--- title: "Online & Virtual Counselling in Victoria | Counsellors" description: "Online counselling for Victoria and Vancouver Island. From $140 per 50-min session · free 15-min consult · Camille Granda or Savneet Singh." url: https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/victoria lang: en-CA section: "Vancouver Island · Online" date_modified: 2026-10-17 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/online-counselling/victoria index_of_site: https://www.westpeakwellness.com/llms.txt license: "Content © Westpeak Wellness. Quote with attribution and a link." --- # Online counselling in Victoria, BC Online counselling for people in Victoria 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. On the Island, specialist care has often meant a ferry, a day off, and a return sailing. It no longer has to. Also serving Esquimalt, Oak Bay and the rest of Vancouver Island, by the same video sessions. Updated October 17, 2026 [Book a free consultation in Victoria](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/book) [See all services](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/services) Many [extended health plans](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/resources/does-my-plan-cover-counselling-bc) reimburse a Registered Clinical Counsellor, depending on the plan, so check yours; MSP does not. Receipts are issued for every session, and the [fees](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/pricing) 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](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/resources/counselling-benefits-before-year-end-bc). Victoria has a solid local counselling community, and for a lot of people it covers what they need. Where it runs out is specialisation, a particular modality, a particular language, or a practitioner with specific experience in what you are bringing. Historically the answer was a ferry. A single appointment on the mainland means a sailing each way, a day given up, and a cost that turns weekly therapy into an impossibility. Which meant the practical choice was usually not "which practitioner is the best fit" but "which practitioner is on this side of the water". ## Who you’d see in Victoria Taking new clients and seeing people in Victoria 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, Registered Clinical Counsellor, seated and listening](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/_next/image?url=%2Fimg%2Fphoto%2Fcamille-chin.jpg&w=256&q=75&dpl=dpl_5oWqSyeZ3Dmx9o1tJgbj87jckevt) ### 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.” [Book with Camille](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/book?with=camille-granda#calendar) [More about Camille](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/practitioners/camille-granda/victoria) ![Savneet Singh, counsellor at Westpeak Wellness, smiling at the camera](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/_next/image?url=%2Fimg%2Fphoto%2Fsavneet-singh.jpg&w=256&q=75&dpl=dpl_5oWqSyeZ3Dmx9o1tJgbj87jckevt) ### Savneet Singh, RCC English and Punjabi · Anxiety, Depression, Trauma and attachment In her words: “Comforting, safe and supportive, is what I aim for.” [Book with Savneet](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/book?with=savneet-singh#calendar) [More about Savneet](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/practitioners/savneet-singh/victoria) Individual sessions are $140 for 50 minutes, after a free 15-minute consultation; card at booking. [Every fee, and what plans reimburse](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/pricing). ## 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](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/privacy) sets out the rest. Also written for: [Counselling for healthcare and shift workers in BC](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/for/healthcare-and-shift-workers) and [Counselling for first responders in BC](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/for/first-responders). ## What the water actually costs The Strait is not a minor inconvenience for continuity of care. Weekly therapy requiring a return sailing is not something most people can sustain financially or logistically, so Island residents have effectively been choosing from a smaller pool than mainland residents, not because of anything about the clinicians here, but because of geography. **Start with what is free, because in Victoria it is unusually good.** Island Health runs Central Access and Rapid Engagement Services (CARES) at 1119 Pembroke Street, offering **same-day assessment and walk-in counselling** for South Island residents whose mental-health or substance-use concern does not need a hospital: in person or virtually, Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm. There is no wait and no referral. If that fits what you need, use it; a practice that did not tell you it exists would not be worth trusting on anything else. Where it runs out is ongoing specialist work, and non-urgent psychiatric care in Victoria has become harder rather than easier as recruitment has failed to keep pace with retirements. Virtual sessions remove that constraint entirely. A counsellor on the mainland is exactly as available as one in Fairfield: same 50 minutes, same platform, same [BCACC](https://bcacc.ca) obligations, no sailing. **Language access is the sharpest version of this.** Which counsellors work in Punjabi, and whether they have openings, varies. BCACC’s [Find a Counsellor](https://bc-counsellors.org/counsellors/) directory filters by language, and [therapy in Punjabi](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/services/punjabi-counselling) by video works from anywhere on the Island. The same argument, with the local numbers, is on the [Kamloops](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/punjabi-counselling/kamloops) and [Prince George](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/punjabi-counselling/prince-george) pages, and for the Island itself on the [Saanich](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/punjabi-counselling/saanich) page, where most of the region’s Punjabi-speaking community lives. The same applies further up-Island. [Nanaimo](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/nanaimo), [the Comox Valley](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/courtenay), [Campbell River and the North Island](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/campbell-river), and the west coast communities each have their own local counsellors, and which of them have openings, and in which approach, varies; video adds counsellors from across BC to whatever is open nearby. Closer in, [Saanich and the Peninsula](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/saanich) and [Langford and the West Shore](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/langford) have pages of their own. [![A stylised map of British Columbia with a central video-session hub linked by dotted lines to Prince George, Kamloops, Kelowna, Abbotsford, Surrey, Vancouver, Nanaimo and Victoria, showing that sessions reach every region of the province.](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/img/bc-reach.svg) (full size, opens in a new tab)](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/img/bc-reach.svg) Every region of the province, from one virtual practice. Why virtual, specifically here ## What changes when distance stops mattering ### No sailing, no day lost The main practical change. Weekly work becomes sustainable in a way a ferry schedule never allowed. ### Access to mainland specialisation Modality and language options that were previously a full travel day away. ### Works up-Island too Nanaimo, Courtenay, Campbell River, and smaller communities where local options thin out considerably. ### Continuity through moves Island to mainland or back, common here, without restarting with a new counsellor. Not sure which kind of support fits? A [free 15-minute consultation](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/book) is the fastest way to find out, and it is a fine outcome if the answer is a referral somewhere else. Available in Victoria ## Ways we can help ### Individual 1:1 for anxiety, depression, life transitions, identity, family dynamics. [Individual Therapy in Victoria](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/services/individual-therapy) ### Couples Gottman-informed: communication, conflict, connection, repair. [Couples and Marriage Counselling in Victoria](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/victoria/couples-therapy) ### EMDR Evidence-based for trauma, PTSD, anxiety, grief. [EMDR Therapy in Victoria](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/victoria/emdr-therapy) ### Anxiety A city with real services, where the specific thing you need may still be across the water. [Anxiety Counselling and Therapy in Victoria](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/victoria/anxiety-counselling) ### Trauma A large service and veteran population, and a specific reluctance to be seen using local services. [Trauma Therapy and Counselling in Victoria](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/victoria/trauma-therapy) ### Depression Feeling low in a place everybody else calls idyllic makes the feeling harder to say. [Depression Counselling and Therapy in Victoria](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/victoria/depression-counselling) Questions from Victoria ## The island factors Victoria has a reasonable supply of counsellors and two constraints that are easy to underestimate. The first is that leaving the island for anything is a project. That sounds irrelevant to counselling until you need a service that is not available locally, a specific specialism, a particular assessment, an intensive programme, at which point a ferry, a day of travel and a cost that is not reimbursed all enter the calculation. A virtual practice removes the geography from the choice of counsellor entirely, which widens the available pool considerably. The second is the demographic mix. Victoria has a large public-sector workforce, a large student population, and a large retired population, and the counselling questions those groups bring are different from one another: workplace strain and burnout, academic and transition pressure, and grief, caregiving and loss of role respectively. [Mental health and work in BC](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/resources/workplace-mental-health-bc), [student supports](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/resources/student-mental-health-supports-bc) and [counselling for family caregivers](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/for/family-caregivers) each cover one of them. The third factor is the one residents raise unprompted: the winters are grey rather than cold, and the effect on mood over five months is cumulative and easy to dismiss. [Low mood through a BC winter](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/guides/low-mood-through-a-bc-winter) covers the coastal version specifically. [![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. ## Before you book **Can a mainland counsellor see me on the Island?** Yes. Registration is province-wide, so a BC-registered counsellor can work with clients anywhere in British Columbia by secure video, under the same ethical and privacy standards as in person. **Do you work with people further up-Island?** Yes: Nanaimo, Duncan, the Comox Valley, Campbell River, and smaller communities. Distance from Victoria makes no difference to a virtual session. **Is online therapy actually as good as in-person?** The research finds outcomes broadly comparable for the concerns most people bring, with some genuine trade-offs. The guide on online versus in-person therapy sets out both sides. **Is there something free I should try first?** Yes, and it is genuinely good. Island Health's CARES service at 1119 Pembroke Street offers same-day assessment and walk-in counselling, in person or virtually, with no referral and no wait. If that meets what you need, use it. Private counselling is the better fit when the work is ongoing rather than immediate, or when you want a particular approach or language and would rather choose from the whole province. **Can I have sessions in Punjabi from the Island?** Yes, by video from anywhere on the Island. Availability of Punjabi-speaking counsellors varies, here as elsewhere, and BCACC’s Find a Counsellor directory filters by language if you would also like to look locally. Most of the region’s Punjabi-speaking community lives in Saanich, and the Punjabi-speaking counselling page for Saanich sets out the 2021 Census figures and where they come from. **I am moving off-Island soon. Is it worth starting?** Yes, and that is one of the better arguments for working this way. Registration covers all of British Columbia, so a move from Victoria to the mainland, or back, which is just as common, does not end the work or mean repeating your history to somebody new. Continuity is worth more to most people than proximity ever was. **Do you see people in Esquimalt or Oak Bay?** Yes, on exactly the same terms as Victoria. Every session is by secure video, so Esquimalt, Oak Bay and the rest of Vancouver Island 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 Victoria?** From Victoria, 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 Victoria?** People in Victoria 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 Victoria, or is it online?** Online. There is no office in Victoria 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 Victoria. More in the [full list of frequently asked questions](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/faq), or see [fees and extended-health coverage](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/pricing). A question before you book ## Ask about counselling in Victoria In Victoria specifically [Couples and Marriage Counselling in Victoria](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/victoria/couples-therapy) [EMDR Therapy in Victoria](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/victoria/emdr-therapy) [Anxiety Counselling and Therapy in Victoria](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/victoria/anxiety-counselling) [Trauma Therapy and Counselling in Victoria](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/victoria/trauma-therapy) [Depression Counselling and Therapy in Victoria](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/victoria/depression-counselling) Victoria, in other languages [Tagalog counselling in Victoria](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/tagalog-counselling/victoria) Elsewhere in BC [Online counselling in Saanich](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/saanich) [Online counselling in Langford](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/langford) [Online counselling in Nanaimo](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/nanaimo) [Online counselling in Vancouver](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/vancouver) [All areas served in BC](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling) Sources - [Island Health, mental health and substance use services](https://www.islandhealth.ca/our-services/mental-health-substance-use-services) - [HereToHelp BC, mental health information](https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/) - [Island Health](https://www.islandhealth.ca/) - [HealthLink BC, mental health and substance use (8-1-1)](https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/mental-health-substance-use) Keep going ## Other areas served [Kelowna](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/kelowna) [Kamloops](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/kamloops) [Burnaby](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/burnaby) [Langley](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/langley) [White Rock](https://www.westpeakwellness.com/online-counselling/white-rock) ## Counselling in Victoria, starting with a conversation A free 15-minute consultation over secure video. No pressure, no commitment, and no obligation to book a session afterward. [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.