Counselling for teenagers who are working through school pressure, friendships, family change, mood, or identity questions. Sessions are 50 minutes, in person in Edmonton and St. Albert, or virtual anywhere in Alberta. Registered Psychologists, Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers, Certified Canadian Counsellors, Mental Health Therapists, and Student Therapists. Evening and weekend appointments available. In-person and virtual options available.

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You Might Be Wondering Whether Adolescent Counselling Is Right for You

You may be wondering whether what you are seeing is a real concern or just a normal part of being fifteen. That question is genuinely hard to answer from the outside. It tends to come back at night, after the house is quiet.

Maybe the bedroom door stays closed longer than it used to. Maybe conversations that used to be easy now end in a shrug, or in an argument about something small that was clearly about something else. Maybe your teenager says they are fine, and you believe them most days, and then a small thing tips over and you are not sure any more.

If you are the young person reading this, the doubt probably sounds different. You might be wondering whether your problems are big enough to take up an adult's time, or whether talking to someone means everything you say gets repeated to your parents.

Adolescence brings real changes in school, friendships, family life, identity, responsibilities, and independence. Responding to those changes with stress, withdrawal, irritability, or low mood is a common reaction to a demanding stretch of life. It is not evidence that something is broken in you, in your teenager, or in your family.

This page explains what adolescent counselling at Wholesome Psychology involves, what the research does and does not show, what it costs, and how privacy works for a young person. You may wish to read on and see whether any of it fits your situation.

Who We Help

Adolescent counselling here may be a good fit when:

• A young person wants a private, respectful space to talk through what is going on
• School demands, transitions, or motivation have become difficult to manage
• Friendships, peer conflict, or bullying are affecting daily life
• Family communication has become strained as independence changes
• Stress, worry, low mood, or feeling overwhelmed are showing up more often
• Questions about identity, belonging, culture, or values feel heavy to carry alone
• Grief, loss, or a major life change has shifted how things feel at home or at school
• Sleep, routines, or coping habits have changed noticeably
• A caregiver wants guidance on how to support a young person and how to talk with them

This service may not be the right fit when:

• There is an immediate safety concern. Please use the crisis resources below rather than waiting for an appointment.
• The need is a formal psychological assessment or a diagnosis. Counselling and assessment are separate services at this clinic. If a formal assessment is what you are looking for, our mental health assessment service is booked separately.
• The need is legal, forensic, or court related. Custody evaluations, court reports, and legal opinions fall outside this therapy service.
• Court-mandated programming is required. Our administrative team can point you toward other services in the Edmonton area where we are not the right provider.

If You Need Help Right Now

Wholesome Psychology is not an emergency or crisis service. We cannot respond to urgent messages outside of appointment times. If a young person is in danger or thinking about ending their life, please use one of these instead:

• 911 or your nearest emergency department, if there is immediate danger
• Alberta Mental Health Help Line: 1-877-303-2642, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741
• Family Violence Info Line (Alberta): 310-1818, available 24 hours a day, toll free, if there is violence or abuse at home

Wholesome Psychology is not an emergency or crisis service.

What Adolescent Counselling Is

Adolescent counselling is a series of conversations between a young person and a qualified mental health professional. The focus is not decided in advance. Early sessions usually include a conversation about what the young person would like to talk about, what feels most pressing, and what they want out of the process.

Sessions might involve talking things through, building specific coping skills, practical planning, or a mix. The approach is chosen together, and it can change as things change.

There are some things this service is not. Counselling is not a legal service, an investigation, or crisis intervention. It is not a psychological assessment, and it does not produce a diagnosis. Assessments are a separate service with a separate booking process, and a therapist can explain the difference if you are unsure which one you need.

The pace is set by the young person, not by the therapist. A teenager does not have to arrive with the right words, a clear goal, or a full account of what has been happening.

Confidentiality is discussed at the start of care, including the situations where a therapist may be required to share information. A fuller explanation appears further down this page.

Canadian public health bodies treat youth mental health as a national priority (Public Health Agency of Canada [PHAC], n.d.). Access to support is uneven. In a Statistics Canada study of girls and young women aged 15 to 29, 38.5% met the criteria for one or more mental health or substance use disorders in 2022, and of those, 54.6% had accessed formal supports (Frank et al., 2025). That study looked at girls and young women specifically, so the numbers should not be read as describing all adolescents. It does suggest that a sizeable group of young people who could use support are not currently connected to it.

Signs Adolescent Distress May Be Affecting Daily Life

These are patterns families and young people often describe. They are not a checklist, and they do not add up to a diagnosis.

• Pulling away from friends or activities that used to matter
• Irritability or anger that seems larger than the situation that triggered it
• Sleeping much more or much less than usual
• Trouble concentrating, or a drop in schoolwork that is out of character
• Frequent headaches or stomach aches with no clear physical cause
• Talking about themselves harshly, or seeming convinced they are failing
• Avoiding school, or dreading specific parts of the day
• Sudden changes in eating or in routines
• Saying they feel numb, flat, or far away from everything

Experiences like these are common reactions to pressure, loss, conflict, or change. They are not permanent features of a person, and they do not mean a young person has a mental illness. What they often do mean is that something is asking for attention. Structured support can be one way of giving it that attention, and a conversation with a therapist can help sort out what kind of support would actually be useful.

How Counselling Works Here

• Find a therapist. You can use our therapist matching tool or read through the profiles of our therapists to see who works with young people. If it is easier to talk it through, our administrative team can be reached at 780-904-4880.
• Book the first session. The first appointment covers consent, privacy, and the limits of confidentiality, and includes a conversation about what brought the young person in and what they hope will be different. Questions about the therapist's approach are welcome here.
• Build the plan together. The therapist and the young person decide together what to focus on. Caregivers may be part of that conversation when the adolescent agrees and when it makes sense for the situation.
• Continue with regular sessions. Appointments are usually weekly or every second week, adjusted as things settle. Each session runs 50 minutes.
• Review how it is going. Therapists check in regularly about what feels useful and what does not. The plan changes when the needs change.

There is no fixed number of sessions. The work is collaborative, and a young person's own read on whether it is helping carries weight at every stage.

Evidence and Approaches

The approaches below are described using the sources available in our evidence pack. Most of that evidence comes from a clinical guideline about depression in children and young people, so it speaks to one presentation rather than to every reason an adolescent might come to counselling. Guidelines also assume that the choice of approach follows a proper assessment and a shared decision with the young person and their family.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

What it helps with: Patterns of thinking and behaviour that keep low mood, worry, or avoidance going.

Evidence summary: Guidelines on depression in children and young people list individual CBT as a recommended option for 12 to 18 year olds with moderate to severe depression (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE], 2019). For milder presentations, the same guideline lists digital CBT and group CBT among earlier options. NICE frames these as choices made through shared decision making after a full assessment.

Limitations: This guideline covers depression specifically and is written for the UK health system, so it does not map directly onto every adolescent or onto Alberta services. Individual responses vary.

Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents (IPT-A)

What it helps with: Difficulties centred on relationships, such as conflict with family or friends, or adjusting to a changed role at home or school.

Evidence summary: NICE (2019) lists IPT-A among the options for 12 to 18 year olds when a shared decision indicates that individual CBT has not met the young person's needs. Group interpersonal psychotherapy also appears among the options listed for mild depression in that guideline.

Limitations: The supporting guideline is about depression rather than adolescent counselling generally. Availability depends on which clinicians are trained in this approach, so it is worth confirming before booking.

Family Based and Attachment Based Approaches

What it helps with: Communication at home, and the friction that often comes with a young person's growing independence.

Evidence summary: NICE (2019) lists attachment based family therapy and systemic family therapy among the treatment options for children and young people with depression, alongside family based interpersonal psychotherapy for younger children. The Canadian Mental Health Association's guide for adults supporting youth is built on the position that caregivers and other adult allies have a real role in how a young person seeks and receives help (CMHA, 2022).

Limitations: Family involvement depends on the adolescent's consent and on whether it suits the situation. Specific recommendations were not extracted from the CMHA guide for this page.

Supportive, Non-Directive Counselling

What it helps with: Having a steady, unhurried space to talk through stress, loss, identity questions, or peer difficulties.

Evidence summary: NICE (2019) includes group non-directive supportive therapy among the options listed for mild depression in children and young people. A systematic review of what mediates outcome in adolescent psychotherapy supports cautious attention to engagement and therapeutic processes as things that may matter in this age group (Taubner et al., 2024).

Limitations: The mediator review does not establish that any particular approach works, and its full findings were not available in the material supplied for this page. Research on supportive counselling for adolescents remains limited compared with research on structured approaches.

Peer Conflict and Bullying

What it helps with: Working through the effects of being bullied, and thinking through what safety and support could look like.

Evidence summary: The Canadian Psychological Association (CPA, 2021) describes bullying as repeated, unwanted aggressive behaviour involving a real or perceived power imbalance, and frames it as a relationship problem that calls for relationship based solutions. That framing supports counselling as one possible source of support for a young person who has been targeted.

Limitations: This fact sheet does not establish that counselling is effective for bullying, or that it is the appropriate response in every situation. School and family involvement often matters as much as individual work.

What Results to Expect

Progress in adolescent counselling is rarely a straight line. A young person may have a useful few weeks and then a hard one, and that pattern does not mean the work has failed.

Some people find relief from just 2-3 sessions, particularly when there is one specific pressure to work through. Others prefer a longer stretch of work, especially when what is going on has been building for a while. Neither timeline is more correct than the other.

Several things influence how it goes: what the young person is dealing with, what is happening at home and at school, how ready they feel to talk, and how well they connect with their therapist. That last one matters more than people expect.

No therapy guarantees an outcome. We cannot promise symptom reduction, better grades, or a smoother home life, and any service that does promise those things is overstating what is known. What a therapist can do is work collaboratively, review progress honestly, and change course when something is not working.

If the fit is not right, changing therapist or changing approach is always an option, and asking for that change is a reasonable thing to do rather than a setback.

Confidentiality and Privacy

What a young person shares in therapy is treated as confidential. Psychologists at this clinic are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP) and practise under the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Code of Ethics. Records are handled in line with Alberta's Health Information Act (HIA) and Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).

Confidentiality is not absolute. A therapist may be required by law to share information in these situations:

• There is a risk of serious harm to the young person or to someone else
• There is suspected abuse or neglect of a child, which carries a mandatory reporting duty under Alberta law
• A court orders the release of records

Confidentiality works differently when more than one person is involved in the care. Where a service involves a young person and their caregivers, the therapist sets out at the beginning who will be told what, and under what circumstances (College of Alberta Psychologists, 2023). In practice this means a teenager is told clearly, in their first session, what stays between them and the therapist and what does not.

Your therapist will explain all of this before you share anything personal, and questions about it are welcome at any point. If a young person wants to understand exactly what their parent will and will not hear, that is a fair question to ask in the first ten minutes.

Common Questions

Does my teenager have to describe everything that happened?

No. A young person sets the pace, and they can decide how much detail to share and when. Some sessions focus on what is happening in the present week rather than on a full account of the past. It is entirely workable to start with what is manageable and leave the rest until later, or to never go into detail about a particular event at all. A therapist should never push a young person past what they are ready for.

Will my parents find out what I say?

Most of what is said in a session stays in the session. There are limits, and your therapist will explain them clearly before you share anything personal. Those limits generally involve serious risk of harm to you or someone else, suspected abuse or neglect of a child, and court orders. When a service involves both a young person and their caregivers, the therapist sets out at the start who will be told what (College of Alberta Psychologists, 2023). The confidentiality section above covers this in more detail.

How many sessions will we need?

There is no set answer. Some people work through a specific pressure in a handful of sessions, while others find a longer stretch more useful, particularly when things have been building for a while. Your therapist will review progress with you regularly and adjust the plan as needs change. You are not committing to a fixed course by booking a first appointment.

What if the therapist is not the right fit?

Fit matters, and it is a normal thing to get wrong the first time. If the match is not working, our administrative team at 780-904-4880 can help find a different clinician, and asking for that is not awkward for us. You can also use our therapist matching tool to compare options first. New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.

Can we do sessions online?

Yes. Virtual appointments are available across Alberta and follow the same confidentiality standards as in-person sessions. Virtual works well for some young people, particularly where travel or scheduling is difficult, and less well for others. What matters practically is a private space and a reliable connection. You can switch between virtual and in-person as circumstances change.

Can a parent or caregiver be involved in the sessions?

Often, yes, with the young person's consent and where it suits the situation. Caregiver involvement might mean joining part of a session, meeting separately for guidance on how to support at home, or simply agreeing on what gets shared. The balance between involving caregivers and protecting a teenager's privacy is discussed openly at the start rather than decided behind the scenes. Caregivers looking for support in their own right can also explore our parenting support service.

Do we need a referral or a diagnosis to book?

No referral is needed, and a young person does not need a diagnosis to start counselling. Counselling and psychological assessment are separate services here. If a formal assessment turns out to be useful, your therapist can explain what that involves and how it is booked separately. Some insurance plans ask for a referral for reimbursement, so it is worth checking your own plan before your first session.

Meet Your Clinicians

Our team includes Registered Psychologists, Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers, Certified Canadian Counsellors, Mental Health Therapists, and Student Therapists. Those credentials mean different things in practice, and they are part of what sets the fee tier.

All psychologists at Wholesome Psychology are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists. Registered Social Workers are regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW), and Certified Canadian Counsellors (CCCs) are regulated by the Canadian Counselling and Psychological Association (CCPA). Registered Provisional Psychologists have completed their graduate training and are working toward full registration, and they practise under the supervision of a fully registered psychologist (College of Alberta Psychologists, 2023).

Many of our clinicians have training and experience in work with adolescents, including school stress, anxiety and low mood, peer conflict and bullying, family communication, identity, and grief. You can read individual therapist profiles to see who works with young people, or use our therapist matching tool if you would rather narrow it down quickly. Our administrative team can talk it through with you at 780-904-4880.

Children and Youth

We offer counselling for children, adolescents, and young adults, not only teenagers. Therapists working with younger clients adapt how they work, using approaches suited to the child's age, developmental stage, and communication style, which can include play, drawing, or activity based sessions rather than sustained conversation.

Clinicians also work with caregivers to support the environment a young person returns to after the session ends. That might involve guidance on responding to distress, on communication at home, or on how to hold routines steady during a difficult period. Guidance for adults supporting a young person's mental health is a recognized part of youth support in Canada (CMHA, 2022).

Related services include child and youth mental health, bullying therapy, and parenting support.

Taking the Next Step

If you would like to explore adolescent counselling, here is what is available:

• Book a session through our online booking system
• Match with a therapist using our matching tool
• Read about getting started with therapy to see what the first appointment involves
• Call our administrative team at 780-904-4880
• Email info@wholesomepsychology.ca

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

If you are still deciding, reading and thinking it over is a reasonable place to be. Starting the conversation is enough.

References

• Canadian Mental Health Association. (2022). By their side: A step-by-step guide for adults helping youth with their mental health. Canadian Mental Health Association.
• Canadian Psychological Association. (2021). "Psychology Works" fact sheet: Bullying among children and youth. Canadian Psychological Association.
• College of Alberta Psychologists. (2023). Standards of practice. College of Alberta Psychologists.
• Frank, K., Kingsbury, M., & Richards, E. (2025). Who is reaching out for help? Examining access to mental health and substance use health supports among girls and young women in Canada. Statistics Canada, Health Reports (Catalogue no. 82-003-X). https://www.doi.org/10.25318/82-003-x202500500001-eng
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2019). Depression in children and young people: Identification and management (NICE Guideline NG134). https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng134
• Public Health Agency of Canada. (n.d.). Youth mental health: About the Youth Mental Health Fund. Government of Canada.
• Taubner, S., Ioannou, Y., Saliba, A., Sales, C. M. D., Volkert, J., Protić, S., Adler, A., Barkauskiene, R., Conejo-Cerón, S., Di Giacomo, D., Mestre, J. M., Moreno-Peral, P., Vieira, F. M., Mota, C. P., Henriques, M. I. R. S., Røssberg, J. I., Perdih, T. S., Schmidt, S. J., Zettl, M., ... Heinonen, E. (2024). Mediators of outcome in adolescent psychotherapy and their implications for theories and mechanisms of change: A systematic review. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 33(10), 3321-3358. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-023-02186-9