Counselling for people living with intense emotions, unstable relationships, and a shaky sense of self, whether or not you have ever been given a diagnosis. Registered Psychologists, Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers, Certified Canadian Counsellors, and Mental Health 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 Certified Canadian Counsellors (CCCs) are certified by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA). In-person at three Edmonton and two St. Albert locations, and virtual across Alberta. 50-minute sessions.

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You Might Be Wondering Whether Borderline Personality Disorder Counselling Is Right for You

You may be wondering whether a therapist will decide you are too much. People who read about borderline personality disorder often run into language that makes them sound difficult, manipulative, or beyond help. If you have absorbed some of that, it is reasonable to hesitate before handing your story to another professional. You may also be unsure whether anything you are dealing with is serious enough to bring to a session, or whether a label you found online has anything to do with you.

Some of what brings people to this page looks like this. Feelings arrive at full volume with no dimmer, and the drop afterward is just as steep. You can feel close to someone in the morning and certain they are about to leave you by the afternoon. Words come out in the heat of a moment that you would take back an hour later. When you are on your own, you are not always sure who you are or what you actually want.

These patterns are common reasons people come to therapy, and they are not proof of a character flaw. They often make sense as ways of coping when emotions run hot and closeness has felt unreliable. Public education material from the Canadian Mental Health Association describes borderline personality disorder as a condition surrounded by unhelpful labels, while noting that no one is only a diagnosis (Canadian Mental Health Association [CMHA], 2014).

You may wish to read on and see what this kind of counselling actually involves before deciding anything.

Who We Help

This service may be a good fit if you are:

• an adult who has been given a borderline personality disorder diagnosis by a qualified professional and wants ongoing therapeutic support
• someone who recognises the patterns described above but has never been assessed and is not seeking a label
• looking for practical skills for managing intense emotions, urges, and conflict
• wanting to understand recurring patterns in close relationships
• a parent, partner, or friend gathering information for someone you care about
• returning to therapy after a previous experience that did not go well

This service may not be the right fit if you are:

• in immediate danger or in acute crisis. Please use the resources below rather than the online booking system.
• seeking a formal psychological assessment or a diagnosis. Psychological assessment is a separate service at this clinic and is not part of counselling. Ask the admin team what is available before booking.
• needing a report for a court, custody, disability, or other legal or forensic process. Those needs sit outside this therapy service.
• looking for psychiatric care, medication management, inpatient treatment, or a structured hospital-based programme. Those services are provided elsewhere.

If You Need Help Right Now

Wholesome Psychology is not an emergency or crisis service. Online booking, email, the Match Tool, and the admin phone line are for appointments and general questions, and they are not monitored for emergencies.

• 911 if you or someone else is in immediate danger, or go to the nearest emergency department.
• 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline: call or text 9-8-8, any time, anywhere in Canada.
• Alberta Mental Health Help Line: 1-877-303-2642, 24 hours a day.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741.

What This Service Is

This is talk therapy with a regulated mental health professional, delivered in 50-minute sessions in person or online. Sessions focus on what you want to work on, which for many people means emotional intensity, urges to act in ways that hurt afterward, conflict and distance in relationships, and questions about identity and direction. Your therapist can explain their own training and approach, and whether that approach fits what you are looking for.

There are things this service is not. It is not a legal or forensic service, and it does not produce reports for courts or tribunals. It is not an investigation into your past or anyone else's conduct. It is not crisis intervention, and it is not a substitute for medical or psychiatric care.

Because this page is about counselling rather than assessment, nothing here should be read as offering a diagnosis. A website cannot tell you whether you meet criteria for borderline personality disorder or anything else. The World Health Organization's ICD-11 classification lists borderline pattern under personality disorders and related traits, coded 6D11.5, but a classification code is not an assessment of any individual (World Health Organization [WHO], 2026). If you want to explore formal assessment, that is a separate conversation with the admin team.

The pace belongs to you. You decide what to raise, how much detail to give, and when. Your therapist will explain confidentiality and its limits before you share anything personal, and there is a fuller explanation further down this page. Every clinician here works within a defined scope of practice and will tell you if something you need sits outside it.

Signs Emotional Instability May Be Affecting You

You do not need a diagnosis to recognise yourself in a list like this. These are experiences people describe when they come in, not diagnostic criteria.

• emotions that spike quickly and take hours or days to settle
• a fear of being left that shows up even when nothing has actually happened
• relationships that swing between very close and very distant
• acting on urges in the moment, then facing the fallout later
• a hollow or empty feeling that food, work, or company does not fill
• anger that arrives faster and larger than the situation seems to warrant
• losing track of who you are when you are not around other people
• thoughts of hurting yourself, or times you have already done so
• exhaustion from managing all of the above while keeping up appearances

Having some of these experiences does not mean something is permanently wrong with you. The Canadian Mental Health Association notes that these patterns vary widely between people and that many find them more manageable over time (CMHA, 2014). Structured, ongoing support is one of the things that can help make them easier to work with.

How Treatment Works Here

• Find your therapist. Use the Match with a Therapist tool, or read individual profiles on the Our Therapists page. If you would rather talk it through, the admin team is at 780-904-4880 and can walk you through options.
• Book your first session. The first appointment covers consent, confidentiality and its limits, and what you would like to get out of therapy. You are not expected to tell your whole history that day.
• Build your plan together. You and your therapist agree on what to focus on first. The plan is co-created, and you can say when something is not working.
• Ongoing sessions. Most people start weekly or every second week. Sessions are 50 minutes, and frequency can be adjusted as things change.
• Progress check-ins. Your therapist reviews progress with you at regular intervals. Goals and approaches are revised when your needs shift.

There is no fixed number of sessions. Some people work on one specific pattern for a short time. Others stay longer, particularly when the work involves long-standing relationship patterns. Your voice matters at every stage, including when you want to change direction.

Evidence and Approaches

Below is what the available research says about approaches used with borderline personality disorder, along with what it does not say. Which of these a particular clinician offers depends on their training and scope, so confirm availability with the admin team before booking.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and DBT-Informed Skills Work

What it helps with: Building skills for riding out intense emotions, tolerating distress, and reducing urges to act in harmful ways.

Evidence summary: A focused systematic review and meta-analysis of 31 randomised trials found statistically significant effects for standalone dialectical behaviour therapy on self-harm and psychosocial functioning, at low overall certainty (Stoffers-Winterling et al., 2022). The same review reported moderate-quality evidence for DBT skills training used alongside ongoing treatment. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health describes DBT as the most researched psychotherapy for this condition (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health [CAMH], 2019).

Limitations: Certainty for standalone DBT was rated low, and the authors called for replication. A comprehensive DBT programme differs from DBT-informed individual work.

Mentalisation-Based Treatment

What it helps with: Making sense of your own reactions and other people's intentions during moments when relationships feel threatening or confusing.

Evidence summary: The same systematic review reported statistically significant effects for mentalisation-based treatment on self-harm and suicide-related outcomes, again at low overall certainty (Stoffers-Winterling et al., 2022). The Canadian Mental Health Association lists mentalisation-based therapy among the newer approaches showing promise for this condition (CMHA, 2014).

Limitations: The evidence base is smaller than for DBT and rests on a limited number of trials. Trial results describe averages across groups and cannot predict how any individual will respond.

Cognitive Behavioural Approaches

What it helps with: Identifying thoughts and behaviour patterns that keep difficult cycles running, and testing different responses.

Evidence summary: Manual-assisted cognitive therapy, used as an addition to ongoing treatment, showed statistically significant effects on self-harm and suicide-related outcomes at low certainty in the review by Stoffers-Winterling et al. (2022). Canadian public education material describes cognitive behavioural therapy for this condition as focusing on unhelpful ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving (CMHA, 2014).

Limitations: Certainty of evidence for these add-on interventions was rated low. Structured manual-based protocols studied in trials are not always delivered the same way in general practice settings.

Supportive and Collaborative Therapy

What it helps with: Steady, practical support for day-to-day functioning, relationships, and coping when structured protocols are not what you want or need right now.

Evidence summary: The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health describes supportive therapy for personality disorders as work that meets a person where they are and helps them understand and manage their own reactivity (CAMH, 2019). Broadly, the systematic review concluded there is reasonable evidence that psychotherapeutic interventions are helpful for people with this diagnosis, while calling for further replication (Stoffers-Winterling et al., 2022).

Limitations: Supportive therapy has been studied less rigorously than the structured protocols above. It is often described as complementary rather than as a replacement for disorder-specific treatment.

What Results to Expect

No therapy guarantees an outcome, and no one here will tell you otherwise. Progress with these patterns is rarely a straight line. Difficult stretches after good ones are normal and do not mean the work has failed.

Some people find relief from just 2-3 sessions, often from finally having words for something that has never had a name. Others need considerably longer, particularly when the focus is long-standing relationship patterns. The research on structured therapies for borderline personality disorder generally involves sustained courses of treatment rather than brief ones, and the Canadian Mental Health Association describes a consistent, longer-term plan as important (CMHA, 2014).

What influences how things go varies. The intensity and history of what you are dealing with matters. So does what is happening in your life right now, including housing, money, safety, and the people around you. Other health conditions play a role. So does the fit between you and your therapist, which is not a minor detail.

If the fit is not right, you can change therapists or approaches. That is a normal part of the process and not a setback. Ask the admin team and they will help you make the switch.

Confidentiality and Privacy

What you say in session is kept confidential. Registered Psychologists and Registered Provisional Psychologists at this clinic are regulated by the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP), which sets the standards of practice they are held to. Psychologists also work under the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists. Registered Social Workers are regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW). Certified Canadian Counsellors (CCCs) are certified by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA).

Two pieces of Alberta legislation are relevant. The Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) governs how private organisations in Alberta, including private psychology clinics, collect, use, and disclose personal information. The Health Information Act (HIA) governs health information held by custodians such as public health bodies, and applies to psychologists working as affiliates of those custodians (College of Alberta Psychologists [CAP], 2026). Which one applies in a given situation depends on the setting and the type of information involved, and your clinician can explain how your records are handled.

Confidentiality has limits set by law. Your therapist may need to disclose information when:

• there is a risk of serious harm to you or to another person
• there is suspected abuse or neglect of a child, which carries a mandatory reporting duty under Alberta law
• a court orders the release of records

Your clinician will go through these limits with you during the first session, before you share anything personal. You are welcome to ask questions about records, storage, and disclosure at any point, including before you book.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to describe what happened in detail?

No. You set the pace and decide what to share. A lot of useful work happens in the present tense, looking at patterns as they show up now rather than reconstructing the past. If your therapist asks something you do not want to answer, saying so is a legitimate response and will not be treated as resistance.

Is what I share kept private?

Yes, within limits set by law. Disclosure may be required if there is a risk of serious harm, if child abuse or neglect is suspected, or if a court orders it. Your clinician explains these limits at the first session. The confidentiality section above sets out the Alberta legislation and regulatory bodies involved.

How many sessions will I need?

There is no fixed number, and anyone who gives you one without knowing you is guessing. Some people come for a short, focused piece of work. Others stay considerably longer, which is common when the focus is long-standing relationship patterns. Progress is reviewed with you regularly so the plan can change as your needs do.

What if the therapist is not the right fit?

Fit matters, and it is reasonable to change your mind after one session or several. Tell the admin team at 780-904-4880 and they will help you find a different clinician. Trying someone else is a normal part of finding the right match, not a failure. New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.

Can I access therapy online?

Yes. Virtual sessions are available across Alberta and follow the same confidentiality standards as in-person appointments. Some people find video easier when leaving the house is hard, and others prefer being in the room. You can also mix the two.

Do I need a diagnosis before I book?

No. You can book without a diagnosis, and many people do. Starting therapy does not itself produce a diagnosis, and a counselling session is not an assessment. If you want to explore formal psychological assessment, that is a separate service and worth raising with the admin team first.

Is DBT available here?

Some clinicians draw on dialectical behaviour therapy, and the clinic has a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy page with more detail. Whether a specific clinician offers DBT-informed work, and whether any group programme is running, should be confirmed with the admin team before you book. A comprehensive DBT programme is not the same as individual therapy informed by DBT skills.

What if I have thoughts of hurting myself?

You can raise this in therapy, and doing so will not automatically trigger a report or a hospital admission. Your therapist will explain when disclosure is required. If you are in immediate danger, or if you have recently seriously harmed yourself, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department rather than waiting for an appointment. For suicide-related crisis support at any hour, call or text 9-8-8. The clinic also has a page on self-harm counselling.

Meet Your Clinicians

The clinic's team includes Registered Psychologists, Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers, Certified Canadian 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). Certified Canadian Counsellors (CCCs) are certified by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA). Registered Provisional Psychologists practise under the supervision of a senior registered psychologist.

Credential type affects fee, scope of practice, and the kind of work a clinician can take on. Many clinicians here have training relevant to emotional regulation, relationship difficulties, self-harm, and trauma. Training specific to borderline personality disorder varies between clinicians, so ask the admin team which practitioners currently take referrals for this concern.

You can read individual profiles on the Our Therapists page, use the Match with a Therapist tool, or call the admin team at 780-904-4880 for help choosing. The Getting Started with Therapy page explains what the process looks like from the first phone call onward.

Children and Youth

The clinic offers counselling for children, adolescents, and young adults. Clinicians working with younger clients use approaches suited to the young person's age and stage, which usually means less talking and more doing than adult therapy.

Personality disorder diagnoses are not typically applied to children, and this page is not suggesting otherwise. What can be worked with at any age are the underlying experiences: big emotions, difficulty with friendships, impulsive behaviour, and self-harm. The Canadian Mental Health Association notes that this condition is more often identified in a person's twenties (CMHA, 2014).

Clinicians also work with caregivers, since the environment around a young person shapes how supported they feel. If you are a parent reading this for your child, the Child and Youth Mental Health page covers this in more detail.

Take the Next Step When You Are Ready

If you would like to begin, you can book a session online or match with a therapist using the matching tool. If you would rather ask questions first, call 780-904-4880 or email info@wholesomepsychology.ca and the admin team can talk you through options, fees, and availability. The Getting Started with Therapy page explains what happens at each stage.

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

Starting the conversation is enough.

References

• Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division. (2014). Learn about borderline personality disorder [Info sheet]. HeretoHelp. https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca
• Canadian Psychological Association. (2017). Canadian code of ethics for psychologists (4th ed.). https://cpa.ca
• Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. (2019). Personality disorders: Psychotherapy. Text adapted from Rosenbluth, M., Boyle, M., & Schiffman, L., The adult patient with a personality disorder, in Psychiatry in primary care. https://www.camh.ca
• College of Alberta Psychologists. (2023). Standards of practice (May 31, 2023). https://www.cap.ab.ca
• College of Alberta Psychologists. (2026). Interpretive guide: Privacy legislation in Alberta (Approved November 24, 2023; revised January 23, 2026). https://www.cap.ab.ca
• Stoffers-Winterling, J. M., Storebø, O. J., Kongerslev, M. T., Faltinsen, E., Todorovac, A., Jørgensen, M. S., Sales, C. P., Callesen, H. E., Pereira Ribeiro, J., Völlm, B. A., Lieb, K., & Simonsen, E. (2022). Psychotherapies for borderline personality disorder: A focused systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 221(3), 538-552. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2021.204
• World Health Organization. (2026). ICD-11 for mortality and morbidity statistics (Version 2026-01), 6D11.5 Borderline pattern. https://icd.who.int/browse11
• 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline. (n.d.). Get help. Retrieved September 6, 2026, from https://988.ca