Get in Touch
Start with a free initial consultation
Reaching out is the hardest step. We're glad you're here. Let us know how we can help — no pressure, no commitment.
Send us a message
Or book directly
If you're ready to schedule, you can book a free initial consultation directly through our online booking system — no phone call required.
Book Free ConsultationEvery first consultation is booked with Mohamad Shabib, who founded the practice. He takes the consultation himself and then books you with whichever clinician fits what you are bringing and the province you live in — so there is one link, not three. If you already know you would rather work with Alison or Rola, say so in the form or in the consultation and it will be arranged.
Contact details
Phone
(519) 760-5211Mailing address
135 Haliburton St #306
Nanaimo, BC V9R 4V9
Post only — there is no waiting room and nobody to meet there. Every session is by video.
What happens next?
1. You reach out — by form, phone, or booking link
2. We schedule a free 15-minute consultation
3. We listen, answer your questions, and see if we're a good fit
4. No pressure. You decide when — and if — you'd like to begin
What the free consultation actually is
It is 15 minutes, by video or phone, and it costs nothing. You do not need a referral and you do not need to have worked out what is wrong before you book.
The purpose is narrow and worth stating plainly: to find out whether this is the right place for you. You describe what has been going on in whatever detail you want to. You get to ask what the work would actually involve, how often you would meet, what it costs, and what happens if it is not helping. Nobody will ask you to commit at the end of it.
It is not a therapy session and it is not an assessment. Nothing in it produces a diagnosis. If what you need is something this practice does not offer — a psychiatrist, a prescriber, an in-person service where you live — you will be told that in the consultation rather than after you have paid for a session.
If you would rather write than talk
The form on this page reaches the same inbox. Say as much or as little as you like; a sentence is enough to start. Bear in mind that it arrives as ordinary email rather than through a secure clinical system, so it is worth keeping the detail light at this stage. The detail belongs in the session, where it is protected.
Hours, and what they mean where you live
Sessions run seven days a week, noon to nine in the evening Pacific time. That is the whole schedule — there are no mornings, and the practice does not keep a nine-to-five clinic day.
Because everything runs on Pacific hours, the window sits later the further east you are. It is worth checking the row for your province before you pick a slot, since the eastern end of the country loses the early evening entirely:
Local times shift by an hour when daylight time starts and ends; Saskatchewan does not change its clocks. If a time matters, confirm it at the consultation.
If you are in Newfoundland and Labrador and want something that is still an ordinary evening, take the earliest slot the schedule allows rather than the one that looks most convenient in the booking system.
What it costs, and what to ask your insurer
Insurance
Direct billing is available with Mohamad and Alison for Pacific Blue Cross, CVAP and plans on the TELUS eClaims network, such as Canada Life and Manulife. Ask about yours at the consultation — the list is longer than those. Where your plan is one we can bill, you pay only the part it does not cover. Otherwise you pay at the time of the session and receive an insurance-ready receipt, which is the document extended health plans ask for. No provincial health plan covers private counselling anywhere in Canada, so this is an extended-health or out-of-pocket question rather than a public one.
Read your plan's own wording rather than its summary page, because plans list provider categories separately and reimburse them differently. If you would be seeing Mohamad, ask your insurer specifically whether they cover a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) registered with the CRPO — some plans treat the Qualifying category separately from full registration, and that one word decides it. If you would be seeing Alison, ask about Registered Clinical Counsellor; if Rola, ask about Registered Social Worker. Get the answer before the first paid session rather than after it.
Cancelling or moving a session
Cancellations need twenty-four hours' notice. Inside that window, and for a session nobody attends, the full fee is charged. It is a real rule rather than a soft one, because the hour is held for you and cannot be filled at short notice — and you should know it now rather than meet it on an invoice.
How quickly you will hear back
Messages sent through this page are answered within one business day. If two days go by and you have heard nothing, assume it went astray and send it again or call — that is a failure at our end, not a signal that you were turned away. Nobody monitors the form overnight or on statutory holidays, so if something is urgent, use the numbers at the bottom of this page rather than waiting for a reply.
If you book the free consultation directly through the booking system instead, you will get an emailed confirmation immediately with the video link. There is nothing else to do before it — no forms to complete, no history to write out, no payment details to enter.
Which clinician you will actually see
You will not be handed to whoever happens to be free. Every first consultation is taken by Mohamad Shabib, who founded the practice, and the point of it is to work out who should do the work — which may well be one of his colleagues rather than him.
Two things decide it. The first is what you are bringing: EMDR and Internal Family Systems work sits with Mohamad, Alison Shaji works with clients in British Columbia, and Rola Shbib brings crisis intervention, addictions and grief, including an honours degree in thanatology. The second is where you live, because registration differs by province and that is not something a client should have to work out alone.
Sessions are available in English and Arabic, and in Hindi and Malayalam for clients in British Columbia. If you already know you would rather work with a particular clinician, say so and it will be arranged.
If you need someone now
This practice is not a crisis service, and nobody monitors this form overnight. These are free and staffed around the clock:
- · 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline: call or text 9-8-8 (24/7)
- · Kids Help Phone (for young people): 1-800-668-6868, or text CONNECT to 686868
- · Hope for Wellness Help Line: 1-855-242-3310 (24/7)
If you are in immediate danger, please call 911.