Returning to work support in Edmonton, St. Albert, and online across Alberta, for the practical and emotional sides of going back. Psychologists registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP). In-person sessions at five Edmonton and St. Albert locations. Virtual sessions anywhere in Alberta. 50-minute sessions, with evening and weekend hours available as well.

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You Might Be Wondering Whether Returning to Work Support Is Right for You

You may be asking yourself whether going back to work is really something to see a counsellor about. People return to jobs every day, so it can feel like you should be able to handle it on your own. You might also be unsure whether you are ready. And you may wonder what that uncertainty says about you.

Maybe you have noticed a few things. You reread the email about your start date more often than you need to. You rehearse what you will say when a coworker asks where you have been. Or you feel settled about going back one day and dread it the next.

These reactions make sense. Returning to work can involve emotional, practical, relational, and identity-related adjustments, even when the job and the people are familiar. Mixed feelings about going back are a common response to change. They do not mean something is wrong with you.

If you are trying to work out whether talking it through with someone could help, this page explains what this support looks like, what it can include, and where its limits are. If you are reading for a partner or family member, there is information here for you too.

Who We Help

Returning to work support may be a good fit if you are:

• Going back after a medical or health-related leave
• Returning after maternity or parental leave, or after a period of caregiving
• Re-entering work after an extended absence, a layoff, or time between jobs
• Starting a new role, team, or schedule after a change at work
• Going back after a stretch of stress or exhaustion at work
• Returning to a workplace where something difficult happened
• Unsure whether, when, or how you want to go back
• A partner or family member who wants support for yourself while someone close to you goes through this change

This service may not be the right fit if you need:

• Immediate help with a crisis or safety concern. Please use the crisis resources below.
• A decision about whether you are fit to work, medical clearance, or an opinion for an employer, insurer, or legal matter. These needs are outside this counselling service. Psychological assessments are a separate service.
• Legal, labour-relations, human-resources, insurance, or union advice, or someone to investigate a workplace complaint.
• Medical care, occupational therapy, vocational rehabilitation, or disability case management.

Some people are being asked to return to a workplace where they experienced harassment, violence, or another safety concern. Counselling can offer space to think through your reactions and options. Decisions about workplace safety and complaints are handled through your employer, union, or other formal processes. You may also find our page on workplace psychological health and safety useful.

If You Need Help Right Now

Counselling appointments are not set up for urgent situations. If you are thinking about harming yourself or someone else, or you are in immediate danger, please contact one of these services:

• 911, or go to your nearest emergency department, if you are in immediate danger
• Alberta Mental Health Help Line: 1-877-303-2642 (24/7)
• 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline: call or text 9-8-8 (24/7)

Wholesome Psychology is not an emergency or crisis service.

What Returning to Work Counselling Is (and Is Not)

Returning to work counselling is a set of conversations with a therapist about the personal and workplace sides of going back. It gives you a structured space to talk through your goals, expectations, routines, boundaries, and how you want to communicate at work. Planning is collaborative and built around what you want.

Sessions may touch on pacing, coping, boundaries, values, and how the transition is landing for you. These are possible topics, not a set program. You decide what to focus on and how fast to go. Your therapist will not push you toward a return date.

Returning to work counselling is not:

• A fitness-for-work assessment or medical clearance. Psychological assessments are a separate service and are not part of this counselling.
• A way to decide accommodation eligibility, benefit eligibility, or what your employer must do
• Legal, human-resources, labour-relations, insurance, or union advice, or an investigation of workplace events
• Crisis intervention
• A replacement for medical care, occupational therapy, vocational rehabilitation, or disability management

What you share is confidential, with a few legal limits your therapist will explain at your first session. The confidentiality section below has more detail. Each clinician works within the scope of their own training and professional registration. If something you need falls outside that scope, your therapist can talk with you about other options.

Signs Returning to Work May Be Weighing on You

There is no checklist you need to meet before reaching out. Still, some people recognize themselves in a few of these:

• A knot in your stomach that tightens as your return date gets closer
• Replaying how your manager or coworkers might react to you
• Questioning whether you can still do the job the way you used to
• Not knowing how much to share about why you were away
• Putting off emails, calls, or forms from work
• Feeling more tired than you expected after the first days or weeks back
• Feeling pulled between work and responsibilities at home
• Lying awake running through what the first day will be like
• Sensing you are not quite the same person who left, and not sure how that fits at work

These are common reactions to a real change in routine, roles, and relationships. They do not mean something is permanently wrong, or that you cannot go back. Talking them through with someone outside your workplace may help you sort out what matters most and plan your next steps.

How Returning to Work Counselling Works Here

• Find your therapist. Use the Match with a Therapist tool or browse Our Therapists. If you would rather talk it through, our admin team can help at 780-904-4880.
• Book your first session. Your therapist will go over confidentiality and consent, answer your questions, and ask what brought you in and what you hope will be different. You can share as much or as little as feels right.
• Build your plan together. You and your therapist decide what to focus on. That might be a timeline, a conversation you are preparing for, or how you feel about going back at all.
• Ongoing sessions. Sessions are 50 minutes, usually weekly or every two weeks. The schedule can change as your return gets closer or settles in.
• Progress check-ins. Your therapist checks in regularly about what is helping and what is not. The plan can shift when your work situation does.

There is no fixed number of sessions. Therapy is a collaboration, and your sense of what is useful shapes it at every stage. To read more about the process, see Getting Started with Therapy and Our Unique Approach.

Evidence and Approaches

Research on return-to-work support is still developing. The sources reviewed for this page describe the work context and the kinds of support that exist more than they test specific therapies. Each focus area below covers what it is for, what the sources say, and where the evidence stops.

Understanding Your Work Context

What it helps with: Making sense of how job changes, schedules, and relationships at work may be affecting you, without turning them into a diagnosis.

Evidence summary: The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) lists employment-related factors among things that can influence health, including a change of job, threat of job loss, employment conditions, stressful work schedules, relationships with people at work, and burnout (World Health Organization [WHO], n.d.). These can be relevant topics in counselling (WHO, n.d.).

Limitations: ICD-11 is a classification system, not treatment research. A workplace concern listed there does not mean a person has a mental health condition.

Planning a Paced Return

What it helps with: Working out a pace, routines, boundaries, and coping strategies that fit your role, energy, and circumstances.

Evidence summary: Return-to-work interventions for people with work-related mental health conditions have been the subject of a systematic review and meta-analysis ("Evaluating the Effectiveness of Return-to-Work Interventions," n.d.). The excerpt available for this page did not include the review's results, so we make no claims about how well these interventions work.

Limitations: Needs and outcomes vary from person to person. Planning in counselling is individualized and does not follow a standard protocol.

Preparing for Workplace Conversations

What it helps with: Clarifying what you want to say to a manager, coworker, or human resources, and practising wording that feels comfortable.

Evidence summary: Statistics Canada (2024) has reported on workplace accommodation needs, including unmet needs, among employed Canadians with disabilities. The report also looked at how work arrangements changed as working from home and digital tools expanded. Practical arrangements like these may be part of return-to-work planning for some people (Statistics Canada, 2024).

Limitations: The data describe employed people with disabilities and may not reflect your situation. Counselling does not determine whether an accommodation is needed or approved.

Coordinating With Other Supports, With Your Consent

What it helps with: Keeping counselling connected to the other people and processes involved in your return, only when you choose to authorize it.

Evidence summary: Organizations in the United Kingdom and Canada have published return-to-work resources. These include guidance on workplace health, long-term sickness absence, and capability to work (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE], n.d.) and a Return to the Workplace Toolkit (Canadian Mental Health Association [CMHA], 2022). The material reviewed for this page did not include their specific recommendations, so none are summarized here.

Limitations: These resources are not a protocol we follow. Any contact with an employer, physician, or insurer requires your informed written consent and is limited to what you authorize.

What Results to Expect

Going back to work rarely follows a straight line. A first week can go well and the third can feel harder. Ups and downs along the way can happen, and they do not mean the plan has failed.

Some people notice shifts within a few months. Others find longer-term support useful, especially when the return is part of a bigger life change. Some come for a handful of sessions to prepare for one conversation or for the first weeks back.

Several things can shape how the return goes:

• The reasons you were away and how you are doing now
• Your role, your workplace, and the support available there
• What is happening at home
• How well you and your therapist work together

No therapy can guarantee a particular outcome. Counselling cannot promise a return date, a specific workplace decision, or that a conflict at work will be resolved. If the fit with your therapist does not feel right, changing therapists or trying a different approach is always an option.

Confidentiality and Privacy

What you share in counselling is confidential. Wholesome Psychology does not share information with your employer, insurer, physician, family members, or anyone else without your informed written consent. The exception is where disclosure is required or permitted by law and professional obligations.

Psychologists in Alberta are regulated by the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP) and follow the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists. In a private clinic, personal information is generally protected under Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). The Health Information Act (HIA) governs health information held by custodians in Alberta's health system, such as Alberta Health Services, and may apply in some care arrangements.

There are a few situations where a therapist may be required or permitted to share information without your consent:

• A risk of serious and imminent harm to you or someone else
• Reason to believe a child is being abused or neglected, which Alberta's Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act requires to be reported
• A court order or subpoena for records

Your therapist will explain these limits clearly during your first session. You are welcome to ask questions about privacy before you share anything personal. The same confidentiality standards apply to virtual sessions.

If an insurer or employee assistance program is paying for your sessions, or a case manager is involved in your return, ask at the start who will receive information and what it will include. With your written consent, your therapist can coordinate with another professional or party. Only what you have authorized is shared.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to explain why I was off work, or describe what happened in detail?

No. You decide what to share and when. You can start with what is in front of you now, such as an upcoming start date or a conversation you are dreading, rather than going back over the reasons for your leave. Your therapist will follow your pace.

Will my employer find out what I talk about in counselling?

Not without your informed written consent. What you share is confidential, with limits that include a risk of serious harm, suspected child abuse or neglect, and court orders. Your therapist will go over these at the first session. The Confidentiality and Privacy section above has more detail.

How many sessions will I need?

There is no set number. Some people come for a few sessions to prepare for a specific conversation or the first weeks back. Others continue longer, especially if the return is part of a larger change. You and your therapist will review how things are going and adjust.

What if the therapist is not the right fit?

Fit matters, and it is reasonable to say so. Our admin team can help you find a different clinician, or you can use the Match Tool to look at other options. New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.

Can I have sessions online?

Yes. Virtual sessions are available anywhere in Alberta, and the same confidentiality standards apply. This can be useful if travel is hard to fit around a new work schedule.

Can a therapist tell my employer I am ready to go back, or fill out return-to-work forms?

Returning to work counselling does not determine whether you are fit to work or ready to return. If your employer, insurer, or physician needs documentation or an assessment, your therapist can explain the limits of counselling and talk with you about appropriate next steps. Psychological assessments are a separate service.

Can counselling help me ask for workplace accommodations?

Counselling may help you clarify what you need and prepare for the conversation. Your therapist cannot decide whether an accommodation is appropriate, required, or approved. Those decisions sit with your workplace and, where applicable, other qualified professionals.

Can I come in if I have not decided whether I want to go back?

Yes. Some people use counselling to think through whether, when, or how they want to return, or what they want from work going forward. Exploring the question does not commit you to an answer. If a change of direction is on your mind, our career transitions counselling and life transitions pages may also be relevant.

Meet Your Clinicians

Our team includes Registered Psychologists, Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers, Canadian Certified Counsellors, Mental Health Therapists, and Student Therapists. All psychologists are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists. Provisional psychologists practise under the supervision of a senior registered psychologist. Registered social workers are regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW).

Student therapists are master's-level practicum students who offer reduced-rate counselling as part of their training. Each clinician works within the scope of their own training and registration.

Each profile on Our Therapists lists that clinician's areas of focus, so you can look for experience with workplace stress, life transitions, or other concerns that matter to you. The Match with a Therapist tool can help narrow your options. You can also call our admin team at 780-904-4880 for guidance.

Children, Youth, and Families

A parent's return to work can change routines for the whole household, from new childcare arrangements to different evening schedules. If a child or teen in your family is having a hard time with the change, Wholesome Psychology also offers counselling for children and youth. Therapists who work with younger clients use age-appropriate approaches and work with caregivers to support the child at home.

If You Would Like to Talk It Through

If you would like support as you prepare for, start, or settle into a return to work, you can take the next step in whichever way suits you:

• Book a session online
• Use the Match with a Therapist tool
• Call 780-904-4880
• Email info@wholesomepsychology.ca

If you would like to know what to expect first, see Getting Started with Therapy. Starting the conversation is enough.

New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.

References

• Canadian Mental Health Association. (2022). Return to the workplace toolkit.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of return-to-work interventions for individuals with work-related mental health conditions: A systematic review and meta-analysis. (n.d.).
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (n.d.). Workplace health: Long-term sickness absence and capability to work.
• Statistics Canada. (2024, August 28). Changes in workplace accommodations among employed Canadians with disabilities, 2017 to 2022.
• World Health Organization. (n.d.). ICD-11 for mortality and morbidity statistics: Factors influencing health status, problems associated with employment or unemployment.