Fees & Insurance · Virtual · Six Provinces
Fees, Availability & Insurance
No surprises.
TEO Counselling is a virtual-only practice serving clients in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland & Labrador. Everything below is what you'll actually pay and when you can actually be seen.
Fees and insurance, at a glance. TEO Counselling charges $150 per 60-minute individual session and $175 per 60-minute couples session, with no intake, assessment or receipt fees, and the first step is a free 15-minute consultation. Sessions are with Mohamad Shabib, MACP, CCC, a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the CRPO in Ontario; Alison Shaji, MA Clinical Psychology, RCC, for clients in British Columbia; or Rola Shbib, BSW (Hons), RSW (Ontario) — seven days a week from 12:00 pm to 9:00 pm Pacific, which is 1:00 pm to 10:00 pm in Alberta, 1:00 pm to 10:00 pm in Saskatchewan (2:00 pm to 11:00 pm in winter, as the province does not change its clocks), 2:00 pm to 11:00 pm in Manitoba, 3:00 pm to midnight in Ontario and 4:30 pm to 1:30 am in Newfoundland. No provincial health plan — MSP, OHIP, Alberta Health Care, Saskatchewan Health, Manitoba Health or MCP — covers counselling in private practice; reimbursement depends on the designation an extended health plan covers (CCC, RCC, RSW or Registered Psychotherapist). Direct billing is available with Mohamad and Alison for Pacific Blue Cross, CVAP and plans on the TELUS eClaims network (Canada Life and Manulife among them); Rola is not on the direct-bill line, and every session not billed directly comes with an insurance-ready receipt.
Session Fees
Every session is with a registered clinician using evidence-based methods — EMDR, IFS, Gottman — with a plan built around your goals. You receive an insurance-ready receipt after every session.
Individual Therapy
$150
per 60-minute session
Couples Counselling
$175
per 60-minute session
Initial Consultation
Free
15 minutes
A small number of reduced-fee spots are held — if cost is a barrier, mention it during your consultation.
Payment is by Interac e-Transfer or credit card through Jane, our secure booking and health-records platform.
Availability
All sessions are online via video (Jane, with Zoom or Google Meet as a backup).
Monday – Friday
12:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Pacific time
Saturday & Sunday
12:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Pacific time
The same window seven days a week, from midday through to nine in the evening — built for people whose work doesn't stop at 5.
What that looks like where you are
Sessions run on Pacific time, seven days a week. Here is that same window converted to local time, so nothing on the booking calendar comes as a surprise.
| Your province | Session hours, your time |
|---|---|
| British Columbia | 12:00 pm – 9:00 pm |
| Alberta | 1:00 pm – 10:00 pm |
| Saskatchewan | 1:00 pm – 10:00 pm2:00 pm – 11:00 pm in winter |
| Manitoba | 2:00 pm – 11:00 pm |
| Ontario | 3:00 pm – 12:00 am |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 4:30 pm – 1:30 am |
Saskatchewan does not move its clocks, so the gap there shifts by an hour between summer and winter even though your own time never changes.
Insurance & Receipts
Reimbursement depends on the designation your plan covers — check whether it covers a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC), a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC), a Registered Social Worker (RSW) or a Registered Psychotherapist — and if you would be seeing Mohamad, ask specifically whether the Qualifying category of Registered Psychotherapist is included, because the plan's wording is what decides it.
Direct billing is available with Mohamad and Alison for Pacific Blue Cross, CVAP and plans on the TELUS eClaims network (Canada Life and Manulife among them). Where your plan is not one we can bill, you receive a receipt after every session to submit to your insurer. How it works, step by step, is on the direct billing page.
Sessions may also be claimed against a Health Care Spending Account where your plan allows.
Approved provider with BC's Crime Victim Assistance Program (CVAP) — eligible clients can have counselling covered directly.
Where and How We Work
Provinces served
British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland & Labrador (virtual only — no in-person office).
Languages
English, Arabic, Hindi, and Malayalam.
Mohamad Shabib
MACP, CCC, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with CRPO.
Alison Shaji
MA Clinical Psychology, RCC.
Rola Shbib
BSW (Hons), RSW (Ontario) with OCSWSSW. Sees clients in all provinces TEO serves.
What you are actually paying for
A session is sixty minutes of clinical time with a registered clinician. What sits behind it is the part clients do not see: reviewing where things stood at the end of the last session, planning the next one, and the note-keeping every regulated practitioner is required to maintain.
The free consultation is genuinely free and genuinely a conversation. It is not a sales call with a different name, and there is no obligation at the end of it. If the honest answer is that a different kind of support would serve you better, that is what you will be told.
There is no assessment fee, no intake fee, no admin charge, and no charge for the insurance receipt.
How much does therapy cost in Canada?
At TEO Counselling, individual therapy is $150 per 60-minute session and couples counselling is $175 per 60-minute session, with a free 15-minute consultation first. Fees elsewhere in Canada vary with the clinician's designation, their province, and the length of the session, so the useful comparison is always the price for a stated number of minutes rather than a headline number.
Private counselling is not covered by MSP, OHIP or any other provincial health plan. What your plan reimburses depends on the designation it covers — CCC, RCC, RSW or Registered Psychotherapist — and plans differ, so check the wording against the clinician you would be seeing. Direct billing is available with Mohamad and Alison for Pacific Blue Cross, CVAP and plans on the TELUS eClaims network (Canada Life and Manulife among them), so those plans pay their share at the time; the direct billing page lists what is needed. Rola is not on the direct-bill line. For every other plan you pay per session and receive an insurance-ready receipt to submit yourself.
Two things keep the real cost down. There is no assessment or intake fee, so the first paid hour is a working session, and there is no package to buy, so you pay for the sessions you attend and stop when you choose. A small number of reduced-fee spots are held; if the fee is the obstacle, say so on the consultation call.
Questions about paying for therapy
Do I need a referral?
No. You can book the free consultation yourself, today, without going through a doctor. Some extended health plans ask for a physician referral before they will reimburse, which is a separate question from whether you can be seen — worth checking your own plan before the first paid session rather than after.
How do I pay?
By Interac e-Transfer, or by credit card through Jane, the secure booking and health-records platform the practice runs on. Payment is taken per session; there is no package to buy up front and no minimum number of sessions to commit to.
Do you bill my insurance company directly?
Yes, for some plans. Direct billing is available with Mohamad and Alison for Pacific Blue Cross, CVAP and plans on the TELUS eClaims network (Canada Life and Manulife among them), so the plan pays its share at the time and you pay only the remainder. Rola is not on the direct-bill line; sessions with her are paid at the time, with a receipt. Where your plan is not one we can bill, you pay for the session and receive an insurance-ready receipt immediately afterwards to submit to your insurer yourself, so it is worth knowing you will be out of pocket in the gap. Full detail is on the direct billing page.
Is online therapy covered the same as in-person?
Coverage is written by the clinician’s designation, not by the format of the session, so a plan that names your clinician’s designation is the thing to check first. Some older plan wordings still specify in-person, so if yours is one of them it is better to find that out from your provider before you start.
Which designation should I look for in my plan?
Whichever one matches the clinician you would be seeing. Mohamad Shabib is a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) and a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the CRPO in Ontario. Alison Shaji is a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) in British Columbia. Rola Shbib is a Registered Social Worker (RSW) in Ontario. Plans differ on which of those they name, and a mismatch there is a reason claims get declined.
How much does therapy cost in Canada?
At TEO Counselling, individual therapy is $150 per 60-minute session and couples counselling is $175 per 60-minute session, with a free 15-minute consultation first. Private counselling is not covered by MSP, OHIP or any other provincial health plan; reimbursement depends on the designation your plan covers (CCC, RCC, RSW or Registered Psychotherapist). Direct billing is available with Mohamad and Alison for Pacific Blue Cross, CVAP and plans on the TELUS eClaims network, and you receive an insurance-ready receipt after every session for everything else.
We are a couple with two separate benefit plans. Can we use both?
Sometimes. Coordination of benefits between two plans is possible for couples counselling, but the rules are set by the insurers rather than by us, and they vary. Ask both providers how they handle a shared session before assuming it works.
What happens if I need to cancel?
You can cancel or move a session free of charge with at least 24 hours notice, and you can do it yourself in the booking system without phoning or explaining why. Inside 24 hours the session is charged in full, and a missed session with no notice is charged in full as well. One thing worth knowing in advance: extended health plans do not reimburse a cancellation fee, so unlike a session it comes entirely out of pocket.
What if money is genuinely the obstacle?
Say so on the free consultation call. A small number of reduced-fee spots are held, and there is no awkward process to go through to ask about one. If they are full or the gap is still too wide, you will be pointed toward lower-cost options rather than left with nothing.
Anything not answered here is worth raising on the consultation call, or you can send a short note and get a reply by email.
Booking
Book your free 15-minute consultation through Jane at teo-counselling.janeapp.com or call (519) 760-5211.
No pressure to commit — it's a conversation to see whether working together makes sense, and a chance to ask about fees, insurance, and availability before spending anything.