Counselling
Medium-term & Short-term Counselling services are currently unavailable until further notice.
To make a general inquiry about our services, please email: counselingdirector@headandhands.ca
* Please note that we do not keep a waitlist for our counselling services*
Our Vision
Head & Hands’ Counselling program envisions a world in which mental health care is flexible and responsive, an affirming space where the care a youth receives is shaped by them.
We believe that mental health professionals should hold space for youth as they:
- Navigate challenging life experiences
- Discover and develop their own tools and healing goals
- Access their inner strengths and wisdom
Our Mission
Head & Hands’ Counselling Program aims to provide an alternative to the institutional and “biomedical” models of mental health that are often oppressive to youth. We prioritize quality of care over numbers, and see counselling as a collaborative engagement, in which counsellors actively reach for feedback in order to adapt to youth’s unique realities and needs.
Our Approach
Counselling is available to youth 12-25 years old and families with youth in that age bracket. We offer short- to medium-term counselling that is informed by healing justice, anti-oppression, trauma-sensitivity, and harm reduction. Counsellors may also provide referrals for other relevant services where necessary.
Accessibility & Eligibility
The Head & Hands counselling team believes that all youth are deserving of dignified care and support.
We are a small team of mental health counsellors, dedicated to offering quality, intersectional, trauma-informed care to the youth we serve. For this reason, our intake process is based on the capacity of our counsellors to welcome new youth for individual counselling services. This allows us to hold space for youth with spaciousness, presence, and integrity.
Our services prioritize youth experiencing marginalization, specifically: Black youth, Indigenous youth, and youth of colour; queer, trans, and/or non-binary youth; recent immigrants and/or youth without status; youth experiencing financial, housing, and/or employment precarity; youth engaged in sex work. Specifically, we give priority to youth who have limited social support, financial resources, and who cannot readily access private and public (i.e., RAMQ) forms of health insurance. Please consider your situation prior to reaching out to inquire about our services.
Available Services
01 / 50 Minutes
Drop-in Counselling
Drop-in Counselling
Head & Hands is now offering free, confidential, virtual, 50 minute drop-in counselling sessions to *marginalized youth (12-25 years old) in English or French
*Marginalized Youth: Black, Indigenous, and POC, queer, trans, and/ or non-binary youth; recent immigrants and/or youth without status; youth experiencing financial, housing, and/or employment precarity; youth engaged in sex work.
A safe space to be heard
Connect with a trained somatic and trauma-informed counsellor for compassionate support and a space to share. They’re here to hold space for what you’re going through right now.
Ideal for:
- Youth who may not have the time or capacity for regular counselling/therapy sessions.
- Youth looking to discuss a one-off challenge
Important to know:
- Individuals can attend 1 drop-in per week.
- Sessions must be booked at minimum 24 hours in advance.
- This is not a crisis hotline or crisis intervention service.
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Group & Community Programming
Group & Community Programming
Our program seasonally offers free mental health-related workshops & community programming for youth. Follow @head_and_hands on instagram and check out our newsletter to stay up-to-date with when these may be happening.
Meet Our Counselling Director!
Kat (she/they) is a Black, queer, Haitian, mental health counsellor, creative arts therapist, community organizer that has been working at Head & Hands as the full-time mental health counsellor for 3 years and practicing counselling for 5 years.
Kat is trained as a creative arts therapist and somatic practitioner with a focus on fostering safer spaces for QTBIPOC youth as a counsellor and community organiser. Their growing ideology as a therapist is heavily rooted in a commitment to the re-indigenization of healing spaces for marginalized communities through embodiment and sacred creativity to promote collective liberation. In their practice Kat enjoys emphasising imaginative playfulness as a form of embodied emancipation, joy and resistance, using techniques such as role play, storytelling, creative writing, art-making somatic awareness and movement exploration. In their free time, Kat enjoys singing or making music, writing poetry, dancing and enjoying a good laugh with friends.
Kat
Director of Counselling
Drop-In Counselling Calendar
In the event that we are unable to take on new youth participants, please refer to our mental health resource list for alternative services that may meet your needs.