You do not need a diagnosis, a referral, or the right words for it before you book. Sessions run one-on-one, in person at our Vaughan clinic or by secure video anywhere in Ontario, and they start at $100 with the first half hour free. Women’s mental health is not treated as a separate speciality at 101 Psychotherapy. Therapy for women here is ordinary, careful work, with particular attention to things that come up again and again: the caregiving load, trauma that built up over years rather than in one moment, and the changes nobody plans for.
- Your first 30 minutes are free
- Fees start at $100 a session
- Therapists registered with the CRPO and the OAMHP
- Sessions in English, Russian or Farsi
- No referral needed to book
- Open Monday to Friday, plus Saturday mornings
Why It Is Hard to Book for Yourself
Three things come up most often when women tell us why they waited. Time, because the appointment that gets cancelled is usually your own. Cost, because you are not sure what it runs to or whether your benefits cover any of it. And not knowing who to call, because a directory with two hundred names is a list rather than a decision. At 101 Psychotherapy, fees start at $100, the first half hour is free, and the profiles further down tell you exactly who you would be sitting with.
What Usually Prompts the First Call
Women come to us for all sorts of reasons, and often for two or three at the same time. Counselling for women here covers any of the following, and you may recognize yourself in more than one.
- Anxiety that has gone from occasional to more or less constant.
- Low mood, or a flatness that has outlasted whatever caused it.
- Seasonal low mood that returns every winter.
- Stress that no longer switches off at the end of the day.
- Broken sleep, or lying awake working through tomorrow.
- Irritability and a shorter fuse than you recognize in yourself.
- Difficulty saying no or holding a boundary without feeling guilty afterwards.
- Distance or repeating conflict at home.
- Parenting that is turning out harder than you expected.
- Trouble focusing, or an ADHD question that only came up in adulthood.
101 Psychotherapy – Always caring, always here
What the First Few Sessions Look Like
You decide what gets discussed and in what order. Your therapist will ask about what is going on and what you would like to change, but nothing is compulsory and there is no expectation that you produce a full life history in the first hour. If there is one thing you want to work on, that is enough to begin with. If there are six, you can sort through them together and pick a starting point.
Most women begin weekly, then review after a few sessions whether that pace still fits. Some stay for a short stretch around a specific problem and stop once it has eased. Others carry on for longer. Both are ordinary, and neither is a sign of how well the work is going.
The approach depends on what you bring. Cognitive behavioural therapy suits thoughts that keep circling back. Dialectical behaviour therapy suits emotions that arrive faster than you can manage them. Solution-focused work suits a single decision you need to reach. Your therapist will name what they are using and explain why, so you are not left guessing.
Burnout That Comes From Caring for Everyone Else
Burnout does not only come from a job. In 2022, Statistics Canada’s Canadian Social Survey on caregiving found that 52% of women aged 15 and older were providing some form of care to children or to adults who depend on them, compared with 42% of men. Women doing that care were also more likely than men to report feeling tired, worried and overwhelmed by it. Parenting shows the same pattern, and it is often called mom burnout. A 2024 systematic review of parental burnout research in BMC Public Health reports that mothers experience it more often than fathers.
In sessions, this work is practical. You and your therapist go through what you are actually carrying, what genuinely cannot be moved, and what has quietly become yours by default. If most of the pressure is coming from your job rather than from home, read our article on recovering from work burnout.
Complex Trauma That Built Up Over Time
Not everything that brings women to therapy is a single event. Sometimes it is a pattern that went on for years and felt ordinary enough at the time that it never got a name. Statistics Canada’s Survey on Mental Health and Stressful Events, carried out with the Public Health Agency of Canada in 2023, found that 10% of women reported moderate to severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress in the previous month, compared with 7% of men. The figure climbed with repeated exposure: about 7% among people who had been through one type of traumatic event, and 26% among those who had been through five or more.
Our Registered Psychotherapist work with complex trauma using trauma-informed and somatic approaches. In practice, trauma-informed simply means that you set the pace. You will not be asked to describe anything before you are ready to, and the work can begin with what is happening in your life now rather than with what happened years ago.
If you are ever worried about your immediate safety, 9-8-8, the Suicide Crisis Helpline takes calls and texts at any hour.
Life Transitions You Did Not Plan For
A relationship ending. A parent who suddenly needs looking after. A move, a job loss, children leaving home. Life transitions like these are common, and they can still knock you sideways. They also tend not to be treated as a good enough reason to ask for help. Therapy gives you somewhere to think things through while they are still unsettled, rather than waiting until you have already worked out how you feel.
What Sessions Cost
Your first half hour is free and commits you to nothing. It is there so that you can ask questions and take your time deciding whether to book anything further. After that, women’s mental health counselling starts at $100 a session. Sessions with a Registered Psychotherapist are not covered by OHIP. Many extended health plans cover part of the fee, so it is worth checking what you already have before assuming the full cost is yours.
We share our Vaughan location with 101 Medical Centre. Where it is clinically indicated, patients may also benefit from psychiatric assessment and medication management through its psychiatry team, arranged as part of an individualized care plan and requiring a physician’s referral.
Book a Free ConsultationWho You Would Be Working With
Five of the seven people on our team are women, and the team works in English, Russian and Farsi. We match you on what you are bringing rather than on who has the earliest opening, and you can read each person’s training and registration below or ask to change therapist at any point.
Natalie Besharat
Clinician, Pediatric Care and Addictions Specialist, MSc, CCAC, CICAPP Candidate
Full profile
Counselling for Women in Vaughan, or Online by Video
We're here to support individuals and families across Vaughan, including Concord, Woodbridge, and Maple, and in nearby communities such as Aurora, Brampton, Markham, Mississauga, Milton, Oakville, Oshawa, and Richmond Hill, as well as Thornhill. We also welcome clients from across Toronto, including North York, Midtown, and Uptown Toronto. If you can't make it to our office, we offer virtual appointments across Ontario.
Frequently Asked Questions About Women’s Mental Health and Therapy
What is therapy for women's issues?
Women’s therapy is ordinary individual psychotherapy, with attention to the pressures that land unevenly on women: the caregiving load, what it costs to hold a boundary, and experiences that are simply more common in women’s lives than in men’s. Women’s counselling is not a separate technique. Where what you are dealing with already has a name of its own, such as anxiety or low mood, the work is the same as it would be for anybody else.
Does it matter whether my therapist is a man or a woman?
Both answers are common, and your preference is not something you need to justify to anybody. Our team includes both women and men, so the choice is a real one either way. Tell us when you book and we will match you accordingly wherever the schedule allows.
What if I can't afford therapy right now?
Check your extended health benefits first. Psychotherapy is covered under a good many Ontario plans, and people often do not realize that theirs includes it. An employee assistance program through your employer is worth checking too. Publicly funded counselling does exist in York Region, through community agencies and through your family doctor, although waiting times vary a great deal.
Can therapy help with burnout, or do I just need a break?
A break helps when the cause was a temporary surge. When rest stops restoring anything, that usually means the load itself has not changed and time off simply returns you to it. Therapy works on the second situation: what you are actually carrying, what could reasonably be handed back, and what makes handing it back feel impossible.
Start With a Free Half-Hour Conversation
Fill in your details below and we will get back to you, or phone (905) 597-2521 if you would rather talk to somebody today.
