Fees and Coverage
How much does therapy cost in Ontario, and will my insurance cover any of it?
Short answer up top, because you came here for a number and not for a story.
In Ontario, private psychotherapy usually runs between CA$120 and CA$225 per session. At Inaya Care an individual session is CA$180 and a couples or family session is CA$200.
OHIP does not cover it. Some extended health plans cover part of it, some cover none of it, and the only way to know which one you have is to ask your insurer one specific question. That question is written out below, word for word, so you can read it off the screen while you are on hold.
What OHIP does and does not cover
OHIP covers psychotherapy when it is delivered by a physician or a psychiatrist. To see a psychiatrist you generally need a referral from your family doctor, and in most of the GTA the wait is long.
OHIP does not cover a Registered Psychotherapist working in private practice. So sessions with us are paid privately, and we issue an official receipt after every single session that you submit to your insurer.
What a session costs here
The free consult costs nothing and you are not committing to anything by taking it.
Most people come weekly at first, then move to every two weeks once things feel steadier. So the realistic monthly number to plan around is roughly CA$720 in the first stretch and about half that once you space sessions out, before any insurance comes back to you.
We say that plainly because working it out on the call after you already got your hopes up is worse than knowing now.
What extended health plans actually do
If you have benefits through work, or through your spouse's work, there is usually a mental health amount in there. In Ontario it commonly sits somewhere between CA$500 and CA$1,500 per year, and some plans reimburse a set amount per session rather than a percentage.
Three things people miss constantly.
- Your spouse's plan. You may be covered under your spouse's plan as well as your own, and the two can sometimes be combined. Plenty of couples never check the second one.
- A Health Spending Account. Your plan may have one sitting unused alongside the regular benefits. That money is usually flexible and it very often covers psychotherapy.
- An employee assistance program. Your employer may have one with a small number of free sessions. Those are typically short term and you usually cannot choose the practitioner, but the sessions are real and they are already paid for.
The one question to ask, word for word
Here is the part that matters, and the reason most people get a nasty surprise.
Our clinicians are Registered Psychotherapists (Qualifying) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario. Qualifying means fully registered with the College and practising under clinical supervision while completing the final registration requirements. Some plans reimburse sessions with a Qualifying member in exactly the same way, and some plans treat it differently.
So before you book anything, call the number on the back of your benefits card and ask this:
Do you reimburse psychotherapy provided by a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) who is registered with CRPO? What is my annual maximum, and is there a per session limit?
Write down the answer and the name of the person who told you. If they say yes, ask whether they need the clinical supervisor's name on the receipt, because that detail alone resolves most pushback.
We would rather you make that call and find out the answer is no than have you pay for six sessions expecting money back that never arrives.
If you are a student
If you are at an Ontario college or university, check your student health plan before you assume you cannot afford this. Many of these plans carry a mental health amount for the school year, and most students have no idea it is sitting there. It is included in the fees you already paid.
Log in to your student plan portal and look for the mental health or psychological services line. Ask the same question above.
If the answer is no
Tell us on the consult.
That is not a polite line. It is the most useful thing you can say on that call, because it changes the conversation from whether you can afford therapy to what arrangement would actually work. Sometimes that means spacing sessions differently. Sometimes it means we point you toward a service that fits your situation better than we do, and we would rather do that than take money you cannot spare.
Nobody here is going to pressure you into a commitment you cannot carry. That is bad for you and it is bad for us, because a client who quietly panics about the cost stops coming after three sessions and nothing useful happens for anybody.
One thing worth saying about price
The cheapest session is the one you never go back to.
If you spend the first month explaining joint families, izzat, why moving out is not simple, and what your mother expects, you are paying full rate for background context. Cultural fit is not a nice extra. It is the difference between paying for eight sessions and paying for four sessions plus four hours of teaching.
Every clinician here is South Asian and works in English, Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi. You can see the whole team on our meet the team page.
If you are still working out whether this is even for you, there are two pieces worth reading: one on why so many South Asian men feel angry all the time, and one on living with in laws and feeling alone in your marriage.
What to do next
Call your insurer with the question above. It takes about ten minutes.
Then book the free consult and bring what they told you. Twenty two minutes, no commitment, and you can ask about money directly. Nobody here finds that question awkward.
Knowing the number is not the same as being able to afford it. But guessing at it is how people talk themselves out of something they needed.
We will call you back. No pressure and no commitment. Or call 437 292 4738. Full fees are on our fees section.