Metro Vancouver · Online
Online counselling in Richmond, BC
Online counselling for people in Richmond is with Camille Granda or Savneet Singh, both Registered Clinical Counsellors, by secure video in English, Punjabi or Tagalog depending on the counsellor, with a free 15-minute consultation and no referral needed.
A large, multilingual city, where the counsellor who fits may be in Richmond or anywhere else in BC.
Also serving Steveston, Brighouse, Hamilton, Sea Island and the rest of Metro Vancouver, by the same video sessions.
Updated
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. On a calendar-year plan, sessions held by 31 December count against this year: using benefits before the plan year ends.
Richmond is one of the larger cities in Metro Vancouver, and on paper that should mean a wide choice of counsellors. In practice the choice narrows quickly depending on what you need it in. A great deal of Richmond's mental-health provision is built, correctly and deliberately, around its Chinese-speaking communities, Cantonese and Mandarin services are a genuine local strength.
If you are looking in English, Punjabi or Tagalog, Richmond’s own counsellors are one place to look, and many people widen the search to Vancouver or Surrey as well. Video widens it to the whole province, which is what this page is about. It is worth saying plainly that this practice offers English, Punjabi and Tagalog and not Cantonese or Mandarin, if those are what you need, Richmond is a better place to look locally than almost anywhere in the province, and you should.
Who you’d see in Richmond
Taking new clients and seeing people in Richmond 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
In her words: “I want sitting with me to feel like the biggest belly breath you have ever taken.”
Savneet Singh, RCC
English and Punjabi · Anxiety, Depression, Trauma and attachment
In her words: “Comforting, safe and supportive, is what I aim for.”
Individual sessions are $140 for 50 minutes, after a free 15-minute consultation; card at booking. Every fee, and what plans reimburse.
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.
Language, the airport, and a bridge
Language shapes the local supply more than distance does. Richmond's counselling capacity is real; the question is whether it exists in the language you want to be understood in. For English, Punjabi or Tagalog speakers here, "local" often means crossing a bridge anyway, at which point the drive is buying nothing that a video call does not.
Shift work at YVR and the port does not fit a 9-to-5 slot. Airport operations, ground handling, freight and hospitality run on rosters that change, and a standing weekly appointment at 2pm is not something those schedules survive. Attending from wherever you are between shifts, at a time picked from what the counsellor has open, is the practical difference.
Public intake runs through Vancouver Coastal Health, not Fraser Health, which matters if you have been given a referral or joined a waitlist and are trying to work out which queue you are actually in.
Punjabi-speaking counselling is the specific case. Richmond's Punjabi-speaking community is smaller than Surrey's or Abbotsford's and the local provision reflects that. Punjabi-speaking counselling covers what sessions in Punjabi actually involve, and counselling in Surrey covers the larger picture one bridge east.
Why virtual, specifically here
What changes when distance stops mattering
No bridge, no tunnel
The Massey Tunnel and the Oak Street bridge stop being part of the appointment.
English, Punjabi or Tagalog
Which of the three depends on the counsellor, and moving between one and English mid-session is normal. Cantonese and Mandarin are not offered here, Richmond is genuinely well served for those locally.
Built for shift rosters
No travel time either side of a session, and a time picked from what the counsellor has open rather than a fixed weekly slot.
Serves all of Richmond
Steveston, Brighouse, Hamilton and the island's east side on identical terms.
Not sure which kind of support fits? A free 15-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 Richmond
Ways we can help
Individual
1:1 for anxiety, depression, life transitions, identity, family dynamics.
Individual Therapy in RichmondQuestions from Richmond
Before you book
Do you offer counselling in Cantonese or Mandarin?
No. Sessions are in English, Punjabi or Tagalog, or a mix of two. If you want to work in Cantonese or Mandarin, Richmond is one of the better places in BC to look locally, and doing so is the right call rather than a compromise. This page is not trying to talk you out of it.
Can I have sessions in Punjabi?
Yes: in Punjabi, English, or both within the same session, with no need to travel to Surrey or Vancouver to find it.
I work rotating shifts at the airport. Can therapy fit around that?
Yes, and it works far better if it is planned for from the start rather than discovered in month two. Booking block by block around a roster, with gaps, is a normal pattern and nothing is lost by pausing between blocks.
Which health authority covers Richmond?
Vancouver Coastal Health, not Fraser Health. It is worth knowing before joining a public waitlist, because a referral into the wrong authority's queue is a delay nobody tells you about until you ask.
Is there a free consultation first?
Yes: 15 minutes by video, no charge, no card, and no obligation afterwards. If it turns out someone else is a better fit, you will be told that on the call.
Do you see people in Steveston, Brighouse, Hamilton or Sea Island?
Yes, on exactly the same terms as Richmond. Every session is by secure video, so Steveston, Brighouse, Hamilton, Sea Island and the rest of Metro Vancouver are served the same way: a Registered Clinical Counsellor, a free 15-minute consultation first, and no travel at either end.
What does counselling cost in Richmond?
From Richmond, 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 15-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 Richmond?
People in Richmond 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 Richmond, or is it online?
Online. There is no office in Richmond 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 Richmond.
More in the full list of frequently asked questions, or see fees and extended-health coverage.
A question before you book
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