Our Services
Introduction
We believe that people need support at various points in their lives. Our counsellors are there for these times, whether to empower you to feel more confident, improve relationships, develop strategies for better coping, find your voice despite barriers, or make changes toward greater wellness.
Counsellors at Red Spruce Mental Health Centre are graduate counselling students completing practicum and internship hours towards their counselling degree. Our graduate students bring a wealth of knowledge, professional experiences, diverse identities, lived experience, and passion to their work. By the time they begin practicum, they have immersed themselves in counselling theories, ethics, skills, approaches, research, and practice. Our students are prepared to develop an integrated theoretical framework to guide their work, always centred on intention and ethics. They often integrate frameworks such as person-centred, feminist, narrative, cognitive-behavioural, solution-focused, and strengths-based approaches. As beginning practitioners, our interns are unable to provide specialized counselling services. However, they are prepared to meet each client where they are at the time of accessing services, assess whether the presenting needs are a good fit for their competencies and Red Spruce, and offer referrals to other services where necessary. Counsellors at Red Spruce work under the close and supportive supervision of the Centre Coordinator, an experienced counselling practitioner who provides oversight of client referrals and services.
New Clients
Thank you for considering Red Spruce Mental Health Centre to be part of your wellness journey! At Red Spruce, we are committed to ensuring that you receive the services you deserve, without having to worry about the financial burden of counselling fees. Our practicum interns are ready to meet you where you are at and offer you support to take a step closer to your wellness goals. Our Centre Coordinator will be your first point of contact and will gather a bit of information with you to ensure Red Spruce is a good fit for your wellness goals and will pair you with an intern that will hopefully be a great fit. If you would like to learn more about the Red Spruce or are ready to book an appointment, click below to send us a message. Typically, our coordinator will respond within two business days.
Individual Counselling
One-on-one sessions, in-person or virtual, are available for individuals ages 13+. Some of the topics or themes that may be the focus of individual counselling at Red Spruce are:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Family
- Identity
- Grief and Loss
- Marginalization
- Oppression
- Relationships
- Sexual Violence
- Stress
- Substance Use Recovery and Support
- Personal Growth
- Work and Career
All in-person sessions will occur at Red Spruce Mental Health Centre at Willett House on Acadia University’s campus. From our inviting waiting room to the cozy, private counselling offices, your comfort and care are our priority. Sessions are typically 50 minutes in length. Our counsellors complete their practicum over a four-to-eight-month timeframe. Clients accessing the Centre can choose to see the same intern for the duration of their placement or a shorter length of time based on when they feel their goals have been met. When an intern's practicum concludes, all current clients will be allowed to transfer to a new counsellor should they not have reached their goals before the end of the placement. While the counselling service is not restricted to short-term therapy, the time spent with an individual intern is constrained by their placement term.
Group Counselling
Counselling interns also offer small and large group services. Some groups are open, meaning individuals can join the group anytime. Other groups are closed, and there is a screening process to ensure membership in the group is a good fit. Groups can vary in their structure and focus. Some groups are psychoeducational, meaning their primary function is to share information and support knowledge and/or skill development. Other groups are more process-related, focusing primarily on the experiences and goals of individual members and the group overall. Groups running at Red Spruce are listed below with links to advertisements and contact information.
Current Groups:
Referrals
At Red Spruce, referrals are not necessary. Clients can self-refer for services to the centre and are not required to provide any documentation for referral. If you have a client you’d like to refer to Red Spruce, our preference is for them to reach out themselves to initiate services. However, if there are any barriers interfering with their ability to reach out themselves, please click below and send our coordinator a message with the client’s name, preferred means of contact, a brief summary of the reason for the referral, and confirm that the client knows the referral is being made on their behalf. Our coordinator will only respond to referrals where there is confirmation that the client has consented to being referred for counselling.
Student Counselling
Red Spruce Mental Health Centre supports students at Acadia University where needed through specialized placements with programs and services on campus. Red Spruce is a complementary service to Acadia Counselling Centre. Red Spruce will support Acadia Counselling Centre as needed by assisting in keeping their waitlist for counselling services down and providing accessible counselling services for students. Currently, the interns at the Red Spruce support students through Accessible Learning Services and student-athletes through Acadia Athletics.
General Information
In-person and virtual options are available
Hours of Operation
Standard hours of operation are the following, but days and times may vary according to staffing availability and semester scheduling.
- Mondays – 8:30 am. - 4:30 pm.
- Tuesdays – 8:30 am. - 4:30 pm.
- Wednesdays – 10:00 pm. - 6:00 pm.
- Thursdays – 8:30 am. - 4:30 pm.
- Fridays – 8:30 am. - 4:30 pm.
Red Spruce operates with the Acadia University academic calendar to model wellness values for our clients and ourselves and typically closes for holidays, semester breaks, and winter/summer vacations. Scheduling details are provided before each academic year and/or semester.
Owl Practice
Red Spruce Mental Health Centre uses Owl Practice as our practice management platform. This platform exceeds PHI and College Compliant laws, and its servers are housed in Canada. It is Canada's only fully compliant PHI and College mental health solution. This allows for safe and secure record-keeping and private video sessions where all information is securely stored with bank-level encryption.
