New Westminster and Queensborough · Online · ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
Punjabi-speaking counselling in New Westminster
A Punjabi-speaking community of a few thousand, one river away from the largest in the province. The usual answer has been the trip to Surrey.
Updated October 2, 2026
Punjabi-speaking counselling for New Westminster is with Savneet Singh, RCC, by secure video, in English or Punjabi, or a mix of both. Individual sessions are $140 for 50 minutes, after a free 30-minute consultation, and whether an extended health plan reimburses it depends on the plan.
Who you would be working with
Savneet Singh, RCC: Registered Clinical Counsellor, working in Punjabi and English by secure video. She works with anxiety, depression, trauma and attachment, personality disorders.
There is also a page for Savneet and New Westminster.
One river from Surrey, and the river is still the cost
New Westminster residents with Punjabi as their mother tongue, 3.6% of the city, behind English, Tagalog and Mandarin
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Profile: New Westminster (CSD 5915029)
In the 2021 census Punjabi was the only mother tongue of 2,810 people in New Westminster, about 3.6% of the city, and 3,220 counting people who learned it alongside another language. It ranked fourth, behind English, Tagalog and Mandarin.
That is a real community, and a mid-sized one. In a city where Tagalog is the most common mother tongue after English, Punjabi speakers are one language group among several rather than the group local services are built around.
Across the river the picture inverts. In the same census Surrey had more than 128,000 people whose only mother tongue is Punjabi, more than any other city in BC, which is why the usual advice from New Westminster has been to go to Surrey.
For a Punjabi speaker in New Westminster, Surrey is close. The new stal̕əw̓asəm Bridge replaced the Pattullo, and King George Boulevard is on the other side of it. Close is not the same as costless: a weekly appointment over the river, on top of a working day, is a cost paid twice a session, and for language access it falls on the people with the fewest local options.
Fraser Health runs the public route here, and adults can self-refer to the New Westminster Mental Health Centre on Sixth Street. It is worth using, and worth asking directly whether a session in Punjabi is possible rather than assuming either way.
There is a second reason some people look past the obvious option. Being one river from Surrey can mean moving in the same circles on both sides of it, and some people would rather their counsellor sat outside those circles. A counsellor with no office in either city removes the chance of a familiar face in a waiting room.
The wider picture for this city, including why the specialist rather than the public door tends to be the part that is somewhere else, is on online counselling for New Westminster. Punjabi-speaking counselling in Surrey covers the view from across the river.
Why virtual, specifically here
What changes when language stops being the barrier
No bridge to Surrey
The trip across the river has been the default answer for Punjabi-language counselling from New Westminster. Video removes it, from Sapperton to Queensborough.
Punjabi, English, or both
Sessions move between the two as the conversation needs. Many people switch into Punjabi for family and back into English for the practical planning.
Family context without the preamble
A counsellor who already knows what “log kya kahenge” carries means the first sessions go on the problem, not on translating the household around it.
No waiting room on either side of the river
There is no office in New Westminster or Surrey where anybody could see you arrive, and no reception desk on either bank of the Fraser where a cousin might be sitting.
Not sure whether this is the right fit? A free 30-minute consultation is the fastest way to find out, and it is a perfectly good outcome if the answer turns out to be a referral somewhere else.
Questions from New Westminster
Before you book
Why not see somebody in Surrey?
You can, and for some people it is the right answer, and you would be told so on a consultation call. What it costs from New Westminster is the crossing, every week, and a crossing that does not happen is a session that does not happen.
Can couples sessions be in Punjabi?
Not at the moment. Punjabi-language sessions are individual counselling. Couples sessions currently run in English or Tagalog, and the free consultation is the place to talk through which fits.
Will my extended health cover this?
Plans that list an RCC usually reimburse a video session on the same terms as in person, but this depends on the plan. Ask: are virtual sessions with an RCC eligible, and on the same maximum?
Is there a free option I should try first?
Fraser Health’s mental health centre on Sixth Street takes self-referrals from adults, the Fraser Health Crisis Line answers at 604-951-8855, and 310-6789 connects to mental-health support anywhere in BC. If one of those fits, use it.
More in the full list of frequently asked questions, or see fees and extended-health coverage. There is also a full page in Punjabi (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ).
Elsewhere in BC
Sources
- Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Profile: New Westminster (CSD 5915029)
- Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Profile: Surrey (CSD 5915004)
- Fraser Health, Mental Health Centres directory (New Westminster Mental Health Centre, Sixth Street)
- stal̕əw̓asəm Bridge (Pattullo Bridge replacement), bridge opening
- Fraser Health Crisis Line (Options Community Services)
- Crisis Centre of BC, 310 Mental Health Support (310-6789) and 9-8-8
Counselling in Punjabi, from New Westminster
A free 30-minute consultation over secure video, in Punjabi or English. No pressure, no commitment, and no obligation to book a session afterward.
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