A collaborative space to talk through childhood concerns, family relationships, and the things from earlier years that still sit with you. Delivered by Registered Psychologists, Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers, Canadian Certified Counsellors, Mental Health Therapists, and supervised student therapists. Psychologists are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP) and practise 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). Canadian Certified Counsellors (CCCs) are regulated by the Canadian Counselling and Psychological Association (CCPA). In-person appointments in Edmonton and St. Albert, and virtual appointments across Alberta.

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You Might Be Wondering Whether Childhood Issues Counselling Is Right for You

You may be questioning whether what happened in your childhood really counts. Maybe nobody hit you. Maybe your parents did their best, and you can name several ways they showed up for you, which somehow makes it harder to explain why certain things still bother you. That doubt is often the reason people wait years before booking anything.

Or you may be a parent reading this because something has shifted in your child and you cannot tell whether it is a phase. You keep going back and forth on whether calling a clinic is an overreaction.

People who come to this service often describe patterns like these:

• Reacting more strongly than a situation seems to call for, then feeling embarrassed about it afterward
• Finding it hard to relax around family, even during visits that go well
• Watching your child struggle with something you recognize from your own childhood, and not knowing how to respond differently
• Feeling a low-level guilt that does not attach to anything specific

These are common responses to what a person has lived through. They reflect ways of coping that made sense at the time, not a defect in character or parenting. They do not mean something is permanently wrong with you or your family.

You may wish to read on and see what this kind of counselling actually involves before deciding whether it fits your situation.

Who We Help

This service may be a good fit if you are:

• An adult who wants to look at how earlier family experiences connect with present-day relationships, emotions, or expectations
• A young person who wants somewhere to talk about home, school, friendships, or things that feel hard to say out loud
• A parent or caregiver with questions about family communication, boundaries, or how to support a child through change
• Someone gathering information for a family member and trying to work out what to suggest
• Uncertain about whether your experience is significant enough to bring to counselling

This service may not be the right fit in these situations:

• You need help right now. If there is an immediate safety concern, please use the crisis resources below rather than waiting for an appointment.
• You need a psychological assessment or a formal report. Assessments are a separate service at Wholesome Psychology and are not part of childhood issues counselling. The administrative team can point you to the right pathway.
• You need documentation for a court process, custody matter, or other legal proceeding. Counselling is not a legal, forensic, or investigative service.
• You are looking for a program for someone who has caused harm. Ask the administrative team about an appropriate referral.

If You Need Help Right Now

Wholesome Psychology is not an emergency or crisis service. Appointments are scheduled in advance, and no one monitors messages overnight. If you or someone else is at risk, please use one of these:

• 911 or your nearest emergency department, for immediate danger
• Alberta Mental Health Help Line: 1-877-303-2642, 24 hours a day
• Family Violence Info Line (Alberta): 310-1818, 24 hours a day, toll-free
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741

Wholesome Psychology is not an emergency or crisis-response service.

What This Service Is

"Childhood issues" is a broad, everyday phrase rather than a diagnosis. It covers current concerns affecting a child or teenager, questions a caregiver has about family life, and experiences from childhood that an adult wants to make sense of years later. Counselling here means regular conversations with a therapist about what matters to you and what you would like to be different.

Counselling is approached collaboratively. You and your therapist discuss what feels most relevant, ask questions of each other, and identify goals together. The pace is set by you, not by the therapist. You decide what to talk about and what to leave for another day.

Some things this service is not:

• It is not a psychological assessment, and it does not produce a diagnosis or a formal report. Assessments are a separate service.
• It is not a legal service, an investigation, or a crisis intervention.
• It is not medical care, and therapists at this clinic do not prescribe medication.
• It is not individualized advice delivered through this page. Anything written here is general information.

Conversations in counselling are private, and your therapist will explain how your information is handled along with the limits that apply by law. That is covered in more detail further down this page.

Signs Childhood Issues May Be Affecting You

There is no checklist that decides whether counselling is worthwhile. Still, some readers find it useful to see experiences named plainly. People who come to this service often mention some of the following:

• Feeling on edge in ordinary family situations without a clear reason
• Difficulty trusting that people will stay, even when they have given you no reason to doubt them
• Going quiet or shutting down during disagreements instead of saying what you think
• Holding yourself to standards you would never apply to anyone else
• Trouble sleeping, headaches, or a tight stomach that shows up around certain people or dates
• Replaying old conversations long after they are over
• A child or teenager withdrawing from things they used to enjoy, or having a harder time at school than usual
• Big feelings arriving faster than usual and taking longer to settle
• Repeating a pattern in your own parenting that you promised yourself you would not repeat

Experiences like these are common reactions to difficult or confusing circumstances. They are not permanent features of who you are, and noticing them does not mean you have a condition. Structured conversations with a therapist can be a way to look at these patterns with more context and less self-blame.

How Counselling Works Here

• Find your therapist. Use the Match with a Therapist tool, or read through Our Therapists to see who works with the concerns you have in mind. If that feels like too much to sort through, call the administrative team at 780-904-4880 and they will help you narrow it down.
• Book your first session. Your first appointment covers consent, how your privacy is handled and where its limits sit, any practical questions you have, and what you are hoping to address. You do not need a prepared story. Arriving with "I am not sure where to start" is a normal way to begin.
• Build your plan together. You and your therapist decide what to focus on and in what order. If caregiver involvement is relevant, the shape of that is discussed openly rather than assumed.
• Ongoing sessions. Sessions run 50 minutes, typically weekly or every second week, and the spacing is adjusted as things change.
• Progress check-ins. Your therapist reviews with you how things are going and whether the focus still fits. Plans change when your needs change.

There is no fixed number of sessions. Some people come for a short stretch and stop, others return later, and some continue for longer. Your voice matters at every stage of this, including the decision to pause.

Evidence and Approaches

Wholesome Psychology publishes what the evidence record for a service actually supports. For this page, the assembled evidence pack did not include extractable research on specific therapy modalities for childhood issues counselling. Rather than name approaches this page cannot support with a citation, the section below sets out how approaches are chosen and what Canadian context is available.

How Approaches Are Chosen in This Service

What it helps with: Matching the way sessions are structured to your age, goals, consent, and what you actually want to work on.

Evidence summary: No modality-specific research was available in the evidence record assembled for this page, so no claims are made here about the effectiveness of any named therapy approach. What can be described comes from clinic service information: counselling is collaborative and client-centred, goals are identified together, and the plan is built with you rather than handed to you.

Limitations: Because modality evidence was not verified for this service, your therapist is the right person to ask which approach they use and why. Different therapists at the clinic work differently.

Coordinated Support for Young People

What it helps with: Understanding why families are often pointed toward services that are easier to reach and better connected to each other.

Evidence summary: Federal public health material on integrated youth services reflects a broader emphasis in Canada on coordinated and accessible support for young people (Public Health Agency of Canada [PHAC], 2024). This supports the general principle of joined-up care. It does not speak to any particular therapy or to outcomes at this clinic.

Limitations: This source provides policy framing only. It is not treatment evidence and should not be read as a statement about what counselling achieves.

Healthcare Access for Children and Youth in Canada

What it helps with: Placing the difficulty of finding help for a child in a wider Canadian picture rather than a personal failing.

Evidence summary: Statistics Canada reports on healthcare access among children and youth aged 1 to 17, drawing on the 2023 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth (Statistics Canada, 2025). Access for this age group is a recognized area of national measurement. No figures from this source are cited here, because usable statistics were not available in the material supplied for this page.

Limitations: Without extractable data, this source supports only the general point that access is studied and discussed nationally.

What Results to Expect

Progress in counselling is rarely a straight line. People often report a stretch of feeling better, then a harder few weeks, then another shift. That pattern is ordinary and does not mean the work is failing.

Some people find relief from just 2-3 sessions, particularly when there is one specific thing they wanted to talk through. Others find that a longer stretch of work suits their situation better. Outcomes vary between people, and no therapy can guarantee a result.

Several things influence how counselling goes:

• What you are bringing, and how long it has been part of your life
• What is happening around you right now, including stability at home, work, or school
• How well you and your therapist work together
• How much room you have in your life for the work between sessions

Fit matters more than most people expect. If the working relationship does not feel right, changing therapist or changing approach is always an option, and asking for that is a reasonable thing to do rather than a setback.

Confidentiality and Privacy

What you share in counselling is kept confidential. Psychologists at Wholesome Psychology are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP) and work under the CAP Standards of Practice and the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists.

Handling of your information is governed by Alberta privacy legislation, including the Health Information Act (HIA) and the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). CAP guidance for Alberta psychologists is linked directly to both of these Acts (CAP, 2026).

Confidentiality is not absolute. Information may be disclosed without your consent in a limited set of circumstances (CAP, 2018):

• Where there is a likelihood of imminent and grave harm to you or to another person
• Where a psychologist is required to report suspected abuse or neglect of a child under Alberta law, including the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act
• Where disclosure is required by a court order, subpoena, or other legal requirement

When these situations arise, disclosure is limited to what the circumstances require. Your therapist will walk through all of this with you in the first session, in plain language, before you share anything personal.

For counselling involving a child or teenager, privacy works a little differently. What is shared with caregivers, and what stays between the young person and the therapist, depends on age, consent, the goals of counselling, and applicable legal and professional requirements. This is discussed with everyone involved at the start rather than decided quietly along the way. You are welcome to ask questions about any of it before you begin.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to describe what happened in detail?

No. You control what you talk about and when. Some people never give a full account of their childhood and still find counselling useful, because a lot of the work can happen in the present tense, looking at how patterns show up now rather than reconstructing the past. If your therapist asks something you would rather not answer, saying so is a complete answer.

Is what I share kept private?

Yes, with limits set by law. Your information is handled under Alberta's Health Information Act (HIA) and Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). Psychologists follow CAP Standards of Practice and the CPA Code of Ethics. Registered Social Workers are regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW). Canadian Certified Counsellors (CCCs) are regulated by the Canadian Counselling and Psychological Association (CCPA). Disclosure without your consent is limited to situations such as risk of imminent and grave harm, suspected abuse or neglect of a child, and court orders. See the confidentiality section above for the full explanation, and ask your therapist anything that is still unclear before you share personal information.

How many sessions will I need?

There is no fixed answer. Some people come for a short series of sessions focused on one specific thing, others prefer longer-term work, and some do a stretch, take a break, and come back. Your therapist reviews progress with you regularly so the plan can change as your needs do.

What if the therapist is not the right fit?

Fit is a practical matter, not a judgment about you or the therapist. If it is not working, tell the administrative team at 780-904-4880 and they will help you find a different clinician, or use the Match with a Therapist tool to look at other options. New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.

Can I access counselling online?

Yes. Virtual appointments are available across Alberta, subject to availability. The same confidentiality standards and Alberta privacy legislation apply to virtual sessions as to in-person ones. Some families prefer virtual for scheduling reasons, and some young people find it easier to talk from their own space.

Is this service only for children?

No. It may be relevant for children, teenagers, caregivers, or adults who want to talk about current concerns or the continuing meaning of earlier experiences. Which format makes sense depends on goals, consent, age where relevant, and the clinician's scope of practice.

Can a parent or caregiver be involved?

Sometimes, and it depends on the situation. Caregiver involvement might mean joining part of a session, having separate parent consultations, or staying largely in the background while the young person works with the therapist directly. Your therapist will discuss the possible arrangements, including what will and will not be shared, at the beginning rather than partway through.

Does this service include a psychological assessment?

No. Childhood issues counselling does not include assessment, diagnosis, or a formal written report. Psychological assessments are a separate service with a different process and fee structure. If you are unsure which one you need, the administrative team can talk it through with you.

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. All psychologists are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists. Registered Social Workers are regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW). Canadian Certified Counsellors (CCCs) are regulated by the Canadian Counselling and Psychological Association (CCPA). Registered Provisional Psychologists practise under the supervision of a senior registered psychologist.

Credential type affects fee and scope of practice, not how seriously your concerns are taken. Many clinicians at the clinic work with childhood and family concerns, work with children and youth, and support caregivers, though specific training and current availability vary between clinicians.

You can read individual profiles on the Our Therapists page, use the Match with a Therapist tool, or call the administrative team at 780-904-4880 if you would rather talk it through with a person. Availability and service fit are confirmed during booking.

Children and Youth

Wholesome Psychology offers counselling for children, adolescents, and young adults. Therapists working with younger clients use approaches suited to the young person's age and stage, which for a younger child usually means less sitting and talking and more working alongside them in a way that fits how they communicate.

Clinicians also work with caregivers, because a young person's day-to-day environment matters to how counselling goes. That might involve parent consultations, conversations about routines and communication at home, or coaching on how to respond when something difficult comes up between sessions.

Related pages you may find useful include Child and Youth Counselling, Parenting Support, and Preparing Children for Therapy.

Taking a Next Step

If you would like to explore childhood issues counselling in Edmonton, St. Albert, or virtually across Alberta, here are the ways in:

• Book a session online
• Match with a therapist
• Call 780-904-4880 to talk with the administrative team
• Email info@wholesomepsychology.ca
• Read Getting Started with Therapy to see how the process works

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

Starting the conversation is enough.

References

• College of Alberta Psychologists. (2018). Practice guideline: Disclosure of personal or confidential information.
• College of Alberta Psychologists. (2023). Standards of practice.
• College of Alberta Psychologists. (2026). Interpretive guide: Privacy legislation in Alberta (Approved November 24, 2023; revised January 23, 2026).
• Canadian Psychological Association. (2017). Canadian code of ethics for psychologists (4th ed.).
• Public Health Agency of Canada. (2024). Youth mental health: Integrated youth services. Government of Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/topics/mental-health-wellness/about-youth-mental-health-fund/integrated-youth-services.html
• Statistics Canada. (2025). Healthcare access among children and youth aged 1 to 17 in Canada: Results from the 2023 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth, cross-sectional component. The Daily. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/250310/dq250310a-eng.htm