You can register yourself for Ontario's free therapy programme without a referral. A visit with a physician covers the rest: how long this has gone on, what else could explain it, medication, and blood work if a physical cause has to be ruled out.
What the visit covers
- Low mood that has run on for weeks, or losing interest in things you used to want to do
- Anxiety and panic, and worry that keeps you awake or stops you working
- Sleep that will not start, or that breaks up every night
- Grief, burnout, and the strain of a new baby, a new country or looking after a parent
- Medication — starting it, changing it, stopping it, or reviewing how it has gone
- Blood work, if a physical cause needs ruling out first
- Whether a referral is the next step, and what you can start without one
Free mental-health support in Ontario, and how to reach it
Ontario Structured Psychotherapy is free, publicly funded cognitive behavioural therapy for adults 18 and over with depression or an anxiety-related disorder. A trained mental-health professional assesses you first and decides where you start. Most people begin with the self-led step — BounceBack coaching by phone, a guided workbook with a clinician, or internet-based CBT — and move to individual or group therapy if they need more. Ontario Health coordinates the programme through 10 regional networks, and the one covering Mississauga is CarePoint Health: register yourself at ospcarepointhealth.ca, or ask its intake team on 1-833-677-0174. A doctor can refer you instead, but nothing stops you doing it yourself.
BounceBack is one of those self-led services and it also takes you directly: free CBT coaching by phone with a workbook, up to six sessions, for adults and youth 15 and over. No referral is required. The line is 1-866-345-0224.
ConnexOntario finds you a service rather than treating you — mental health, drugs and alcohol, or problem gambling. It answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 1-866-531-2600, calls are free and confidential, and no appointment or referral is needed. For community and social services more widely, 211 Ontario answers on 2-1-1.
9-8-8 is the suicide crisis helpline. Call or text 9-8-8, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from anywhere in Canada, in English or French. If someone's life is in immediate danger, call 911 and say what is happening.
What OHIP covers
With a valid Ontario health card, talking to a physician about your mental health is covered like any other medically necessary visit. OHIP pays a doctor for counselling and psychotherapy in units of 30 minutes, the doctor has to spend at least 20 minutes with you to bill the first unit, and counselling has to be a pre-booked appointment rather than a drop-in.
Walk in, or book?
Book this one rather than dropping in; the half-hour rule above is why. Tell the desk what you want to talk about when you phone, and ask how long the appointment can be. If today is a crisis, do not wait for an appointment: call or text 9-8-8, or 911 if you are not safe.
What to bring
- Your health card
- How long this has been going on, and what changed around the time it started
- Everything you take, prescribed or not, including alcohol, cannabis and sleep aids
- Notes on your phone, if you would rather read them out than find the words on the spot
- A week of your sleep if you can track it — what time you go down, and what wakes you
Questions people ask
Do I need a doctor to get free therapy?
No. Ontario Structured Psychotherapy takes self-referrals: if you are 18 or over and the problem is depression or an anxiety-related disorder, register on your regional network's site — CarePoint Health for this area — and a trained mental-health professional assesses you from there. See a physician as well if medication is part of the question, or if the symptoms could have a physical cause.
Is therapy covered the way a doctor's appointment is?
Not in the same way. OHIP covers medically necessary physician visits, including a doctor's counselling in half-hour units, and both Ontario Structured Psychotherapy and BounceBack are publicly funded, so they cost you nothing. OHIP does not cover health services delivered outside hospital by providers who are not physicians, which is where a psychologist or registered psychotherapist in private practice sits — ask what the fee is, and check what your workplace plan covers, before a first session.
My teenager will not talk to us. Where can they go on their own?
Kids Help Phone is free and confidential for young people, 24 hours a day: call 1-800-668-6868, or text CONNECT to 686868. One Stop Talk gives kids and youth under 18 a free counselling session on 1-855-416-8255, Monday to Friday noon to 8 pm and Saturday noon to 4 pm Eastern, and asks you to get in touch at least an hour before closing. Good2Talk is for post-secondary students, also around the clock, on 1-866-925-5454. A young person can reach Kids Help Phone on their own at any hour; ask the others what they need from a parent if that matters.
Still have a question? Call the front desk.
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