the North Okanagan · Online · ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
Punjabi-speaking counselling in Vernon
About 505 people in Vernon have Punjabi as their mother tongue. A community that size is easy to overlook, and easy to be recognised in.
Updated October 2, 2026
Punjabi-speaking counselling for Vernon 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 Vernon.
What is actually available in the North Okanagan
Vernon residents gave Punjabi as their mother tongue in 2021: about 1.2% of the city
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Profile: Vernon (CSD 5937014)
That is a small community, and this page does not pretend otherwise. Across the wider Vernon census agglomeration the figure is 600 by mother tongue and 715 who can speak Punjabi. South Asian residents numbered 1,040 in the city itself, about 2.4%.
Small matters in two ways. Services in a language are usually built where its speakers are numerous, so a community of a few hundred tends to be served, if at all, from somewhere else. And in a community of a few hundred, people know each other, which makes a local waiting room a real concern rather than an imagined one.
Both point the same way: a Punjabi-speaking counsellor who is not part of the local community, reached by video from home.
Interior Health runs mental-health and substance-use services from its Vernon centre on 14th Avenue, and anyone can self-refer through 310-MHSU (6478). For young people aged 12 to 24, CMHA Vernon’s Youth Integrated Services Hub offers free drop-in counselling. Both are real options and worth using.
Neither lists counselling sessions in Punjabi on its public pages. If a local service can offer Punjabi when you ask, that may suit you better, and it is worth asking.
Kelowna is the next place most people look, and Punjabi-speaking counselling for Kelowna sets out what the Central Okanagan does and does not have. The wider picture for Vernon, from the specialist line down Highway 97 to the 2021 fire, is on online counselling for Vernon.
One limit, stated plainly: sessions in Punjabi are individual counselling. Couples work and EMDR currently run in English or Tagalog.
Why virtual, specifically here
What changes when language stops being the barrier
Outside the local circle
In a community of a few hundred, the counsellor you see by video is not a neighbour or a relative’s friend.
Punjabi, English, or both
Use whichever language the sentence needs. Switching halfway through a thought is ordinary, and nobody stops to translate it.
Armstrong to Lumby, the same session
Coldstream, Armstrong, Enderby and Lumby are covered on identical terms, with no drive into Vernon or down to Kelowna.
Family is part of the work
What relatives expect, and who in a small community might hear about it, belong in the first session rather than being explained away first.
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 Vernon
Before you book
The Punjabi community in Vernon is small. Is that a reason to look elsewhere?
It is the main reason this page exists. In a small community the worry is less about finding a counsellor and more about who else knows. A counsellor outside the North Okanagan, reached by video, takes that second question away.
Can my partner and I come together for sessions in Punjabi?
Not at the moment. Couples sessions currently run in English or Tagalog. Individual counselling is available in Punjabi, English or both.
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 anything free first?
Interior Health’s Vernon centre is free and takes self-referrals, and for ages 12 to 24 the CMHA Vernon youth hub offers free drop-in counselling. Neither lists counselling sessions in Punjabi on its public pages. If language is the barrier, that is where this practice differs.
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
Counselling in Punjabi, from Vernon
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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