Counselling for parents and caregivers who want a private place to talk through the practical and emotional sides of raising a child with disabilities. Registered Psychologists regulated by the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP). Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW), Canadian Certified Counsellors certified by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA), Mental Health Therapists, and supervised Student Therapists. In-person sessions in Edmonton and St. Albert, and virtual sessions across Alberta.

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You Might Be Wondering Whether Counselling Is Right for You When Supporting a Child With Disabilities

You may be unsure whether it makes sense to look for support for yourself when your child is the one with the full calendar of appointments. Maybe you have told yourself that other families have it harder. Maybe you worry that saying you are tired will sound like a complaint about your child. Wanting support is not the same as wishing your child were different.

Your days may run on a mental list of forms, phone calls, and follow-ups that never quite gets shorter. You might lie awake replaying a meeting with the school, or feel a flash of grief or frustration and then feel guilty for having it. You may have quietly stopped calling friends, because explaining your week takes more energy than you have left.

These reactions make sense. They are common responses to carrying a lot for a long time, and they say nothing about how much you love your child or how capable you are. Love and exhaustion can sit side by side.

If you are considering whether speaking with someone could help, this page may be a useful starting point. It explains what counselling for parents and caregivers looks like here, what it can and cannot offer, and how to begin if and when you decide to. If you are reading on behalf of a partner, a grandparent, or a friend who is doing this work, the same information applies to them.

Who We Help

This service may be a good fit if you are:

• a parent, step-parent, foster parent, grandparent, or other caregiver of a child or young person with a disability
• taking in news about your child's needs, or adjusting to a change in those needs
• feeling stretched between your child's care, your work, your relationship, and your other children
• a co-parent or partner who wants to talk through disagreements about care, school, or planning
• noticing that your own stress, sleep, or mood has been affected by caregiving
• preparing for a transition, such as starting school, a change in child care, or moving toward the teen or adult years
• looking for support whether or not your child has a formal diagnosis

This service may not be the right fit if:

• you, your child, or someone in your home is in immediate danger or crisis. Please use the crisis resources below.
• you need a diagnosis, a disability determination, or a report for funding or school eligibility. Counselling does not include assessment. Psychological assessments are a separate service, described on our child and youth assessment services page.
• you need a report, opinion, or testimony for a custody, court, or other legal matter. Forensic and legal needs are outside this counselling service.
• you are looking for medical care, educational planning, occupational therapy, speech-language services, or other specialized disability supports. Counselling does not replace these, though it can be a place to talk about how they are going.

If You Need Help Right Now

Counselling appointments are booked ahead of time and are not set up to respond to emergencies. If anyone is in immediate danger, or you are worried about your own safety, please contact one of these services:

• 911 for immediate danger, or go to the nearest emergency department
• Alberta Mental Health Help Line: 1-877-303-2642 (24/7)
• 988 Suicide Crisis Helpline: call or text 988 (24/7)
• Crisis Text Line (Canada): text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)

Wholesome Psychology is not an emergency or crisis service.

What This Service Is

This is counselling for the adults who care for a child with disabilities. Sessions offer a private space to talk about caregiving demands, family communication, your own emotions, daily routines, and questions about the supports your family uses. The focus comes from your priorities and is shaped by the clinician's scope of practice.

Families may be working with several systems at once, such as health care, education, social care, and community services (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE], n.d.). Counselling does not replace any of them. It can be a place to reflect on how those experiences are affecting you. Where appropriate and with your consent, it can also include thinking through communication with other people in your family's support network.

Counselling here is not:

• a diagnosis or assessment of your child
• a substitute for medical care, educational planning, occupational therapy, speech-language services, or other specialized disability supports
• case management or coordination of your child's services
• a legal service or an investigative process
• crisis intervention

You set the pace. You decide what to talk about and when, and you can slow down or change direction at any point. What you share is confidential within legal and ethical limits, which your clinician will explain in your first session. More detail appears in the confidentiality section below.

This work also starts from a simple position: your child does not need to be changed or "fixed" for counselling to be worthwhile. The focus is on support for you and your family.

Signs the Demands of Caregiving May Be Affecting You

Caregiving can affect people in ways they do not always connect to the load they are carrying. You might notice some of the following:

• feeling on alert most of the day, waiting for the next phone call or change in plans
• sadness or grief that shows up at unexpected moments, such as a birthday or a school concert
• guilt about the time you give to one child, to work, or to yourself
• trouble concentrating, or forgetting things because your mind is full of schedules and forms
• second-guessing decisions about care, school, or services long after they are made
• more tension or arguments with a partner or co-parent about how to handle things
• feeling distant from friends or extended family who do not see what a typical day involves
• tiredness that sleep does not seem to fix, headaches, or tension you carry in your body
• being short-tempered, and then being hard on yourself about it

None of these mean something is wrong with you. They are common reactions to ongoing demands, and they can shift as circumstances and support change. Talking things through with a trained clinician may help you sort out what you need and what you want to do next.

How Treatment Works Here

• Find your therapist. Use the Match with a Therapist tool or browse Our Therapists to read about each clinician's background and approach. If you would rather talk it through, the admin team can help at 780-904-4880.
• Book your first session. You can book through our online booking system. In the first session, your clinician will go over consent, confidentiality and its limits, and what you hope to get from counselling. You can ask questions before sharing anything personal.
• Build your plan together. You and your clinician agree on goals and an approach that fits your family. One caregiver might want to focus on stress and coping. Another might want to work on communication with a co-parent, or prepare for a hard conversation or transition.
• Ongoing sessions. Sessions are 50 minutes. Many people meet weekly or every two weeks, and the schedule can be adjusted around your caregiving responsibilities. In-person and virtual options are both available.
• Progress check-ins. Your clinician will check in with you regularly about how things are going. The plan changes as your needs change.

There is no fixed number of sessions. Counselling is collaborative, and your view of what is helping matters at every stage. You can read more about getting started with therapy and what to expect from therapy.

Evidence and Approaches

We want to be clear about what the research reviewed for this page can and cannot tell you. The sources available describe the wider context families may be in. They do not include studies measuring how counselling affects caregivers of children with disabilities, so this page makes no claims about specific results.

Caregiver-Focused Counselling

What it helps with: It offers parents and caregivers a private space to talk through caregiving demands, family communication, emotions, routines, and questions about supports.

Evidence summary: The evidence reviewed for this page did not include a systematic review or clinical guideline on counselling outcomes for caregivers of children with disabilities. For that reason, this page describes what sessions involve rather than what they achieve. The approach is chosen with you, based on your goals and your clinician's training.

Limitations: Without direct outcome evidence, no specific benefit can be claimed here. Experiences of counselling vary from person to person.

Working Across Health, Education, and Social Care

What it helps with: It recognizes that families may be dealing with more than one support system at the same time.

Evidence summary: NICE has published guidance on integrated service delivery across health, social care, and education for disabled children and young people up to 25 with severe complex needs (NICE, n.d.). Its focus on coordination reflects that families may be working with several services at once. Counselling does not coordinate those services, but it can be a place to think through how they are affecting you.

Limitations: This UK guideline focuses on severe complex needs, and its specific recommendations were not reviewed for this page. Its fit with Alberta services is uncertain.

Child Care and Daily Participation

What it helps with: It acknowledges that finding and keeping suitable child care can be part of what some families are managing.

Evidence summary: Statistics Canada has examined child-care participation among Canadian children aged 0 to 5 with disabilities, including differences by type of disability (Statistics Canada, 2024). The same work notes that data on child-care attendance for young children with disabilities is limited. Counselling sessions can include space to talk about child care, school, and other transitions.

Limitations: This research looks at national patterns for young children. It does not describe Edmonton services or any individual family's situation.

What Results to Expect

The honest answer is that it varies. No form of counselling can guarantee a particular outcome, and this page does not promise that family life will become easier. Some people notice shifts within a few months. Others find longer-term support more useful, especially as their child grows and their family's needs change.

Progress is rarely a straight line. A hard school year, a change in your child's health, or a stretch of poor sleep can make things feel heavier for a while. Those ups and downs are expected, and you and your clinician can adjust the plan when they happen.

Several things can influence how counselling goes:

• what you are dealing with right now, including your child's current needs and the supports in place
• your other responsibilities, such as work, other children, or caring for other family members
• practical pressures like sleep, finances, and how much help you have from others
• the fit between you and your clinician

Fit matters. If a clinician's style does not suit you, you can ask to work with someone else or try a different approach. The admin team can help with that change.

Confidentiality and Privacy

What you share in counselling is confidential. Psychologists at Wholesome Psychology are regulated by the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP) and follow the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists. Other clinicians follow the standards of their own regulatory or certifying bodies.

In Alberta, personal and health information is protected by provincial privacy law. The Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) applies to most private organizations, including private clinics. The Health Information Act (HIA) governs health information held by health custodians and in certain health service settings. Your clinician can explain how your information is collected, stored, and used.

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

• when there is a risk of serious harm to you or to someone else
• when there is reason to suspect a child is being abused or neglected, which Alberta law requires to be reported
• when a court orders the release of records

Your clinician will explain these limits clearly in your first session, and you are welcome to ask questions before you share anything personal. Information is shared with your child's school, doctor, or other providers only with your consent, except where the law requires otherwise. When a child or teen takes part in sessions, the clinician will talk with the family about how privacy works for everyone involved.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to go over my child's history or every hard moment in detail?

No. You decide what to share and when. Some people want to talk through a specific event, like a difficult appointment or a conversation about a diagnosis. Others prefer to focus on what daily life feels like now and what would help this week. Your clinician will follow your pace, and you can pause or change the subject at any time.

Is what I share kept private?

Yes, within legal limits. Counselling is confidential under professional ethics standards and Alberta privacy law, including PIPA and the HIA. The exceptions are a risk of serious harm, suspected abuse or neglect of a child, and a court order. The confidentiality section above has more detail, and you can ask your clinician about privacy in your first session.

How many sessions will I need?

There is no set number. Some caregivers come for a short stretch to work through a particular decision or season, and others prefer ongoing support over a longer period. You and your clinician review progress regularly and adjust the plan together. You can also take a break and come back later.

What if the therapist is not the right fit?

Fit matters, and it is reasonable to say so if something does not feel right. You can mention it to your clinician directly, or contact the admin team at 780-904-4880 for help finding a different clinician. New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.

Can I access counselling online?

Yes. Virtual sessions are available anywhere in Alberta, which may be easier to fit around appointments, school pickups, or a child who needs you at home. The same confidentiality standards apply to virtual and in-person sessions. You can learn more about online counselling.

Does my child need a diagnosis for me to access counselling?

No. Counselling for parents and caregivers focuses on your concerns and goals, whether or not your child has a formal diagnosis. This service does not diagnose children or decide eligibility for disability programs or funding. If you are looking for a psychological assessment, that is a separate service, and the admin team can explain the options.

Can my partner, co-parent, or another caregiver come to sessions with me?

That can often be arranged, depending on your goals. Counselling may involve one caregiver, two co-parents together, or other family members when everyone agrees to take part. Your clinician will talk through consent, privacy, and how joint sessions will work. You may also find our parenting support and family issues counselling pages useful.

Can counselling replace my child's school, medical, or therapy supports?

No. Counselling has a different role from medical care, educational planning, occupational therapy, speech-language services, and assessment. It can give you space to talk about how working with those services is going, but it does not replace them. Caregivers carrying a heavy load may also want to read about family caregiver stress.

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. Registered Provisional Psychologists practise under the supervision of a senior registered psychologist. Registered Social Workers are regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW), and Student Therapists are master's-level practicum students who offer reduced-rate counselling under supervision.

Clinicians' training and areas of focus vary. Each profile on Our Therapists describes that clinician's background and approach. The Match with a Therapist tool can help you narrow the options, or you can call the admin team at 780-904-4880 for guidance.

Children and Youth

This page focuses on support for parents and caregivers, but Wholesome Psychology also offers counselling for children, adolescents, and young people. Clinicians who work with younger clients use age-appropriate approaches. They also work with caregivers, because the home environment and the adults in a child's life are a big part of the picture.

Counselling for a child is not about changing who they are. Depending on what the child and family want, it might focus on feelings, worries, friendships, or big changes. You can learn more on our child and youth counselling, neurodiversity counselling, and preparing children for therapy pages.

Taking a Next Step

If you would like to talk with someone about what caregiving has been like for you, you can take the next step in whichever way suits you:

• Book a session online
• Match with a therapist
• Call the admin team at 780-904-4880
• Email info@wholesomepsychology.ca
• Read Getting Started with Therapy to see what the process looks like

Starting the conversation is enough.

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

References

• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (n.d.). Disabled children and young people up to 25 with severe complex needs: Integrated service delivery and organisation across health, social care and education.
• Statistics Canada. (2024, October 16). Child care for young children with disabilities.