Vancouver Island · Online
Online counselling in Courtenay, BC
A posting, a drive down-Island, or two ferries from Hornby: counselling in the Comox Valley has to survive all three.
Online counselling for people in Courtenay 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 Comox, Cumberland, Royston, Union Bay, Fanny Bay, Denman Island, Hornby Island and the rest of Vancouver 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.
Courtenay is the Comox Valley's main city, and the valley is better served than its size suggests: the Comox Valley campus of North Island Hospital, North Island College's largest campus, and an Island Health mental-health team that takes self-referrals. What shapes counselling here is less what exists than who is looking for it. CFB Comox brings families in on a posting and moves them on with the next one, and around the base the valley is small enough that people know each other.
Both of those work against a local office. A course of counselling tied to a building ends when the posting does, and in Comox or Cumberland the waiting room may hold a neighbour, somebody from the base, or a parent from your child's school. Video takes both out of it. A Registered Clinical Counsellor anywhere in BC is as available in Royston or on Hornby Island as in downtown Courtenay.
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 Courtenay
Taking new clients and seeing people in Courtenay 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 first responders in BC.
A posting town, a rescue base, and a valley where people know each other
The public route here is a single door, and it is a good one. Island Health's Comox Valley Mental Health & Substance Use team at 941A England Avenue is the single access point for adult services across the Comox Valley. Walk-ins are welcome, or call 250-331-8524, and the nursing team offers screening, assessment and a connection onward without a referral. Use it. For anybody aged 12 to 24, Foundry Comox Valley on 10th Street is free and confidential. The Vancouver Island Crisis Line, 1-888-494-3888, answers at any hour.
19 Wing shapes the valley. CFB Comox flies long-range patrol over the Pacific, is the primary air search-and-rescue unit on Canada's west coast, and is home to the Canadian Forces School of Search and Rescue. Its crews cover British Columbia, the Yukon and hundreds of nautical miles of ocean. The page on counselling for first responders covers what repeated exposure to other people's worst days tends to leave behind.
A posting puts a clock on the work. Families arrive on one posting and leave on the next, and the partner who followed is often rebuilding work and friendships at the same time. Counselling that depends on a local office ends at the move. A provincial practice does not: a posting to Esquimalt or anywhere else in British Columbia changes nothing about the sessions, and the Victoria page covers the south end of the Island.
In a small valley, the base and the town overlap. A squadron colleague's partner may work at the hospital, and the counsellor with a practice in town may have a child in the same class as yours. That overlap is part of why people here put off asking at all. A counsellor practising elsewhere in the province sits outside it entirely, and the session happens behind your own door.
Particular work runs short first. At any given moment a valley this size may have few clinicians taking new clients for EMDR therapy or structured couples work, and fewer still with room at a time that fits. The fallback used to be the Inland Island Highway south and then a sailing; the Nanaimo page describes that crossing.
Language is thinner again. Punjabi- and Tagalog-speaking clinicians in BC are concentrated in the Lower Mainland, and both communities in the Comox Valley are small: in the 2021 Census, 185 people in the Courtenay census agglomeration gave Punjabi as their mother tongue and 315 gave Tagalog. Punjabi-speaking counselling for the Comox Valley and Tagalog counselling for Courtenay say plainly what those numbers mean.
Why virtual, specifically here
What changes when distance stops mattering
Survives a posting within BC
A posting from Comox to Esquimalt, or a civilian move anywhere in the province, keeps the same counsellor, with the work picking up where it paused.
Outside the valley's circles
Nobody from the squadron, the school run or the street sees you walk in, because the session happens behind your own door.
Comox, Cumberland and the islands
Comox, Cumberland, Royston, Union Bay, Fanny Bay, Denman and Hornby on identical terms. From Hornby that is two ferries each way that never have to be caught.
Around a schedule that moves
Flying, exercises, courses away and hospital shifts rarely follow a fixed pattern. The booking calendar shows each counsellor's real open times, so you can see what fits before you book.
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 Courtenay
Ways we can help
Individual
1:1 for anxiety, depression, life transitions, identity, family dynamics.
Individual Therapy in CourtenayCouples
Gottman-informed: communication, conflict, connection, repair.
Couples and Marriage Counselling in CourtenayAnxiety
The Comox Valley’s public route starts with a walk-in screening; structured anxiety work needs the same slot for weeks.
Anxiety Counselling and Therapy in CourtenayDepression
In a posting town, the partner who followed starts again from nothing while the member walks into a ready-made unit.
Depression Counselling and Therapy in CourtenayTrauma
The valley is home to the west coast’s primary air rescue unit, and rescue work rarely leaves only one memory behind.
Trauma Therapy and Counselling in CourtenayQuestions from Courtenay
Before you book
Can I refer myself to public mental-health services in the Comox Valley?
Yes. Island Health's Comox Valley Mental Health & Substance Use team at 941A England Avenue in Courtenay is the single access point for adults, and no referral is needed: walk in, or call 250-331-8524. Starting private counselling does not take you off a public list, and the two can run side by side.
I am serving at 19 Wing. Should I call Member and Family Assistance first?
It is a reasonable first call. Member and Family Assistance Services, 1-800-268-7708, serves Regular Force and Reserve members and their families around the clock, and it is a short-term problem-solving service: often a few sessions, with a referral onward if more is needed. Private counselling sits outside it and outside the chain of command: nothing is reported to anybody, within the narrow limits set out on the standards page.
A posting is likely in the next year or two. Should I wait until after the move?
Not if the move stays inside British Columbia: Esquimalt, Victoria or anywhere else in the province is the same session, so waiting buys nothing. A posting to another province is different, because a counsellor can only see you where they are permitted to practise. Raise the expected date on the free consultation and the plan is built around it.
I live on Denman or Hornby. Does that change anything?
Nothing about the session itself. From Hornby, an appointment in Courtenay means the Gravelly Bay ferry, the drive across Denman and the Buckley Bay ferry, then the same again home, and that is the part video removes. Island connections vary, so test yours before the first session and settle at the start what happens if the line goes.
Is there something free for a teenager or young adult?
Yes. Foundry Comox Valley, run by the John Howard Society of North Island on 10th Street in Courtenay, offers free and confidential counselling, substance-use support and peer support for people aged 12 to 24 and their families. 8-1-1 connects to HealthLink BC at any hour.
Is EMDR available to someone in the Comox Valley?
Yes, with the counsellor on the roster who offers it. It runs by secure video from any private room, in the same phases it follows in a clinic: history, preparation, processing and review. The eye movements or tapping are set up and practised during preparation, before any memory is processed, and nothing in the protocol depends on being in Victoria or Vancouver.
Can sessions be in Punjabi or Tagalog from here?
Yes. Both communities in the Comox Valley are small, and clinicians who speak either language are concentrated in the Lower Mainland, so for people here video is the realistic route rather than a convenience. Individual counselling is available in Punjabi; couples work runs in English or Tagalog.
Do you see people in Comox, Cumberland, Royston, Union Bay, Fanny Bay, Denman Island or Hornby Island?
Yes, on exactly the same terms as Courtenay. Every session is by secure video, so Comox, Cumberland, Royston, Union Bay, Fanny Bay, Denman Island, Hornby Island and the rest of Vancouver 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 Courtenay?
From Courtenay, 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 Courtenay?
People in Courtenay 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 Courtenay, or is it online?
Online. There is no office in Courtenay 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 Courtenay.
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 Courtenay
Courtenay, in other languages
Elsewhere in BC
Sources
- Island Health, Comox Valley Mental Health & Substance Use
- Island Health, crisis response (Vancouver Island Crisis Line)
- Foundry Comox Valley
- Royal Canadian Air Force, 19 Wing Comox
- National Defence, Member and Family Assistance Services
- Island Health, Comox Valley campus of North Island Hospital
- North Island College, Comox Valley campus
- Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Profile: Courtenay (census agglomeration 943)
- Island Health
- HealthLink BC, mental health and substance use (8-1-1)
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