Counselling for caregivers supporting a loved one through memory, thinking, or functional changes. A collaborative, client-centred space to work through stress, grief, role shifts, and the daily weight of ongoing care.

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You Might Be Wondering Whether Caregiver Counselling Is Right for You

You may not be sure whether what you are going through is serious enough to talk to someone about. Caring for a parent, partner, or other loved one with memory or thinking changes can feel like something you should just be able to handle. You might tell yourself that other people manage, or that your situation is not bad enough to need outside help.

At the same time, you may notice that your patience runs shorter than it used to. You might feel guilty when you take time for yourself, or catch yourself pulling away from friends and family because explaining what your days look like feels exhausting. Some people describe a kind of ongoing sadness that sits underneath everything, even on days when nothing specific goes wrong.

These responses are common reactions to a sustained and often unpredictable caregiving role. They do not mean something is wrong with you. They reflect the weight of adapting to a situation that keeps changing, often without a clear endpoint.

If you are thinking about whether talking to someone might help, this page outlines what caregiver counselling involves, what it does and does not cover, and how to get started if it feels like a fit.

Who This Service May Be a Good Fit For

This service is designed for people who are providing informal care or support to someone living with cognitive changes, whether or not a formal diagnosis has been made. You do not need to be in crisis to reach out.

This service may be a good fit if you are:

• A family member, partner, or close friend supporting someone with memory, attention, or functional changes
• Adjusting to a new or shifting caregiving role
• Experiencing stress, grief, frustration, or mixed emotions related to caregiving
• Dealing with communication challenges or conflict within the family about care decisions
• Trying to balance caregiving with work, parenting, or other responsibilities
• Noticing changes in your own mood, sleep, energy, or relationships
• Gathering information about support options for yourself or for someone you care about

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

• A medical or neurological assessment for the person you are supporting. This service does not diagnose conditions such as dementia or other neurocognitive disorders.
• Emergency or crisis support. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, please use the crisis resources listed below.
• Legal, financial, or guardianship advice. These needs fall outside the scope of counselling.
• Home care, respite care, or in-home support services. These are separate services provided by other organisations.
• Capacity evaluations or forensic assessments. Psychological assessments are a separate service.

Crisis Resources

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger or experiencing a medical emergency, this clinic is not a crisis service. Please contact one of the following:

• 911 for immediate danger or medical emergencies
• Alberta Mental Health Help Line: 1-877-303-2642 (24/7)
• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741

Wholesome Psychology is not an emergency or crisis service.

What This Service Is

Caregiver counselling is a form of talk therapy focused on you, the person providing support. It is not a medical service, and it does not involve diagnosing or treating the person you are caring for. Its purpose is to give you a private, structured space to talk through what you are experiencing.

Topics that often come up in caregiver counselling include stress and emotional fatigue, grief related to changes in the relationship, communication difficulties with the person you care for or with other family members, boundary-setting, role strain, and the challenge of making room for your own needs alongside someone else's.

A formal diagnosis for your loved one is not required. The work stays focused on your experience as the caregiver.

Counselling is not a legal service, an investigative process, or a crisis intervention. It does not replace medical assessment, capacity evaluation, home care, or financial planning. These are separate services. Counselling can sit alongside them when that makes sense for your situation.

The pace of counselling is set by you. Your therapist will work with you collaboratively to identify goals and adjust the focus as your circumstances change. What you share in sessions is confidential within legal and ethical limits, which your therapist will explain during the first session.

A Note on the Term Cognitive Impairment

On this page, "cognitive impairment" is used broadly to describe changes in memory, attention, thinking, or everyday functioning. These changes may be related to conditions such as dementia, acquired brain injury, neurological illness, or age-related decline. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies neurocognitive disorders as a formal diagnostic category within the ICD-11 (WHO, n.d.). However, you do not need a specific diagnosis to seek counselling for yourself as a caregiver.

Signs That Caregiving May Be Affecting You

Caregiving can affect people in ways that build gradually and are easy to overlook. You may recognise some of these patterns:

• Feeling emotionally drained or numb, even when the day has been relatively calm
• Difficulty sleeping, or waking up still feeling tired
• Irritability or a shorter temper than usual, especially with people close to you
• Withdrawing from friends, hobbies, or activities that used to matter to you
• A persistent sense of sadness or grief, even though the person you care for is still present
• Guilt about taking time for yourself or about feeling frustrated with your loved one
• Difficulty concentrating at work or on everyday tasks
• Physical tension, headaches, or changes in appetite
• Feeling like no one truly understands what your days are like

These experiences are common reactions to an ongoing, high-demand caregiving role. They do not mean something is permanently wrong with you. They reflect the emotional and physical cost of sustained care, and they are the kind of patterns that structured support can help with.

How Counselling Works Here

• Find your therapist. Use the Match with a Therapist tool, browse Our Therapists, or call the admin team at 780-904-4880 for guidance.
• Book your first session. Your first session includes a review of confidentiality and consent, a conversation about what has been happening, and a discussion of your goals. There is no expectation that you share everything at once.
• Build your plan together. You and your therapist co-create a plan based on your priorities, schedule, and what feels manageable. The plan is yours and can be adjusted over time.
• Ongoing sessions. Sessions are typically 50 minutes, held weekly or bi-weekly. Frequency is adjusted based on your needs and preferences.
• Progress check-ins. Your therapist reviews progress regularly with you. Goals and focus areas can shift as your caregiving situation evolves.

There is no fixed number of sessions. Some people find relief from just 2-3 sessions focused on a specific concern. Others benefit from longer-term support as their caregiving situation changes. The pace is always set by you.

Evidence and Approaches

The research base for caregiver-specific counselling interventions is still developing. Nonpharmacological support for informal dementia caregivers has been studied in systematic reviews and meta-analyses, though the available evidence does not yet support specific outcome claims for individual therapy modalities in this population. The following approaches are commonly used in caregiver counselling. Evidence summaries reflect what is available in the current research literature, and limitations are noted honestly.

Supportive Counselling

What it helps with: Providing a structured, private space to process the emotional weight of caregiving, including stress, grief, guilt, and role strain.

Evidence summary: Supportive counselling is widely used in caregiver support contexts. Canadian dementia policy recognises caregiver support as part of broader dementia care (Public Health Agency of Canada [PHAC], n.d.). Clinical guidelines acknowledge the role of psychological support for carers of people living with dementia (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE], n.d.).

Limitations: The available evidence does not isolate the effects of supportive counselling from other forms of caregiver intervention. Individual outcomes vary.

Cognitive-Behavioural Approaches

What it helps with: Working with patterns of thinking and behaviour that may contribute to caregiver stress, such as self-critical thoughts, difficulty setting boundaries, or avoidance of support.

Evidence summary: Cognitive-behavioural approaches are among the interventions studied in systematic reviews of nonpharmacological support for informal caregivers. Research in this area has been reviewed at the meta-analytic level, though the provided evidence does not include specific effect sizes or comparative findings for this population.

Limitations: The evidence base for CBT specifically for cognitive impairment caregivers is still developing. Results may differ depending on the caregiving context and individual circumstances.

Grief and Loss-Focused Approaches

What it helps with: Processing the unique form of grief that can accompany caring for someone who is still present but gradually changing, sometimes called ambiguous loss.

Evidence summary: Grief-focused work is commonly integrated into caregiver counselling. Statistics Canada data on caregiver experiences indicates that unmet support needs are linked to well-being indicators among Canadian caregivers (Statistics Canada, n.d.). Addressing grief as part of counselling reflects clinical practice in this area, though controlled trial evidence specific to ambiguous loss interventions for this population is limited.

Limitations: The concept of ambiguous loss is clinically recognised but has a smaller evidence base than more established grief frameworks. Individual responses to grief-focused work vary.

Family Systems Approaches

What it helps with: Addressing conflict, communication breakdowns, and role imbalances that can emerge within families when one member requires ongoing care.

Evidence summary: Family systems perspectives are used in caregiver counselling to explore how caregiving responsibilities affect broader family dynamics. Clinical guidelines on dementia care include recommendations for family and carer involvement (NICE, n.d.). These approaches are informed by systemic therapy principles applied to the caregiving context.

Limitations: Evidence for family-level interventions in the cognitive impairment caregiving context is limited, and effectiveness may depend on the willingness and availability of other family members to participate.

What Results to Expect

Recovery and progress in caregiver counselling are not linear. Your caregiving situation may shift in ways that are unpredictable, and your needs in counselling may change alongside those shifts.

Some people find relief from just 2-3 sessions focused on a specific concern, such as managing a difficult family conversation or working through a particular source of guilt. Others benefit from longer-term support, especially when the caregiving situation is ongoing or evolving.

Factors that influence outcomes include the nature and duration of your caregiving responsibilities, your current support network, and the fit between you and your therapist. No therapy guarantees specific outcomes. What counselling can offer is a space to be heard, to identify what is within your control, and to develop strategies that fit your situation.

If the therapeutic fit does not feel right, you can always request a different clinician or approach. Your therapist and the admin team can help with that transition.

Confidentiality and Privacy

What you share in counselling is confidential. Your therapist is bound by the ethical standards of their regulatory body and by Alberta legislation. Psychologists at Wholesome Psychology are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP) and follow the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Code of Ethics.

Confidentiality is governed by the Health Information Act (HIA) and the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) in Alberta. These laws set out how your personal and health information is collected, used, and protected.

There are legal limits to confidentiality. Your therapist is required to break confidentiality in the following situations:

• Risk of serious harm to yourself or others
• Suspected abuse or neglect of a child (mandatory reporting under Alberta law)
• A court order requiring disclosure

Your therapist will explain these limits clearly during your first session, before you share anything personal. You are welcome to ask questions about confidentiality at any point.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to describe what happened in detail?

No. You decide what to share and when. Some people prefer to focus on current-day patterns, such as how caregiving is affecting their mood, sleep, or relationships, rather than recounting specific events in detail. Your therapist will follow your lead and will not push you to disclose more than you are comfortable with.

Is what I share kept private?

Yes, within legal and ethical limits. Counselling is confidential under Alberta's Health Information Act (HIA) and Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). There are exceptions: your therapist must break confidentiality if there is a risk of serious harm, suspected child abuse or neglect, or a court order. These limits are explained during your first session. See the Confidentiality and Privacy section above for more detail.

How many sessions will I need?

There is no fixed number. Some people find that a few focused sessions are enough to work through a specific concern. Others benefit from longer-term support, particularly when the caregiving situation is ongoing. Your therapist will review progress with you regularly and adjust the plan as needed.

What if the therapist is not the right fit?

Therapeutic fit matters. If your therapist does not feel like the right match, the admin team can help you find a different clinician within the practice. You do not need to explain your reasons in detail. New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.

Can I access therapy online?

Yes. Virtual sessions are available for anyone in Alberta. The same confidentiality standards apply to virtual and in-person sessions. You can book virtual sessions through the booking system or by calling 780-904-4880.

Does my loved one need a formal diagnosis for me to access this service?

No. This service focuses on your experience as a caregiver. You do not need a formal diagnosis for the person you are supporting. Whether the cognitive changes are related to dementia, brain injury, ageing, or another cause, the work centres on how caregiving is affecting you.

Does this replace medical, legal, or home-care support?

No. Caregiver counselling is one form of support. It does not replace medical assessment, legal advice, capacity evaluations, or home-care services. Counselling can be used alongside those services when it makes sense for your situation.

Meet Your Clinicians

Wholesome Psychology's team includes Registered Psychologists, Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers, Certified Canadian Counsellors, Mental Health Therapists, and Student Therapists. Registered Psychologists and Registered Provisional Psychologists are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP), and provisional psychologists practise under the supervision of a senior registered psychologist. Certified Canadian Counsellors (CCCs) are regulated by the Canadian Counselling and Psychological Association (CCPA). Registered Social Workers are regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW).

Many clinicians on the team have training and experience in areas relevant to caregiver support, including grief and loss, family dynamics, stress management, and life transitions. You can browse individual profiles on the Our Therapists page, use the Match with a Therapist tool, or call 780-904-4880 for help choosing.

Children and Youth

Cognitive changes in a family member can affect younger members of the household, including children and adolescents who may be involved in caregiving or who are adjusting to changes in a grandparent, parent, or other relative. Wholesome Psychology offers counselling for children, adolescents, and young people. Therapists working with younger clients use age-appropriate approaches and collaborate with caregivers to support the young person's wellbeing.

Getting Started

If caregiver counselling feels like it might be relevant to your situation, you can take the next step in whichever way feels most comfortable:

• Book a session online
• Match with a Therapist
• Call: 780-904-4880
• Email: info@wholesomepsychology.ca
• Learn more: Getting Started with Therapy

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

Starting the conversation is enough.

Related Pages

• Family Caregiver Stress
• Aging Parents
• Seniors and Elderly Care
• Grief and Loss Therapy
• Compassion Fatigue
• Online Counselling

References

• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (n.d.). Dementia: Assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng97
• Public Health Agency of Canada. (n.d.). A dementia strategy for Canada: Together we aspire. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/diseases-conditions/dementia-strategy.html
• Statistics Canada. (n.d.). Support received by caregivers in Canada. https://www.statcan.gc.ca/
• World Health Organization. (n.d.). ICD-11 for mortality and morbidity statistics: Neurocognitive disorders. https://icd.who.int/