monthsMost patients complete the full process, from safety screening through AfterCare, within 12 weeks.
Onboard
Getting started involves a few steps, all of them before any cost or commitment beyond assessment fees.
Free safety screening
Always the first step. A short screening that gathers detail about your history, so we can tell early on whether this is likely to be appropriate for you. No consultation is booked until it is complete.
Start your free safety screening
Free courtesy consultation
Once your screening is complete, meet our team, ask questions, and learn more about the treatment. There is no cost and no obligation.
Clinical team review
Your case is reviewed to determine the best path forward. Most patients move directly to assessment. Some need more information first, in which case we will book an optional Discovery Session, 30 to 60 minutes at $350. If medicine-assisted psychotherapy is not the right fit, we will tell you, and we will help point you elsewhere.
Medical and psychological assessment
A full assessment makes sure treatment is safe and appropriate for you, and it captures your pre-treatment outcome measures. The medical assessment is a 60 minute appointment. The psychological assessment includes measures you complete in your own time, followed by a 60 minute orientation session where your therapist goes through the results with you and helps you prepare.
Assessment fees
The medical assessment is $450 and the psychological assessment is $450. These are the only costs in this phase. See full fees and payment options
Prepare
Preparation is a core part of the work, not a formality.
Preparation is typically two 90 minute sessions, focused on building skills and clarifying your intentions for treatment. Patients who have completed this treatment with us before usually need only one.
These sessions do three things. They build trust and safety between you and the therapist who will be with you later. They teach you what to expect, so that nothing about a journey session comes as a surprise. And they help you clarify what you want to work on and what you want to change, which is what the rest of the protocol is then organised around.
By the end of preparation you will know your therapist, you will have practised the skills you are going to draw on, and you will have named the thing you came here for.
Journey
Typically six journey sessions, each three hours long, with your familiar, dedicated therapist present throughout.
Every journey session is held in a private, supervised setting. You are not left alone at any point, and the therapist in the room is the same person you worked with during preparation.
Pacing varies by individual. Six is typical, not a fixed number: the range we see is two to ten. Journeys continue until your therapist judges the course complete, based on where you actually are, not on a schedule set in advance.
Where journey sessions happen
Aspenwood, our City Retreat
A house in North York, close to major routes, with woodland and garden around it.
Our Country Retreat
In the Grey Highlands near Kimberley, for those who want more distance and a slower pace.
Windsor
Journey sessions are also available at our Windsor location.
Choosing your setting
Which sanctuary you work in is discussed with your therapist during preparation, alongside everything else about how your journey sessions will run. Each setting is private and quiet.
AfterCare
The last phase is the one that decides whether any of the others hold. It is where everything you have learned gets pulled into a coherent picture you can use on your own.
Your measures, repeated
You complete the same outcome measures you completed before treatment, so the change is something you can see rather than something you have to take on trust.
An extended integration session
A deeper, longer session with your therapist where you pull together what you have learned into a single coherent picture, and prepare to carry your self-care curriculum forward on your own.
Your self-care workbook
Your therapist gives you our self-care workbook as a fillable PDF, so you can log your reflections and keep building on what you learned after your sessions have finished.
Follow-up to twelve months
As part of our ongoing commitment to research, we invite you to complete brief follow-up measures at 3, 6 and 12 months after AfterCare, 30 minutes each, included in your fees. A 9 month check-in is optional and not guaranteed. The courtesy check-in with your therapist depends on you returning your reassessment forms.
Our Six-Week community programme is a free, optional addition after treatment, not a required part of it. The skills it covers are ones you will already have worked through one to one with your therapist during preparation.
Twelve weeks, start to finish.
Most patients complete the full process, from safety screening through AfterCare, within 12 weeks. Progress monitoring at 3, 6 and 12 months sits outside that window and is included in your fees.
A note on our protocol
Our clinical protocol has been developed and refined over years of practice and research, and every clinician on our team is personally trained and mentored by our founder and Clinical Director, Dr. Dawn DeCunha.
We are glad to walk you through what to expect as a patient in as much detail as is helpful. If you have questions about any step, call us and we will happily clarify.
Ready to find out if this is right for you?
Start with a free initial consultation. No cost, no obligation, and no commitment until after your assessment.