Counselling support for people whose sleep has stopped working the way it used to, offered in person in Edmonton and St. Albert and virtually across Alberta. Registered Psychologists, Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers, Canadian Certified Counsellors, Mental Health Therapists, and Student Therapists. Registered Psychologists and Registered Provisional Psychologists are regulated by the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP), Registered Social Workers are regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW), and Canadian Certified Counsellors (CCCs) are certified by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA). 50-minute sessions, in person or virtual. Daytime, evening, and weekend appointments.

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You Might Be Wondering Whether Insomnia Counselling Is Right for You

You may be wondering whether bad sleep is really a therapy problem. Plenty of people sleep badly and carry on. You may have told yourself that you just need to try harder, put the phone down earlier, or wait for the busy season to pass. Somewhere underneath that is a quieter question: is this actually serious enough to bring to a professional?

Some of what you are living with may be familiar. Lying awake doing mental arithmetic about how many hours are left before the alarm. Falling asleep on the couch, then feeling wide awake the moment you get into bed. Getting through the day on a kind of low, flat fuel, and finding that patience with the people you love runs out faster than it used to.

These patterns are common reactions to a sleep system that has been under strain. They are not a sign of weakness or poor discipline. Sleep is one of the first things to shift when stress, routine, health, or worry change, and once sleep becomes something you have to work at, the effort itself can keep the problem going.

You may wish to read on and see what this kind of counselling actually involves, what the research does and does not show, and what a first session looks like. Nothing here asks you to decide anything today.

Who We Help

Insomnia counselling at Wholesome Psychology may be a good fit if you are:

• having ongoing trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking earlier than you intend
• sleeping enough hours on paper but waking unrested
• noticing that stress, worry, or mental overactivity picks up at night
• frustrated or anxious about sleep itself, to the point that bedtime has become something you dread
• dealing with an irregular schedule, shift work, caregiving, or a recent life change that has disrupted your routine
• seeing the effects during the day in your mood, focus, or patience
• looking for a place to understand your sleep patterns without being told to simply relax

You do not need a diagnosis or a referral to book. Many people reach out because sleep has become difficult and frustrating, not because anyone has given the difficulty a name.

This service may not be the right fit if:

• You are in crisis or immediate danger. Please use the resources below rather than waiting for a scheduled appointment.
• You need a sleep study or medical investigation. Counselling is not a sleep lab. Concerns such as breathing interruptions during sleep, restless legs, or possible medication effects need medical assessment.
• You need a formal psychological assessment or a report for court, an insurer, or an employer. Psychological assessments are a separate service at this clinic and are not part of insomnia counselling. You can speak with the admin team about which service applies.
• You are looking for a prescription or medication management. Psychologists and counsellors do not prescribe. That conversation belongs with your physician, nurse practitioner, or pharmacist.

If You Need Help Right Now

Wholesome Psychology is not an emergency or crisis service. Appointments are scheduled in advance, so if you need support today, please use one of the following:

• 911 if you or someone else is in immediate danger
• Alberta Mental Health Help Line: 1-877-303-2642, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline, call or text 988, available across Canada 24 hours a day
• Crisis Text Line, text HOME to 741741

What This Service Is

Insomnia counselling is talk-based, structured support for sleep difficulties. Sessions look at the habits, routines, thoughts, and stress patterns around your sleep. They also look at how broken sleep is affecting your days. The work is practical. It usually involves looking closely at what actually happens across your 24 hours, not only the hours you spend in bed.

It is also worth being clear about what this service is not. It is not a medical service, a legal service, an investigative process, or crisis intervention. It is not a sleep laboratory, and it does not include psychological assessment or testing. Assessments are offered separately at this clinic. Counselling does not replace medical assessment when sleep concerns may have physical, neurological, breathing-related, or medication-related contributors.

Your therapist will not diagnose you during a counselling session, and nothing on this page is a diagnosis or personalized medical advice. Clinicians work within their scope of practice and will say plainly when something falls outside it, including when a referral or coordinated care with your family physician makes more sense.

You set the pace. You decide how much detail to share and when. Confidentiality and its limits are reviewed at the start, and a fuller explanation appears further down this page.

Signs Sleep Difficulties May Be Affecting You

Sleep problems rarely stay in the bedroom. The following patterns are ones people often describe when they first come in. You do not need to recognize all of them, and recognizing several does not mean you have a disorder.

• lying awake for long stretches at the start of the night, with your mind speeding up rather than slowing down
• waking in the small hours and not being able to get back to sleep
• waking earlier than you planned and being unable to return to sleep
• sleeping a reasonable number of hours but waking unrefreshed
• daytime fatigue that coffee stops touching by mid-afternoon
• irritability, a shorter fuse, or low mood that lifts a little on the rare good night
• trouble concentrating, losing your thread mid-sentence, or rereading the same paragraph
• dreading bedtime, or building elaborate routines to protect a fragile night's sleep
• pulling back from evening plans because you are trying to protect your sleep

Insomnia is generally described as ongoing trouble getting to sleep, staying asleep, or sleeping well, even when there is a fair chance to rest. It also involves some effect during the day, such as fatigue, low mood or irritability, or trouble thinking clearly (World Health Organization [WHO], n.d.). Sleep and mental health also tend to move together, with poor sleep worsening fatigue, focus, stress, and emotional control (McGregor, 2019).

This is a common experience in Canada, not a rare one. Statistics Canada analysis of national survey data found that reported nighttime insomnia symptoms among adults rose from 16.8% to 23.8% between 2007 and 2015, and that most people reporting symptoms had been living with them for more than a year (Chaput et al., 2018). Public Health Agency of Canada reporting indicates that about one in two adults have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep (Public Health Agency of Canada [PHAC], 2019).

Having these experiences does not mean something is permanently wrong with you. Sleep responds to circumstance, and the patterns that keep insomnia going are often the ones that structured support can help you change.

How Treatment Works Here

• Find your therapist. You can use the Match with a Therapist tool, or read through the Our Therapists profiles yourself. If you would rather talk it through, the admin team can be reached at 780-904-4880.
• Book your first session. The first appointment covers confidentiality and consent, what has been happening with your sleep, and what you are hoping for. You will be asked questions, but you are not obliged to answer all of them.
• Build your plan together. You and your therapist agree on what to work on and in what order. The plan belongs to both of you, and it can change.
• Ongoing sessions. Sessions are 50 minutes, usually weekly or every two weeks at first, adjusted as things settle. Sleep-focused work often involves tracking patterns between sessions.
• Progress check-ins. Your therapist reviews progress with you at regular intervals. If something is not working, you say so, and the approach is adjusted.

There is no fixed number of sessions. Some people come for a short, focused stretch and stop there. Others carry on longer, particularly when sleep sits alongside stress, low mood, or a period of upheaval. Your view of how it is going matters at every stage.

Evidence and Approaches

Behavioural and psychological approaches form a recognized part of the evidence base for adult insomnia care (Edinger et al., 2021; Davidson, 2020). The summaries below describe what research indicates about each approach and where the evidence is thinner.

One thing to be clear about: not every clinician here delivers a formal, structured course of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia. Depending on your therapist's training and scope, sessions may draw on CBT-informed and sleep-focused behavioural strategies rather than a manualized protocol. It is a fair question to ask your therapist directly, and the admin team can help you find someone whose approach matches what you are looking for.

Multicomponent Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)

What it helps with: The habits, schedules, and sleep-related worry that keep insomnia going after whatever first disrupted your sleep has passed.

Evidence summary: The American Academy of Sleep Medicine guideline for chronic insomnia in adults gives multicomponent CBT-I its strongest recommendation grade, based on a systematic review of the literature (Edinger et al., 2021). Canadian guidance describes it as combining behavioural, cognitive, and relaxation components (Davidson, 2020), and Canadian patient education material describes it as short-term treatment (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health [CAMH], 2019).

Limitations: Guideline strength reflects averages, not individual response. A Cochrane review in adults aged 60 and over found limited evidence and a mild effect, best demonstrated for sleep maintenance difficulty (Montgomery & Dennis, 2003).

Stimulus Control

What it helps with: Rebuilding the association between your bed and sleep when the bedroom has become a place you lie awake, plan, and worry.

Evidence summary: The American Academy of Sleep Medicine guideline includes stimulus control as a single-component therapy for chronic insomnia in adults, at a conditional recommendation grade (Edinger et al., 2021). A conditional grade means clinicians are expected to weigh it against the person's circumstances and preferences rather than apply it routinely.

Limitations: Conditional recommendations reflect a less certain balance of benefits and harms than strong ones. The instructions are simple to describe and hard to follow at first, particularly for shift workers and parents of young children.

Sleep Restriction Therapy

What it helps with: Broken, fragmented sleep in people who are spending far more time in bed than they are actually sleeping.

Evidence summary: The American Academy of Sleep Medicine guideline includes sleep restriction as a single-component therapy for chronic insomnia in adults, at a conditional recommendation grade (Edinger et al., 2021). It is one of the behavioural components described within broader CBT-I packages (Davidson, 2020).

Limitations: This approach commonly increases daytime sleepiness before sleep consolidates, which matters if you drive or operate equipment, and it is not appropriate for everyone. It should be undertaken with a clinician who can adjust it, and coordinated with your physician where other health conditions are involved.

Relaxation-Based Approaches

What it helps with: Physical tension and mental overactivity at bedtime, particularly where stress or worry is a prominent part of the picture.

Evidence summary: The American Academy of Sleep Medicine guideline includes relaxation therapy as a single-component treatment for chronic insomnia in adults, at a conditional recommendation grade (Edinger et al., 2021). Relaxation techniques are also described as one of the standard components within CBT-I, alongside behavioural and cognitive work (Davidson, 2020).

Limitations: Evidence for relaxation used on its own is weaker than for multicomponent packages. Some people find these techniques become another performance to get right at bedtime, which can add pressure rather than reduce it.

Brief Multicomponent Therapies

What it helps with: People who want a shorter, more focused piece of work, or who cannot commit to a longer course right now.

Evidence summary: The American Academy of Sleep Medicine guideline includes brief multicomponent therapies for insomnia in adults at a conditional recommendation grade (Edinger et al., 2021). Canadian patient education material notes that shortened behavioural versions have been delivered in primary care settings (CAMH, 2019).

Limitations: Brief formats are supported by less evidence than full multicomponent CBT-I, and the conditional grade reflects that uncertainty. Where insomnia sits alongside longstanding stress, low mood, or trauma, a short course may not be enough on its own.

What Results to Expect

Progress with sleep is rarely a straight line. Most people describe good stretches interrupted by worse nights, particularly during stressful weeks, illness, or travel. A bad night after a good run is normal and does not undo the work.

Some people find relief from just 2-3 sessions, especially when the difficulty is recent and the changes needed are mainly practical. Others benefit from longer work, particularly where sleep is tangled up with stress, mood, pain, caregiving, or a period of significant change. Canadian patient education describes structured sleep-focused therapy as short-term treatment in general terms (CAMH, 2019), though what applies to research groups does not reliably predict any individual's course.

Several things shape how this goes. How long the difficulty has lasted, and what else is happening in your life. Whether other health factors are involved, and how much room your schedule leaves for change. And the working relationship with your therapist, which matters more than people expect.

No therapy guarantees outcomes, and no clinician here will tell you otherwise. Research suggests these approaches may help, and outcomes vary between individuals. If the approach or the fit is not working, changing therapist or changing direction is always available to you, and saying so is not a setback.

Confidentiality and Privacy

What you say in session stays in session, within limits your therapist will explain clearly before you share anything personal. You are welcome to ask questions about privacy first, and to take as long as you need over that conversation.

Psychologists at Wholesome Psychology are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP) and practise under its Standards of Practice (CAP, 2023). Clinicians are also guided by the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists, published by the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), which sets out the ethical principles underpinning the profession (Canadian Psychological Association [CPA], 2017).

Two pieces of Alberta legislation are relevant to how your information is handled. The Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) governs how private organizations in Alberta, including private clinics offering psychological services, collect, use, disclose, and retain personal information. The Health Information Act (HIA) governs health information held by custodians as defined in that Act, such as Alberta Health Services, hospitals, and certain regulated health professions, and it applies where a clinician works as or for a custodian. Which act applies depends on the setting, and your therapist can tell you which governs your file here (College of Alberta Psychologists [CAP], 2026).

There are a small number of situations where a clinician is legally or ethically required to disclose information without your consent:

• where there is a risk of serious harm to you or to another person
• where there is reasonable suspicion that a child is being abused or neglected, which carries a mandatory duty to report under Alberta law
• where a court orders the release of records

These limits are explained in the first session, before you are asked to share anything you would rather keep private. If you are gathering information on behalf of someone else, note that a clinician cannot confirm whether another adult is a client without that person's consent.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to describe everything about my sleep in detail?

No. You decide how much to say and when. Some people arrive with months of sleep tracking data and want to go through all of it. Others can only manage a rough sketch, and that is a workable starting point.

Sleep-focused counselling can work with your present-day patterns. You are not required to explain when the problem began or to describe painful events behind it. If your sleep difficulty is connected to something hard, you set the pace on whether and when to go there.

Is what I share kept private?

Yes, within limits your therapist will explain in the first session before you share anything personal. Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) governs how private clinics handle your information, and psychologists practise under the standards of the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP). The main exceptions are risk of serious harm to you or someone else, reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect, and a court order. The Confidentiality and Privacy section above covers this in more detail, and you are welcome to ask questions before your first appointment.

How many sessions will I need?

There is no fixed answer, and anyone who offers you a precise number without knowing your situation is guessing. Some people find a short, focused stretch is enough, particularly when the difficulty is recent. Others need longer, especially where sleep sits alongside stress, low mood, pain, or a period of upheaval. Your therapist reviews progress with you regularly, and you can stop, pause, or change direction at any point. You are not signing up for an open-ended commitment by booking once.

What if the therapist is not the right fit?

Fit matters, and it is not always clear from a profile page. If the first session does not feel right, you can say so, either to the therapist or to the admin team at 780-904-4880, and they can help you find someone else. Changing therapist is a normal part of the process, not an awkward failure. Nobody will ask you to justify the decision. New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.

Can I access counselling online?

Yes. Virtual sessions are available across Alberta and are the same length and price as in-person appointments. The same confidentiality standards apply. Some people prefer virtual for sleep work, since it removes the drive at the end of a tiring day and lets you have the conversation from the space where you actually sleep. You can switch between virtual and in-person as suits you, subject to your therapist's location and availability.

Do I need a diagnosis or a referral to book?

No to both. You can book directly without a referral from a physician, and you do not need a diagnosis to be seen for sleep concerns. Counselling sessions are not diagnostic appointments, and your therapist will not be assessing you for a sleep disorder. If a formal psychological assessment is something you are looking for, that is a separate service at this clinic. The admin team can explain the difference before you book.

What if a medical issue might be affecting my sleep?

That is worth raising early. Some sleep difficulties have physical, breathing-related, neurological, or medication-related contributors, and counselling does not replace medical assessment for any of these. If something in what you describe suggests a medical factor, your therapist will say so and suggest you speak with your family physician or nurse practitioner. Therapy can run alongside medical care where that makes sense. It is not an either-or choice, and your therapist will not ask you to stop or change any medication.

Meet Your Clinicians

Wholesome Psychology's team includes Registered Psychologists, Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers, Canadian Certified Counsellors, Mental Health Therapists, and Master's level Student Therapists. Registered Psychologists and Registered Provisional Psychologists are regulated by the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP) and practise under its Standards of Practice. Registered Social Workers are regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW), and Canadian Certified Counsellors (CCCs) are certified by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA). Registered Provisional Psychologists practise under the supervision of a senior registered psychologist. This is a normal stage on the path to full registration.

Clinicians work within their individual scope of practice and training. Several have training in cognitive behavioural therapy and in working with stress, anxiety, and mood difficulties, all of which commonly appear alongside sleep problems. Because sleep-specific training varies between clinicians, it is reasonable to ask directly about a therapist's experience with sleep concerns before or during a first session.

You can read individual profiles on the Our Therapists page, use the Match with a Therapist tool to narrow the list, or call the admin team at 780-904-4880 to talk it through. More about the clinic's approach is on the Our Unique Approach and About Us pages.

Children and Youth

Sleep difficulties are not only an adult experience. Canadian survey data on insomnia symptoms covers people from age 6 upward (Chaput et al., 2018), and disrupted sleep in children and teenagers often shows up first as irritability, difficulty at school, or trouble getting going in the morning rather than as a complaint about sleep itself.

Wholesome Psychology offers counselling for children, adolescents, and young adults. Therapists working with younger clients use age-appropriate approaches, which for sleep concerns often means shorter, more concrete work built around routines and worry at bedtime. Clinicians also work with caregivers. Sleep in a household is rarely one person's issue alone, and changes usually need support from the people a young person lives with.

Related pages include Child and Youth Counselling and Child and Youth Anxiety. If you are a parent unsure whether counselling is the right starting point, the admin team can help you think it through.

Taking a Next Step

If sleep has become something you fight with most nights, counselling is one option among several worth considering. You might also find it useful to read Getting Started with Therapy first, or to look at Stress Management or Anxiety Treatment if those feel closer to what is going on.

When you would like to go ahead:

• Book a session online through the booking system
• Match with a Therapist if you would rather be pointed toward a good fit
• Call 780-904-4880 to speak with the admin team
• Email info@wholesomepsychology.ca with any questions

New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.

Starting the conversation is enough.

References

• Canadian Psychological Association. (2017). Canadian code of ethics for psychologists (4th ed.). https://cpa.ca/
• Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. (2019). Sleep disorders: Treatment. Adapted from D. Zalai, M. R. Goolam Hussain, & C. Shapiro, The adult patient with a sleep disorder, in Psychiatry in primary care. https://www.camh.ca/
• Chaput, J.-P., Yau, J., Rao, D. P., & Morin, C. M. (2018). Prevalence of insomnia for Canadians aged 6 to 79. Health Reports. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 82-003-X.
• College of Alberta Psychologists. (2023). Standards of practice. https://www.cap.ab.ca/
• College of Alberta Psychologists. (2026). Interpretive guide: Privacy legislation in Alberta. https://www.cap.ab.ca/
• Davidson, J. (2020). "Psychology works" fact sheet: Insomnia. Canadian Psychological Association. https://cpa.ca/
• Edinger, J. D., Arnedt, J. T., Bertisch, S. M., Carney, C. E., Harrington, J. J., Lichstein, K. L., Sateia, M. J., Troxel, W. M., Zhou, E. S., Kazmi, U., Heald, J. L., & Martin, J. L. (2021). Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder in adults: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 17(2), 255-262. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.8986
• McGregor, M. (2019, March 4). Sleep and your mental health. Canadian Mental Health Association, Halton Region Branch. https://halton.cmha.ca/5406-2/
• Montgomery, P., & Dennis, J. A. (2003). Cognitive behavioural interventions for sleep problems in adults aged 60+. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (1), CD003161. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD003161
• Public Health Agency of Canada. (2019). Are Canadian adults getting enough sleep? Infographic. Government of Canada. https://www.canada.ca/
• World Health Organization. (n.d.). Insomnia disorders. ICD-11 for mortality and morbidity statistics. Retrieved July 25, 2026, from https://icd.who.int/