Carl Conradi Counselling and Psychotherapy

Fees and FAQ

What are your fees?

• Online Introductory Session (30 Minutes): Free of Charge

• Standard Session (60 Minutes):

- Calgary / Canada: $165.00

- United Kingdom: £95.00

- Europe / International: €110.00

Please contact me directly to enquire about reduced fees for low-income folks, students, and members of the First Nations, Inuit, and/or Métis communities.

How do you accept payment?

For virtual clients, I accept payment via Interac, PayPal, and wire transfer. For in-person clients at Safe Haven Counselling, payment may be made via cash or credit card.

For international clients, cash transfers may be made to my Wise.com business account, which accepts Canadian dollars, American dollars, British pounds, euros, and a number of other currencies. Please contact me directly to enquire about payment in other currencies.

Do you accept insurance?

If you hold an insurance plan through one of the following providers, there is a high likelihood that sessions with me will be covered. However, I strongly advise you to check with your provider before starting sessions, as a minority of plans do require that you work with a provincially-registered psychologist (rather than a Canadian Certified Counsellor, which is my designation):

First Choice Health | FCH
Green Shield Canada
Humana
LifeWise
LifeWorks | Morneu Shepell
Manulife
Meridian
Sunlife

Please note that as a Canadian Certified Counsellor, I am not eligible for direct billing services. As such, you will be required to pay for your sessions out of pocket, before submitting receipts to your insurance provider for reimbursement.

What is your cancellation policy?

I don't charge if a session is cancelled with a minimum 48 hours' notice. Otherwise, you are required to pay for any session(s) that you miss.

What are your hours of operation?

In general, I see clients from 9:00am through 9:00pm Mountain Standard Time (UCT-07:00), Monday through Friday. However, in practice, there is some variability in my availability week-on-week.

Please feel free to get in touch, to enquire directly about my availability.

What is an introductory session like?

During a 30-minute introductory session, my objectives are to get a sense of what you’ve been experiencing, and whether you have any preferences regarding the way that we might work together. You are also encouraged to assess whether you think I would be a good fit for you, as it has been empirically proven that the quality of the therapeutic relationship itself is the single best determinate of good outcomes.

Introductory sessions are free of charge, and can be held either online or over the phone.

What are regular sessions like?

As a counsellor, my preferred style of work is very exploratory, unstructured, and open-ended. Although I am equipped to provide tools or techniques where they might be useful – and to assign “homework” when it’s asked for – I do tend to keep sessions conversational, reflective, and tethered to the here-and-now.

I’d also characterise myself as being quite philosophical; I’m always interested to learn how clients bring their own meanings and values to the experience of everyday life.

Lastly, I’d say that I’m a counsellor who really celebrates humour, creativity, and playfulness in the therapeutic process, whenever it feels appropriate.

How often should I be attending counselling?

In the beginning, I find that it’s helpful to attend counselling once a week. This regularity helps me to learn how it is that you experience the world, and it helps you to keep your therapeutic work front of mind. Over time, you may wish to either extend your weekly session to 90 minutes, or to meet fortnightly or monthly.

In general, I find it challenging for most clients to gain therapeutic traction if they attend sessions any less often than once per fortnight. In this regard, counselling is a bit like going to the gym: if you jog or lift weights only once a month, you're simply not going to achieve good fitness. The mind - just like the body - must be tended to regularly, if it is to change.

Am I "right" for therapy, and will it "work" for me?

This is a very difficult – if not impossible – question to answer. What I can say is that I believe counselling is for everyone, no matter how big or small you feel your troubles to be. Indeed, counselling can also be tremendously helpful even when you’re feeling good, but are perhaps looking to experience life with a deeper sense of appreciation, confidence, and self-understanding. Counselling is not about “fixing” anything. It’s about learning how to draw strength from our emotions, to develop new and flexible ways of approaching challenging situations, and to roll with whatever punches life might throw at us.

By the same token, I do believe that you will find counselling to be of special benefit if you bring to it an attitude of honesty, humility, and experimentation. If you wish to discuss this question further, please navigate to the Contact page, and enquire about booking an introductory session.

What is existential therapy?

Existential therapy is grounded in existential philosophy. It is a deeply relational approach that encourages the client to describe their thoughts and feelings in the richest detail possible, while refraining from the urge to interpret, excuse, or explain them away. It emphasises establishing a strong and courageous connection with whatever is happening in the present moment, both within and outside of the counselling room.

Some of existential therapy’s most important themes include freedom, responsibility, authenticity, meaning, identity, uncertainty, and loss.

My own approach to existential therapy is gently influenced by Buddhist philosophy, though I am not myself a confirmed Buddhist.

What is cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)?

Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is a comparatively technical approach that seeks to explore how our sensations, feelings, thoughts, and behaviours affect and reinforce one another. It encourages clients to adopt an inquisitive, scientific, and somewhat detached attitude towards their psychological experiences, and to map out the emotional and behavioural habits that they have learned throughout their life. CBT may involve some homework exercises, including journaling and behavioural experiments.

Some of CBT’s most important themes include mindfulness, psychological flexibility, and perspective-taking.

My own approach to CBT is most influenced by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and by other mindfulness-based modalities.

What is psychodynamic therapy?

Psychodynamic therapy is an approach that is largely concerned with the unconscious, as it is revealed in free-flowing conversation, dreams, and the client-counsellor relationship. It suggests that we are oftentimes only dimly aware of our true needs, motivations, and desires, and that psychological resilience can be improved by bringing these things into conscious awareness.

Some of psychodynamic therapy’s most important themes include the past, attachment patterns, self-honesty, defences, and creativity.

As a member of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society (NPSA), I am particularly interested in psychodynamic approaches that emphasise neurobiology and evolutionary psychology.

Are sessions confidential?

All information that is shared between you and me is kept strictly confidential. Indeed, confidentiality is an ethical cornerstone of counselling practice. I will only break confidentiality in one of four instances:

If I have concerns about your immediate safety, or about the immediate safety of others;

If there is a legal requirement for me to do so (i.e., if you disclose involvement in terrorist activities, drug trafficking, or money laundering, or if I am subpoenaed);

If you disclose awareness of ongoing abuse or neglect of a minor; or

If you have given me written permission to share specific information with a third party.

If any of these situations were to arise, I would always try to discuss the breaking of confidentiality with you beforehand.

At the same time, as part of my own professional practice, I participate in regular clinical supervision with a Calgary-based peer. Clinical supervision provides me with the opportunity to discuss challenging therapeutic material with a trusted colleague, to brainstorm alternative ways of approaching client work, and to ensure that the therapeutic choices I make are in line with ethical best practice. During supervision, I may discuss some aspects of our work together, but I would never disclose any of your identifying characteristics (e.g., names, ages, employers, etc.).

If you are an adolescent, we would negotiate the limits of confidentiality with your parent or guardian present, with the aim of preserving as much of your privacy as possible.

If you have been referred to me by a parent, guardian, colleague, or friend, they will not receive any information regarding your therapeutic process, unless you grant written consent for me to share specific and pre-determined pieces of information with them (e.g., your attendance record, my assessment regarding your fitness to work, etc.).

How will you protect my privacy?

All online sessions are conducted via the Doxy.me telemedicine video conferencing platform, or via JANE App. Both platforms are PHIPA-, GDPR-, and HIPAA-compliant, which means that its privacy protocols are in full alignment with Canadian, UK, European, and American legislation.

Any digital notes that I produce after a session are retained in a password-protected folder for a maximum of seven years, and are then deleted. As a client, you are free to request access to these records at any time prior to their deletion.

If you are seeking online counselling, please ensure that you can guarantee your own privacy at your end, such that you will not risk any interruptions or eavesdropping. Likewise, I will always guarantee your privacy at my own end, by conducting our online sessions in a private office, and while wearing noise-cancelling headphones.

In-person sessions are conducted in the private offices of Safe Haven Counselling.

All email that is shared between you and me is held within a password-protected inbox on my personal computer.

Which professional bodies do you belong to?

I have received the designation of Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) from the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCAP). My registration number is 11244101.

I am also a member of the Association of Counselling Therapy of Alberta (ACTA, registration number A4850), the proto college that will eventually be expected to regulate the counselling therapy profession in Alberta.

Lastly, I am a paying member of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society (NPSA), though this is not a professional body that stipulates any conduct-regulating ethics.

Do you see Canadian clients based outside of Alberta, or clients in the United States of America?

I do see Canadian clients who are based in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories (NWT), Saskatchewan, and Yukon. Canadian clients residing in provinces east of Manitoba are subject to the regulations of provincial counselling colleges, of which I am not a registered member.

Indeed, unlike in the United Kingdom and continental Europe, the provision of counselling services in both Canada and the United States of America is regulated at the provincial and state level respectively. As such, counsellors are not generally free to practice in provinces or states where they are not registered. This is why I don't see clients based in provinces east of Manitoba, or in the United States.

Est-ce que vous offrez les séances en français?

Oui, j'offre les séances en français et anglais. Je serais plus confortable si vous me permettez de parler l'anglais moi-même, mais ma compréhension passive est presque courante, alors vous seriez inviter de parler le français vous-même.