frequently asked questions
- How do I access the Member Services?
- What is a psychological benefit?
- What is a registered professional?
- What can I expect if I decide to see a counsellor?
- How long does counselling take?
- Are your services confidential?
- What do I do if I'm dissatisfied with my counsellor?
- What if I have other questions?
How do I access the Member Services?
To access the Member Services, you need to register (to confirm benefit entitlement or review other options for access). To find out more, click here.
What is a psychological benefit?
Wilson Banwell is a psychological services firm contracted to provide counselling to you as part of your health benefits. This means that you and most often your dependent family members are entitled to professional counselling on a strictly confidential basis.
Whether or not you choose to use this service is totally up to you. However, more and more employees are finding it helpful to see a counsellor for problems with alcohol, stress, marital and family issues, anxiety, depression and a whole range of other concerns.
What is a registered professional?
Wilson Banwell employs only registered professionals to provide counselling.
A registered professional is a psychologist, clinical counsellor or social worker who has received specialized training in assessment and counselling services and who has met the requirements for registration with their respective professional governing body.
A psychologist is a specialist in human functioning. The psychologists who work for Wilson Banwell have, at minimum, a Master's degree in clinical or counselling psychology and at least one year of supervised experience.
A clinical counsellor has a Master's degree in counselling psychology and two years of supervised experience.
A social worker must have a Master's degree in clinical Social Work and at least one year of supervised experience.
Wilson Banwell professionals have many more years experience than the minimum required in order to be registered.
What can I expect if I decide to see a counsellor?
If you call to make a request for counselling, you can expect to be treated with courtesy and respect by our trained intake personnel who will schedule an appointment for you at a branch office of your choice.
You can expect your counsellor to be both competent and friendly. The counsellor will spend the first one hour session determining the nature of the concern and formulating a plan. This may involve asking you questions about your present situation and about relevant past events.
The counsellor may occasionally use a "paper and pencil" inventory to help analyze the problem, but usually just talking is enough.
By the end of the first session, your counsellor should be able to provide you with an understanding of the problem and a specific treatment plan. This treatment plan may involve further counselling sessions or, in some cases, a referral to a specialist.
The interval between sessions will be determined by your counsellor in consultation with you. Your counsellor may also ask you to do some work between sessions in the form of reading self-help material, keeping a journal or doing prescribed exercises. Counselling is seen as an active process in which you play a major part in making changes.
How long does counselling take?
Most problems can be effectively dealt with by a short course of counselling. However, some problems require a longer counselling approach or other specialized services. In these cases, your counsellor may help you get started and then facilitate a referral to an agency or counsellor in the community who can work with you over the long run. Keep in mind, your psychological health benefit is designed to provide short term therapy and referral for longer term problems.
Is the service confidential?
All of our services are completely confidential.
The decision to seek counselling is a personal one and we believe that information about your counselling should remain strictly confidential.
Wilson Banwell ensures that no personal information about you is given to your organization without your explicit authorization.
Regarding website visits, we build security walls around your personal information with state of the art technologies and do not provide information about our visitors to anyone, for any reason.
For more information about our privacy policy, and how we protect your privacy, look here.
What do I do if I'm dissatisfied with my counsellor?
The choice in counselling is always yours.
Counselling is a professional activity, and a personal experience. Sometimes counsellors and clients don't "click" because of a poor mix of personalities or approaches. Because even a good therapy session may feel uncomfortable, you might want to see our counsellor at least twice before making a final decision, but that choice is always yours.
If you decide that you are not happy, you are welcome to switch counsellors.
If you feel comfortable enough, it might be useful to discuss this with your first counsellor.
If this seems too difficult, you need only to call the office and request a new counsellor. This will be arranged without any questions.
If your counsellor does or says something that you feel is offensive or unprofessional, you are invited to contact the Wilson Banwell Director of Clinical Services in your area to discuss your concerns.
What if I have other questions?
If you have questions that aren't answered here, contact us!