FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The first step for an assessment is to contract Dr. Stephen via email stephen@viepsychology.com and indicate what type of assessment you are looking for and/or a brief one paragraph description of what concerns are that are leading to you wanting to book an assessment. Email is the preferred method of communication as Dr. Stephen can respond more quickly to emails than he can with phone calls.

The first step for a therapy appointment is to click here to determine if Dr. Stephen is taking on new therapy clients.

Dr. Stephen is a psychologist with a practice in clinical psychology offering Assessments and Therapy. For a more thorough list of services please refer to the Assessments or Therapy pages.

Vie Psychology, Inc. and Dr. Stephen are located at:

3030 Lincoln Avenue, Suite 228
Coquitlam, BC V3B 6B4

Office hours are typically scheduled Monday through Friday between 9:00am and 5:00pm. Offices hours are subject to change.

Assessment appointments are on a first-come-first-serve basis and are usually scheduled within 2 to 6 weeks of receiving the signed consent form.

Therapy appointments are based on whether Dr. Stephen is taking on new therapy clients. Please click here to determine if Dr. Stephen is taking on new therapy clients.

All contact with a psychologist is held in the strictest confidence. With few exceptions, any and all information regarding your work with a psychologist is confidential and will not be released to anyone without your written consent. The following are legal exceptions to your right to confidentiality:

• If a psychologist has reason to believe that you are in imminent danger of harming yourself or another person, the psychologist must take action to prevent that harm include, but not limited to, informing friends or family members, contacting police, or contacting other designed health professionals.
• If a psychologist has a reasonable suspicion, based on information you provide, that there is a child or vulnerable person being abused or neglected, the psychologist must provide information the appropriate authorities.
• If a psychologist is ordered by a Court to provide services or release records, the psychologist must provide information as requested by the Court.
• As a regulated profession, psychologists are subject to the Health Professions and Occupation Act (HPO). As a result the College of Health and Care Professions of BC (CHCPBC), our regulator, may conduct audits or investigations of client files to ensure professional standards and quality of care are being met. Any review is focused on professional performance and quality of care. It is not related to you personally as a client. The CHCPBC is legally required to maintain the confidentiality of any information it reviews, except where disclosure is required by law.

Clinical assessments are time-limited and structured to gather comprehensive, accurate information. The time and scheduling of activities will depend on the type of assessment being conducted. Most assessments involve one to two sessions which can range from two to six hours. Additional time is required outside of appointments for scoring, interpretation, and report writing. In total, the assessment process commonly involves 12-16 hours, which can span two to four weeks from the initial appointment to the feedback session.

Therapy sessions are booked in 50 minutes sessions. The frequency of appointments and length of treatment are determined jointly by you and Dr. Stephen.

A psychologist is an individual who has acquired the required post-graduate degree in psychology that meets academic requirements specified by a provincial College tasked with credentialing psychologists. In British Columbia, via the College of Health and Care Professionals of British Columbia, a psychologist must earned a Doctoral degree (Ph.D. or Psy.D.) in an appropriate accredited program of study. A psychologist must also be registered with his or her respective provincial College which involves completion of a registration examination in psychological theory, research, and practice and completion of ethics and jurisprudence examinations.

A psychiatrist holds a medical degree and has completed medical school and a four-year residency in psychiatry. A psychiatrist will have passed several written examinations administered by a national board, and is qualified to prescribe medications. Some psychiatrists also provide psychotherapy. Further information on about psychiatrists and the practice of psychiatry is available at the website of the Canadian Psychiatric Association.

Being a counsellor refers to many individuals who may come from a vast diversity of educational and skill training backgrounds. A counsellor often provides guidance on personal, social, or psychological problems within specialized areas of practice (e.g., marriage and family counselling, addictions counselling, etc.). Currently, there is no regulatory body for counsellors. Discussions are ongoing in the provinces to establish regulations of a counselling profession. Further information is available on the website for the Canadian College of Professional Counsellors & Psychotherapists.

Provincial health care generally does not provide coverage for the services of a psychologist in private practice. Therefore, clients pay their own fees directly to Dr. Stephen.

There may be a number of financial coverage options to assist with covering the costs of a psychologist, including:

• Extended health plans
• Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)
• Crime Victim Assistance Programs
• Other agencies that support mental health

Many extended health providers provide some coverage for psychological services. Depending on your insurance program, part or all of your fees for psychological services may be covered. Be sure to check with your provider for details. All invoicing and receipts are issued in the name of the individual being assessed. Invoicing cannot be split amongst other individuals (e.g., family members).

Assessments are not direct billed to extended health providers. Payment is due in full at the beginning of the last follow-up session. An electronic receipt will be issued, which you can submit to your extended health provider for reimbursement, if applicable.

Therapy can be direct billed to Blue Cross, Medavie, or Green Shield. Payment is due in full at the end of each session and an electronic receipt will be issued.

etransfer or cash payment is preferred for payment but credit and debit card payments are also accepted.

Further support contacts are listed on the Resources page.

A psychological assessment takes place when a psychologist is hired to answer a specific clinical question. It involves the use of scientific methods to understand human personality, thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. During a psychological assessment, the psychologist will integrate observations, clinical interviews, psychological tests, and information from various sources to help clients explore new ways to more effectively resolve problems. Feedback from an assessment is intended to promote self-awareness and understanding and to help inform treatment planning. A psychological assessment can also provide accurate and objective information to help answer questions posed by other health professionals and referring agencies such as school systems, the Court, and social agencies.

Psychological assessments support decision making and planning for the needs of clients based in part on their psychological functioning. A psychological assessment is appropriate when there is a clinical rationale to address a specific set of referral questions about a particular client under a unique set of circumstance.

Examples of when a psychological assessment may be beneficial include:

• Establishing diagnoses (e.g., depression, anxiety, ADHD, personality, etc.)
• Determining developmental delays, learning strengths, weaknesses, and needs
• Identifying reasons for school problems, learning differences, or learning disabilities
• Testing for intelligence or giftedness
• Assisting in school placement
• Developing individualized program plans and special accommodations for school
• Confirming readiness for surgery
• Learning about emotional, personality, or relationship styles
• Understanding one’s own thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and relationships
• Developing therapy goals
• Assisting with career choices

A psychological assessment is valuable in order to conduct a pre-treatment evaluation in order to describe an individual’s current functioning, confirm or refute clinical impressions, identify treatment needs, suggest appropriate treatments or aid in careful diagnosis. A psychological assessment may be conducted to evaluate outcomes of treatment in order to supplement a client’s subjective reports with formal measures of current functioning. Psychological test data collected at the beginning, end, and at interim points can help accurately measure progress and treatment effectiveness. If treatment appears stalled, a psychological assessment can be used to review and modify treatment plans or to identify the factors impeding therapeutic progress. Additionally, psychological assessments can be used as a brief treatment in some cases to for a therapeutic or collaborative assessment or to decrease distressing symptoms, restore hope, and increase cooperation with other treatments.

A psychological assessment offers an objective measure of personal characteristics, important treatment related information, and reliable and valid information about a client based on comparisons with research data gathered from large groups of people. A psychological assessment can measure a large number of personality, cognitive, and behavioural characteristics simultaneously. Information can be merged from a wide range of sources, including self-reports, performance tasks, and other assessment strategies. A psychological assessment can provide central information for the start of or early in treatment. It can guide the selection of appropriate treatment methods. It can also highlight potential client characteristics that will facilitate or impede treatment. A psychological assessment can also provide a baseline to measure the progress of treatment and to evaluate the effects of treatment.

At Vie Psychology Inc., psychological assessments can be conducted for anyone 7 years of age and older. Depending on the age of the client and the circumstances surrounding the request, the psychological assessment process will be tailored through an appropriate selection of methods and tools.

Assessment activities such as interviews will take place at Vie Psychology’s office or via Zoom. Testing must be completed at the Vie Psychology office. Questionnaires are often completed online. There can be exceptions to these practices depending on the type of assessment.

Therapy, or psychotherapy, involves the use of psychological interventions to implement psychological change when a client is struggling with personal or relationship issues, or a formal mental health concern. Therapy involves the development of a supportive collaborative environment in which an client’s concerns can be openly discussed with a psychologist who is objective, neutral, and nonjudgmental. In therapy, a psychologist applies scientifically valid procedures to help the client identify and affect change in maladaptive thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that distress the client.

There are a variety of different psychotherapy approaches and many psychologists will draw on one or more of these approaches. The kind of treatment you will receive will depend on current psychological research, your psychologist’s theoretical orientation, and what works best for your situation.

There are literally hundreds of theoretical orientations. Examples of theoretical orientations include:

• Psychodynamic – Examines how the unconscious influences a person’ thinking and behaviour.  The goal of psychodynamic approaches is to increase the client’s self-awareness and understanding, help them understand how unresolved conflicts from the past may influence them in the present, and replace unwanted patterns in current relationships.
• Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) – Assumes that behaviours and beliefs are responsible for the development of mental health problems.  The goal is to help the client identify, challenge, and adjust maladaptive beliefs and behaviours.
• Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) – A treatment approach that uses CBT techniques to increase a client’s mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotional regulation, and distress tolerance.
• Humanistic – With a focus on optimism, this approach assumes that people have a natural inclination to strive toward self-fulfillment.  The goal is to help clients self-actualize through self-examination, self-mastery, and creative expression.
• Integrative or Eclectic – While not a theoretical orientation, per se, an integrative approach involves an attempt to unite various aspects of different theoretical orientations to best fit the needs of the client.