Virtual Therapy · Based in Nanaimo, BC
Trauma Therapist & Couples Counselling in Nanaimo
Nanaimo-based virtual therapy for adults and couples across Vancouver Island. Evidence-based trauma counselling, PTSD recovery, and couples therapy — no commute, no waitlist.
Free initial consultation · No commitment · Sliding scale fees available
Your Nanaimo-based virtual therapy practice
TEO Counselling is rooted in Nanaimo. Our registered office is at 135 Haliburton Street, and our lead therapist Mohamad Shabib has worked in the Nanaimo community — including at Edgewood, with First Nations communities across Vancouver Island, and in crisis response settings.
We offer fully virtual sessions, which means you get the benefit of locally grounded care without the hassle of commuting across Nanaimo's spread-out geography. Whether you're in the north end, south Nanaimo, Departure Bay, or the Lantzville and Parksville corridor — we come to you.
Evening and weekend availability means therapy can fit around your work schedule, not the other way around.
Specialized therapy services in Nanaimo
All sessions are virtual — accessible to Nanaimo residents without the commute.
Trauma, PTSD & CPTSD Therapy
Using EMDR and Internal Family Systems (IFS), we help Nanaimo residents process trauma, reduce PTSD symptoms, and reclaim their lives. Mohamad's clinical experience includes first responder trauma at Edgewood Nanaimo, First Nations mental health, and refugee trauma.
Couples & Relationship Counselling
Whether you're rebuilding trust, navigating conflict, or wanting deeper connection — we use the Gottman Method and EFFT to help Nanaimo couples strengthen their bond. Evening and weekend sessions make it possible for both partners to attend without disrupting work.
Specialized Program
First responder trauma therapy in Nanaimo
Mohamad has direct clinical experience with first responders through Edgewood's concurrent trauma and addictions program right here in Nanaimo. He understands the culture, the barriers to seeking help, and the unique way occupational trauma presents. If you're a paramedic, firefighter, police officer, or emergency worker — you don't need to explain yourself.
Learn about first responder therapyServing Nanaimo & all of Vancouver Island
Virtual sessions reach every corner of Nanaimo and beyond.
North Nanaimo · South Nanaimo · Departure Bay · Brechin Hill · University District · Lantzville · Parksville · Qualicum Beach · Port Alberni · Courtenay · Campbell River · and all of Vancouver Island — and everywhere else in the province through our British Columbia therapy page
Bilingual therapy
Need therapy in Arabic?
Mohamad Shabib offers sessions in Arabic across all six provinces we serve — including Nanaimo and Vancouver Island. First language Arabic, culturally grounded care.
Common questions from Nanaimo residents
How much does therapy cost in Nanaimo?
Individual sessions are $150/60-min session and couples sessions are $175/60-min session. We offer sliding scale fees starting at $110 for those who need it. Your initial consultation is always free — no commitment required.
Is virtual therapy as effective as in-person therapy?
Yes. Research consistently shows virtual therapy is equally effective as in-person for most presenting concerns, including trauma, PTSD, anxiety, and relationship issues. Many clients actually prefer the privacy and comfort of sessions from home.
What is EMDR therapy and is it available in Nanaimo?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is one of the most evidence-based treatments for PTSD and trauma. Mohamad is an advanced EMDR-trained therapist. Sessions are virtual but clinically equivalent to in-person EMDR.
Do you accept insurance for Nanaimo clients?
We accept most extended health plans that cover Canadian Certified Counsellors (CCC), Registered Clinical Counsellors (RCC) or Registered Social Workers (RSW). Check with your provider whether your plan covers CCC services — many do. We can provide receipts for direct reimbursement.
How quickly can I get an appointment?
We have no waitlist. In most cases, we can schedule your free consultation within 1–2 days and your first session shortly after.
Who you would be working with
The practice has three clinicians. You book with a named person, and each of them has their own page you can read before you decide.
Mohamad Shabib, MACP, CCC, lives in Nanaimo. He is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the CRPO — an Ontario registration — who works with clients in all six provinces the practice serves. His training includes Advanced EMDR through EMDRIA, IFS Levels 1 and 2, Gottman Levels 1 and 2, CBT for Trauma Levels 1 and 2, DBT, and Indigenous Focused Oriented Therapy. He holds a graduate diploma in addiction treatment and prevention and has done concurrent trauma and addictions work at Edgewood. He works in English and in Arabic.
Alison Shaji, RCC (BCACC), works with clients in British Columbia. She is trained in EMDR, Gottman Levels 1 and 2, CBT, DBT and EFFT, and draws on psychoanalytic, inner-child and shadow work. She works in English, Hindi and Malayalam.
Rola Shbib is a Registered Social Worker (Ontario). Her work is in crisis intervention, suicide prevention and addictions, and she holds an honours degree in thanatology — the study of death, dying and grief.
One thing to be plain about: those levels are completed training, not certification. Nobody here is certified in EMDR, IFS, Gottman or DBT, because those are training programmes. And a training sits with the person who did it, not with the practice — so if a particular approach matters to you, name it at the consultation and ask who holds it.
What a session costs, and what a plan will and will not do
An individual session is $150 for 60 minutes. A couples session is $175. Before either, there is a free consultation of about fifteen to twenty minutes, and you do not need a referral from anyone to book it. A few reduced-fee spots are held. They are not always open, and if you ask when they are full, that is the answer you will get.
After every session you receive an insurance-ready receipt. Where your plan is one TEO can bill directly you pay only the balance; otherwise you pay at the time and claim it back yourself. No provincial health plan covers private counselling — not in British Columbia, not in any of the other five provinces — so if anything is going to pay, it will be an extended health plan through work, a partner's plan, or a student plan.
Plans differ in whose designation they name, and the wording is fussier than people expect. If your plan lists Registered Psychotherapist, ask specifically whether the Qualifying category of Registered Psychotherapist is included, because the plan's wording is what decides it. If it names Registered Clinical Counsellor or Registered Social Worker instead, ask about those by name too. Phone your insurer before the first session, not after the first receipt.
Cancellations need 24 hours' notice. Inside that window, and for a no-show, the full fee is charged. That is worth knowing on an Island where a sailing can fall apart at short notice — tell us early and it costs nothing.
Appointment times, in your own clock
Sessions run seven days a week, from noon to 9pm Pacific. Nanaimo is on Pacific time, so the time you see when booking is the time you sit down. No conversion, no daylight-saving arithmetic, nothing to double-check. Clients in the other five provinces are booking that same Pacific window, which lands later in their evening; for you it does not move at all.
The limit worth stating outright: there are no morning appointments. If the only hour you can protect is before a day shift, this practice cannot cover it, and you should know that now rather than after a consultation. What the schedule does cover is after work, through the evening, and both days of the weekend — which is what can make it possible for a second person to attend a couples session at all.
What the first sessions actually involve
The consultation is short and practical. What is going on, what you want to be different, what you want to ask about fees or timing or approach, and whether the fit seems workable to both of us. Nothing in it is a screening or an assessment. Counsellors do not diagnose, and any prescription comes from a physician or a nurse practitioner, not from us.
The first full session is mostly you talking. Your own account, in your own order, including what you have already tried and what you thought of it. We agree on where to start and how quickly to move, and we say what we do not know yet.
Trauma work does not open with the worst memory. Groundwork comes first — sleep, steadiness, something to reach for when a week goes loud — and anything more comes when you say you are ready. The working model behind EMDR is that a distressing memory can be revisited under conditions that let it settle differently; how that happens is still argued over, and Mohamad, who holds the Advanced EMDR training, will say so rather than hand you a certainty.
Consent and confidentiality are covered at the start, including the four points where confidentiality stops: if there is a serious risk you will end your life or seriously harm yourself; if another person is at serious risk of harm; if a child is being abused or neglected; and if a court orders the file. If you are weighing whether to say something, ask about those first.
Living on the Island, and what video does and does not solve
Vancouver Island runs on ferries. An appointment on the mainland means a sailing each way and a schedule you do not set, and a cancelled crossing or a full car deck can take out the hour you waited weeks for. Staying on the Island, it is the highway instead — Ladysmith, Parksville, up-Island, in the dark, in the rain, twice.
Being virtual takes that out of the decision. It also means where you live stops deciding which training you can reach — name the approach at the consultation and you will be told who holds it and who you can book with.
Video has its own costs, and pretending otherwise would be silly. You need a room where you can close a door, and a connection that holds for the full 60 minutes — neither is a given everywhere on the Island. A phone on mobile data in a parked car works, and it is not the version anyone wants. If what you actually need is in-person care, a hospital, or a withdrawal management bed, online counselling is not a stand-in for it. Say that at the consultation and you will get a straight answer.
Common questions
Is there an office in Nanaimo I can come to?
No, and there will not be one. Every session is by video. The address in our footer is a mailing address for the corporation — there is no waiting room behind it and nobody to meet there. Mohamad lives in Nanaimo, which is the connection to the city; it is not a place you visit.
Do I need a referral, and can you diagnose or prescribe?
No referral is needed from a family doctor or anyone else — you can book the free consultation yourself. Counsellors do not diagnose, so we will not be putting a label on what you describe or telling you what condition it points to. Prescriptions come from a physician or a nurse practitioner. If you want a diagnosis or medication considered, that is a conversation for one of them, and it can happen alongside counselling.
Can you bill my extended health plan directly?
Often, yes. TEO can direct-bill Pacific Blue Cross, CVAP and plans on the TELUS eClaims network when you see Mohamad or Alison. Where yours is not one of them, you pay for the session and receive an insurance-ready receipt afterwards to submit yourself. Whether it comes back to you depends on which designations your plan names. If it lists Registered Psychotherapist, ask specifically whether the Qualifying category of Registered Psychotherapist is included, because the plan's wording is what decides it. No provincial plan covers private counselling, so a provincial plan is not the fallback.
What happens if I have to cancel?
Give 24 hours' notice and there is no charge. Less than that, or a missed session with no notice, is charged in full. It is a real rule, not a soft one, because the hour is held for you and cannot be filled at short notice. If something is going sideways — a sailing, a shift change, a sick kid — message as soon as you know rather than at the hour.
Can my partner and I join a couples session from two different places?
Yes. Each of you signs in from wherever you are, which helps when one partner is off-Island for work or on a rotation. Both of you need to be in one of the six provinces the practice serves at the time of the session. A couples session is $175. Gottman Levels 1 and 2 are held by Mohamad and by Alison; EFFT is held by Alison. Ask at the consultation which of them would be taking the work, so you know before you book.
Nanaimo mental health resources
In addition to TEO Counselling, here are some community mental health resources available to Nanaimo residents:
- · 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline: call or text 9-8-8 (24/7)
- · Island Health Mental Health & Substance Use: (250) 739-5700
- · Vancouver Island Crisis Line: 1-888-494-3888 (24/7)
- · Crisis Services Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)
- · Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868
If you are in immediate danger, please call 911.
Ready to take the first step?
Book a free, no-pressure consultation with our Nanaimo-based team. We'll talk about what you're going through and figure out together if we're the right fit.
Book Free ConsultationOr call us: (519) 760-5211