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

The four questions below are optional. They only help route your message to the right clinician faster — leave any of them blank if you would rather not say.

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 Consultation

The booking link goes to Mohamad Shabib, who founded the practice. The free consultation is with Mohamad or with Rola Shbib, and you are then booked 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

Mailing 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, text, 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

$150 individual · $175 couples · 60 minutes · direct billing with Pacific Blue Cross and TELUS eClaims plans (Canada Life, Manulife); an insurance-ready receipt for every other plan. Fees & insurance · Direct billing

What the free consultation actually is

It is 15 minutes, by video or a scheduled phone call, 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. If you would rather see the whole sequence first — consultation, first session, paperwork, fees — what to expect from online therapy sets it out in order.

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:

British Columbia12:00pm – 9:00pm
Alberta1:00pm – 10:00pm
Saskatchewan1:00pm – 10:00pm
Manitoba2:00pm – 11:00pm
Ontario3:00pm – 12:00am
Newfoundland & Labrador4:30pm – 1:30am

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

Initial consultationFree · 15 minutes
Individual session$150 · 60 minutes
Couples session$175
Reduced-fee spotsA limited number, on request

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 usually answered within 24 hours. If two days go by and you have heard nothing, assume it went astray and send it again or text us — 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. The first consultation is taken by Mohamad Shabib, who founded the practice, or by Rola Shbib, and the point of it is to work out who should do the work — which may well be a colleague rather than the person on the call.

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 (Canada, 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.

Page information last updated September 2026.