North Island · Online
Online counselling in Campbell River, BC
The North Island comes to Campbell River for its services, and Campbell River looks south for its specialists.
Online counselling for people in Campbell River is delivered by secure video by Registered Clinical Counsellors registered with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors, in English, Punjabi or Tagalog depending on the counsellor, with a free first consultation and no referral needed.
Also serving Quadra Island, Cortes Island, Sayward, Gold River, Tahsis, Port Hardy, Port McNeill and the rest of North Island, by the same video sessions.
Updated October 2, 2026
Many extended health plans reimburse a Registered Clinical Counsellor, depending on the plan, so check yours; MSP does not. Receipts are issued for every session, and the fees are published in full.
Campbell River is the service centre for the northern half of Vancouver Island. Island Health’s mental-health and substance-use intake in town serves Quadra and Cortes, Gold River, Tahsis and Sayward as well as the city, and people from the islands and the inlets come in for what their own communities do not have. For specialist work, though, Campbell River itself looks south: to the Comox Valley, Nanaimo, Victoria, or a ferry to the mainland.
That makes the city the end of one line and the start of another. Somebody on Cortes reaches Campbell River by two ferries; somebody in Campbell River reaches a specialist by highway, and often by sea as well. Virtual counselling takes both trips out. A Registered Clinical Counsellor anywhere in British Columbia is as available to you in Willow Point or on Quadra as to somebody in Vancouver.
How private is the video?
Bookings and client records are held in Cliniko, the practice’s booking and records system, in an account on Cliniko’s Canadian region. Records are encrypted and access-controlled. Sessions are by secure video: the link arrives by email and opens in your browser, with nothing to install. Sessions are never recorded, not for notes, not for supervision, not for training. The privacy policy sets out the rest.
Who you’d see in Campbell River
Taking new clients and seeing people in Campbell River by secure video. Each is a Registered Clinical Counsellor; the registration is on the profile and can be checked on the BCACC register.
Camille Granda, RCC, CCC
English and Tagalog · Trauma, Anxiety and chronic stress, Grief, loss and life transitions
Savneet Singh, RCC
English and Punjabi · Anxiety, Depression, Trauma and attachment
Also written for: Counselling for rotational and camp workers and Counselling for trades and construction workers in BC.
A service centre that still looks south
The public route starts with a phone call. Island Health’s Campbell River Mental Health & Substance Use intake takes self-referrals, needs no doctor’s referral, and offers same-day appointments and a single-session walk-in counselling service for the city, Quadra and Cortes, Gold River, Tahsis and Sayward. If that is what you need, start there. Private counselling is the parallel route when the work is ongoing, or specific enough that the local list is short.
North of Sayward the intake changes. Port Hardy, Port McNeill, Port Alice, Alert Bay and Sointula have their own Island Health service, Northern Vancouver Island Mental Health & Substance Use, which also accepts self-referrals. For specialised work the far North Island looks to Campbell River, and Campbell River in turn looks down-Island: to the Comox Valley first, then Nanaimo and Victoria.
The water is part of the commute. Quadra is a short sailing from downtown, and Cortes is a second ferry beyond it, from the other side of Quadra. A weekly appointment in town is a schedule built around both, and a missed connection is a missed session. A video session asks for a private room and a connection, not a timetable.
Forestry, fishing and fish farming keep their own calendar. The boats, the farm sites and the logging shows take people away for stretches, and a standing weekly slot rarely survives a season like that. Booking in blocks around the time at home is ordinary here; the page on counselling for rotational and camp workers sets out what tends to come up. Where one incident on a boat or a block has stayed with you, EMDR therapy is one way to work on it directly, and it runs by video.
An industry under a federal deadline is its own kind of strain. A federal plan announced in 2024 set 30 June 2029 as the end date for open-net pen salmon farming in BC’s coastal waters, and the uncertainty reaches well past the farm sites. Worry about work that may not exist in a few years is a real thing to bring to counselling, which can hold it without pretending to know how it ends.
In a town this size, being seen is the question. In Campbell River, on Quadra or in Gold River, the counsellor in town may coach your kid’s team or buy fish from your brother. A practice based elsewhere in the province has no waiting room, and nobody at the ferry terminal asks where you were headed.
Language narrows the list furthest. In the 2021 Census 155 Campbell River residents gave Punjabi as their mother tongue and 200 gave Tagalog, in a city of about 35,500. Both are real communities and both are small, which is why neither language is likely to be on offer from a counsellor in town. Punjabi-speaking counselling for Campbell River and Tagalog counselling for Campbell River set out what those numbers mean.
Why virtual, specifically here
What changes when distance stops mattering
No sailing, no highway south
From Quadra or Cortes a specialist appointment used to start with a ferry; from Campbell River, with the drive down-Island. A video session starts and ends in the room you are already in.
Built around the season
Blocks of sessions in the weeks at home, with a pause agreed in advance, for work on the boats, at the farm sites or in the bush.
Quadra to Port Hardy
Quadra and Cortes Islands, Sayward, Gold River, Tahsis, Port Hardy and Port McNeill, booked exactly as a client in the middle of town is.
Privacy where everybody knows the truck
Sessions happen from home, a parked vehicle or wherever is private, so there is no reception desk staffed by somebody you went to school with.
Not sure which kind of support fits? A free 30-minute consultation is the fastest way to find out, and it is a fine outcome if the answer is a referral somewhere else.
Available in Campbell River
Ways we can help
Individual
1:1 for anxiety, depression, life transitions, identity, family dynamics.
Individual Therapy in Campbell RiverCouples
Gottman-informed: communication, conflict, connection, repair.
Couples and Marriage Counselling in Campbell RiverAnxiety
A federal end date for open-net salmon farming leaves farm households in Campbell River with a question nobody can answer yet.
Anxiety Counselling and Therapy in Campbell RiverTrauma
Close calls on the water and in the woods come with the work, and the habit is to carry them quietly.
Trauma Therapy and Counselling in Campbell RiverDepression
In a town built on forestry, fishing and fish farming, losing the work can mean losing the shape of a life.
Depression Counselling and Therapy in Campbell RiverQuestions from Campbell River
Before you book
Should I just drive to Courtenay or Nanaimo?
If a counsellor down-Island is the right fit and the drive is easy for you, that is a reasonable choice. The cost shows up over a course of work rather than in one visit: Highway 19 every week, longer again from Sayward or the islands, and the first week the trip does not happen is often where the work stalls. By video that week stays on the calendar.
Which health authority covers Campbell River?
Island Health. Its Campbell River Mental Health & Substance Use intake accepts self-referrals and covers Quadra and Cortes Islands, Gold River, Tahsis and Sayward as well as the city. Port Hardy, Port McNeill and the communities around them have a separate Island Health intake. Using either does not rule out private counselling alongside it, and nobody has to choose one over the other.
I’m on Quadra or Cortes. Does the ferry matter?
Not for a session. Everything, including the free 30-minute consultation, happens by secure video, so what matters is a private room and a connection that holds. If the signal at your end is thin, a session can run with the video switched off, and it helps to settle beforehand how a dropped call is picked back up.
I work on the boats or at a camp. Does counselling have to be weekly?
No. Fishing openings, farm-site rotations and logging seasons rarely leave one weekday free all year. Sessions can be grouped into the weeks at home with a gap agreed beforehand, so the work picks up where it left off instead of restarting after a month away. The booking calendar shows each counsellor’s real open times.
Is there a free service in Campbell River?
Yes, two. Island Health’s intake in town takes self-referrals and offers same-day appointments and single-session walk-in counselling. Foundry Campbell River, run by the John Howard Society of North Island, offers free drop-in counselling for young people aged 12 to 24 and their families. Beyond the city, 8-1-1 reaches HealthLink BC and this site’s low-cost counselling page lists free and reduced-fee options. Start with whichever fits.
Is EMDR available by video on the North Island?
Yes. It needs a private room and a steady connection, not a particular postcode. The early sessions go to history, to ways of settling yourself, and to rehearsing the eye-movement or tapping part on screen, so the method is familiar before it is used on anything difficult. If the clinicians trained in it within driving distance have no openings, the search widens to the whole province.
Who do I call if it’s urgent?
Call or text 9-8-8, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, or call the Vancouver Island Crisis Line on 1-888-494-3888; both answer around the clock. The KUU-US Crisis Line, 1-800-588-8717, offers Indigenous-specific crisis support, also around the clock. In an emergency, call 9-1-1 or go to the nearest emergency department.
Can I have sessions in Punjabi or Tagalog from Campbell River?
Yes, by secure video. Individual counselling is available in Punjabi, and individual and couples sessions run in Tagalog. On the North Island the counsellor who shares your language is very unlikely to be in town, so the session reaches you from elsewhere in the province instead. EMDR and couples work run in English or Tagalog.
Do you see people in Quadra Island, Cortes Island, Sayward, Gold River, Tahsis, Port Hardy or Port McNeill?
Yes, on exactly the same terms as Campbell River. Every session is by secure video, so Quadra Island, Cortes Island, Sayward, Gold River, Tahsis, Port Hardy, Port McNeill and the rest of North Island are served the same way: a Registered Clinical Counsellor, a free 30-minute consultation first, and no travel at either end.
What does counselling cost in Campbell River?
From Campbell River, an individual session is $140 for 50 minutes, couples counselling $175 for 50 minutes and an EMDR intensive $190 for 90 minutes, and the first 30-minute consultation is free. The fee is the same anywhere in BC. Many extended health plans reimburse a Registered Clinical Counsellor, but whether yours does is plan-dependent, so check it for the RCC designation before the first paid session.
Who would I see in Campbell River?
People in Campbell River see Camille Granda, RCC, CCC, who works in English and Tagalog or Savneet Singh, RCC, who works in English and Punjabi. Each is a Registered Clinical Counsellor taking new clients by secure video, and the free consultation is with whichever of them you choose, so the person you meet first is the person you would work with.
Do you have an office in Campbell River, or is it online?
Online. There is no office in Campbell River or anywhere else: every session is by secure video, and the confirmation email carries the link. Nothing to install and no waiting room, so you can join from home, a parked car or a closed office in Campbell River.
More in the full list of frequently asked questions, or see fees and extended-health coverage.
A question before you book
Ask about counselling in Campbell River
Campbell River, in other languages
Elsewhere in BC
Sources
- Island Health, Campbell River Mental Health & Substance Use (intake)
- Island Health, Northern Vancouver Island Mental Health & Substance Use
- Island Health, crisis response (Vancouver Island Crisis Line, KUU-US Crisis Line, 9-8-8)
- Foundry Campbell River
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada, transition from open net-pen salmon aquaculture (June 2024)
- BC Ferries, Quadra Island (Quathiaski Cove) terminal
- Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Profile: Campbell River (CSD 5924034)
- Island Health
- HealthLink BC, mental health and substance use (8-1-1)
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