---
title: "Counselling Guides"
description: "Plain-language guides to therapy in BC: what the research says, what to expect, and how to decide. Written by a Registered Clinical Counsellor."
url: https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides
lang: en-CA
section: "Guides"
date_modified: 2026-10-15
publisher: "Westpeak Wellness"
publisher_type: "Registered Clinical Counsellor practice, British Columbia, Canada"
delivery: "secure video only; no in-person office"
not: "not a crisis service; not a medical practice; not covered by MSP"
contact: info@westpeakwellness.com
source_html: https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides
index_of_site: https://www.westpeakwellness.com/llms.txt
license: "Content © Westpeak Wellness. Quote with attribution and a link."
---

# Answers, before you have to book anything.

Westpeak Wellness publishes plain-language counselling guides for people in British Columbia: what therapy involves, how long it takes, what it costs after extended health, how stress leave and sick days work in BC, and how to choose between an RCC, a psychologist and a social worker. Each guide is dated, cites its sources, and is written by the practice’s Registered Clinical Counsellors. None requires booking anything.

Most people spend weeks deciding whether to start therapy, and the information they find is either a sales page or a research abstract. These guides aim for the middle: what the evidence actually says, what it does not settle, and what it means if you live in British Columbia.

Updated October 15, 2026

[Book a free consultation](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/book)

[See counselling services](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/services)

This season

[Using counselling benefits before the year ends](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/resources/counselling-benefits-before-year-end-bc)

[Low mood through a BC winter](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/low-mood-through-a-bc-winter)

[![A four-step diagram: a free fifteen-minute video consultation, an intake form sent before the session, the fifty-minute first session covering history and goals, and a decision at the end about whether and how often to continue.](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/img/first-session-flow.svg) (full size, opens in a new tab)](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/img/first-session-flow.svg)

The path from first contact to the end of session one.

[Is online therapy as effective as in-person therapy?It is the most common question people ask before booking a virtual session, and it deserves a real answer rather than reassurance.6 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/is-online-therapy-as-effective-as-in-person)

[What is EMDR, and what actually happens in a session?EMDR gets described either as miraculous or as pseudoscience, and it is neither. Here is what it is, phase by phase.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/what-is-emdr-and-how-a-session-works)

[Anxiety attack vs panic attack: what is the difference?People use the two phrases interchangeably. Only one of them is a clinical term, and the difference changes what helps.6 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/anxiety-attack-vs-panic-attack)

[High-functioning anxiety: when everything looks fine from outsideThe version of anxiety that gets promoted, hits deadlines, remembers birthdays, and cannot sleep.6 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/high-functioning-anxiety)

[What actually happens in a first therapy sessionThe unknown is doing a lot of the work in keeping people out of the room. Here is the whole thing, start to finish.6 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/what-to-expect-first-therapy-session)

[How the Gottman Method works in couples therapyBuilt on decades of watching couples argue in a lab, and unusually specific about what predicts trouble.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/how-the-gottman-method-works)

[Burnout or depression: how to tell the differenceThey feel similar from inside, they need different things, and the distinction is not always clean.6 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/burnout-vs-depression)

[Intergenerational trauma, explained plainlyYou can carry the shape of something that happened before you were born, without ever being told what it was.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/intergenerational-trauma-explained)

[How to actually find a therapist in BCThe search itself is a barrier, dozens of directory profiles that all sound the same, and no obvious way to compare them.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/how-to-find-a-therapist-in-bc)

[How long does therapy actually take?Nobody wants an open-ended commitment to something expensive. The honest answer has a range in it, and the range is explainable.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/how-long-does-therapy-take)

[How do you know when it is time for therapy?Almost nobody arrives at counselling too early. The far more common story is a year or two of waiting for things to get bad enough to count.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/signs-it-might-be-time-for-therapy)

[What does "trauma" actually mean?A word that describes both a car crash and a rude email has stopped doing useful work. It is worth reclaiming the distinction.8 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/what-trauma-actually-means)

[Questions worth asking a therapist before you bookMost people treat a first consultation as an audition they are attending. It is closer to an interview they are conducting.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/questions-to-ask-a-therapist)

[Does couples therapy actually work?Most couples arrive years later than they meant to, and the delay does more damage than the arguments did.8 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/does-couples-therapy-work)

[Anxiety and sleep: why the nights are worstThe worry that was manageable at 4 p.m. becomes unanswerable at 2 a.m. That is not a failure of willpower. It is what a tired brain does.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/anxiety-and-sleep)

[Is there counselling in BC with no waitlist? How long each route waitsBeing told the wait is four to eight months is its own kind of blow. There is more available in the meantime than most people are told.8 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/waiting-for-therapy-in-bc)

[What to do when therapy is not workingMost people in this position quietly stop booking. Saying it out loud is more uncomfortable and considerably more useful.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/when-therapy-isnt-working)

[Telling your family you are going to therapyFor some people this is a non-event. For others it is the single largest obstacle between them and a first appointment.6 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/talking-to-your-family-about-therapy)

[Setting boundaries with family without detonating anythingMost boundary advice assumes a reasonable counterpart and a relationship you can afford to lose. Families frequently offer neither.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/setting-boundaries-with-family)

[Grief that does not follow the timelineThe stages were never a sequence, and almost everyone has been told otherwise.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/grief-without-a-timeline)

[Panic attacks at work: what to do in the moment and afterThe attack itself lasts minutes. The dread of having another one at the same desk can last months.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/panic-attacks-at-work)

[Anger that arrives before you notice itThe problem is rarely that you got angry. It is that you were already three sentences in before you knew it was happening.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/anger-that-arrives-too-fast)

[Perfectionism, and the voice that comes with itNobody wants to give up the thing that got them here. That is exactly why it is difficult to work on.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/perfectionism-and-self-criticism)

[How to support someone who is strugglingMost people get this wrong in the same direction: they try to fix it, because watching is unbearable.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/supporting-someone-who-is-struggling)

[Low mood through a British Columbia winterFive months of low cloud on the coast, and five hours of daylight in the north. They are not the same problem.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/low-mood-through-a-bc-winter)

[Intrusive thoughts and what they actually meanThe thoughts that frighten people most are the ones they have never told anyone. They are also, almost always, entirely ordinary.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/intrusive-thoughts-and-what-they-mean)

[Social anxiety that nobody around you can seeMost adults with social anxiety are not visibly anxious. They have built a life with fewer and fewer situations in it.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/social-anxiety-in-adults)

[Loneliness in adulthood, and why it is so hard to sayIt is one of the most common things people bring to counselling and one of the last things they name.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/loneliness-in-adulthood)

[Health anxiety: when the checking never settles itThe tests come back clear, the relief lasts two days, and then it starts again. That loop is the condition, not a failure to be reassured.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/health-anxiety)

[Life transitions, and the identity question underneathThe hard part of a transition is rarely the event. It is the six months afterwards, when everyone assumes it is settled.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/life-transitions-and-identity)

[Money stress and mental health in BCIt is one of the most common sources of distress in this province and one of the least likely to be named in a session.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/money-stress-and-mental-health)

[Stress leave in BC: what it actually takesThe paperwork question and the clinical question are different, and most pages about this answer neither.9 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/stress-leave-bc)

[Adult ADHD: assessment, and what counselling can and cannot doA great many adults arrive at this question late, after a decade of assuming the problem was effort.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/adhd-in-adults-and-what-counselling-can-do)

[Procrastination that has nothing to do with lazinessThe people who procrastinate hardest are frequently the ones who care most about the outcome.6 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/procrastination-that-is-not-laziness)

[Imposter feelings, and why competence does not cure themThe evidence keeps arriving and it keeps not counting. That is the defining feature, not a coincidence.6 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/imposter-feelings-at-work)

[When someone you love is drinkingYou cannot make someone stop. That is the hardest sentence in this and the one everything else follows from.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/when-someone-you-love-is-drinking)

[Chronic illness, pain, and what it does to moodBeing told the distress is understandable is true, and it is not the same as being offered anything.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/chronic-illness-and-mood)

[Workplace bullying: what it is, and what you can actually doThe damage is rarely one incident. It is two years of things that each sound trivial when described.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/workplace-bullying-in-bc)

[How much medical EI pays in BC, and how the 26 weeks workMedical EI is the everyday name for EI sickness benefits: the federal benefit that pays part of your earnings while a medical condition, mental health included, stops you working. For a longer leave it is what most people actually live on.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/ei-sickness-benefits-and-therapy)

[Getting a doctor’s note for a mental-health leave in BCA doctor’s note for a mental-health leave is a medical certificate from a physician or nurse practitioner saying you are unable to work and until when. The whole leave hinges on that one short appointment, which most people walk into unprepared.6 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/doctors-note-for-a-mental-health-leave)

[Returning to work after a mental-health leaveA return to work after a mental-health leave in BC is usually graduated: reduced hours or duties for several weeks, set out in writing from your doctor’s functional limits, which your employer must accommodate to the point of undue hardship. The return is where a good leave either holds or unravels.7 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/return-to-work-after-a-mental-health-leave)

[Sick days and mental-health days in BC: what you’re actually entitled toA mental-health day in BC is a sick day. There is no separate category in BC law and none is needed: the paid sick days under the Employment Standards Act cover illness, and mental health is illness.6 min read →](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/sick-days-and-mental-health-days-bc)

Read enough? A [free 15-minute consultation](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/book) answers the question no guide can, whether this particular counsellor is a fit for you.

Looking for something more specific? Browse [the full list of counselling services](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/services), compare [the different kinds of therapist in BC](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/compare/rcc-vs-psychologist-vs-social-worker-bc), or see [fees and extended-health coverage](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/pricing). If you want the answer without the guide, [the FAQ](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/faq) carries the opening paragraph of every one of these in a single list, and [the instant answers search](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/answers) finds the questions answered at the foot of each guide, such as how long a stress leave can last, by a word you type.

## Reading is a fine place to start.

When you are ready for the next step, a free 15-minute consultation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

[Book Free Consultation](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/book)

Not ready to book? [Send a line about what is going on](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/contact). A reply comes within one business day, or read [the guides](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides) first and come back when you want to.

Looking on behalf of someone else? [What to send them, and what not to](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/refer), including the funded routes most people do not know they qualify for.