There's no price list in the discharge folder. There's a car seat check, a follow-up date, a pamphlet or two, and somewhere in the blur somebody saying that if things get hard you should talk to someone.
Then you go looking, at some unreasonable hour, and discover that talking to someone has a fee attached and nobody will tell you what it is until you phone. So here is the postpartum therapy cost in Ontario, written out properly: what we charge, how benefits plans handle it, how to work out what you'd actually pay, and what private counselling gives you. No ranges wide enough to be useless, and no figure on this page that we haven't checked.
The short answer on postpartum therapy cost in Ontario
Private counselling is typically paid for in one of two ways: through a workplace benefits plan, or out of your own pocket. For many families the real cost lands well below the fee on the page, which is why it's worth doing the arithmetic once before assuming it's out of reach.
With us, there's no referral. You fill in an intake form, which is the only paperwork, and you're matched with a therapist. Sessions with our therapists are $130 to $200, and couples and family sessions are $170 to $200.
Not sure what starting would involve? A free 15-minute consultation is a place to ask before you commit to anything.
What postpartum counselling costs with us
Here is our published fee schedule. These are our own rates, and they're the same at every office and online.
One-to-one session with one of our therapists: $130 to $200
Couples or family session, with your partner in the room: $170 to $200
Why is there a range rather than a price? Because you're booking a person, not a product. Within the same title, fees can differ between therapists. When you phone, ask what the fee is for the specific therapist you would be seeing, not what the practice charges in general.
Is postpartum therapy covered by insurance?
If you have a workplace extended health plan, it may cover some or all of it, depending on the plan. The catch is that plans reimburse professional titles rather than conditions, so nothing in your booklet will mention birth, babies or the months after either. What it will name is a profession, with a dollar ceiling beside it. Many extended health plans cover counselling, and in many cases we can bill your insurance directly, depending on your plan and your therapist. Depending on your plan, your insurance may cover the full session fee.
Check three things before you book: which titles your plan names, what the annual maximum is per person, and when the benefit year resets. Two extras stretch a thin plan. Coordination of benefits means a partner's plan can pick up the remainder once yours has paid, which is ordinary and badly underused. And a health spending account, if your employer funds one, is separate money with its own rules.
One more thing, easy to miss while on leave. Some benefits continue during a parental leave and some are reduced or suspended depending on the employer and the arrangement. Confirm your own status with your plan administrator rather than assuming either way, and do it before the first session rather than after the first claim comes back unpaid.
Doing the arithmetic
The arithmetic is worth doing once, on paper, while someone else holds the baby. Take the session fee, multiply it by the number of weeks you think you'd attend, then subtract whatever your plan will release this benefit year and whatever a partner's plan would add on top. Most people find the remaining number is smaller than the one they'd been dreading, and a few find it's zero. Either way you now have a figure instead of a worry, and a figure is something you can make a decision about.
Timing matters in the first year. A benefit year that resets in the spring means the sessions you use in February come out of a different pot than the ones in May, which occasionally makes it worth starting a few weeks earlier or later than you planned. Childcare is a real cost too, and it's the reason a large number of new parents do their first stretch of sessions online with the baby asleep in the next room.
Partners are covered by the same plan and the same logic. New fathers and non-birthing partners can and do experience the same thing, and the couples rate above exists because sometimes the useful appointment has both of you in it. It's also, quietly, the cheapest way for two people to get help at once.
What private counselling gives you
Private counselling means you choose the pace, and it runs for as long as it's useful. It isn't a fixed number of sessions on a fixed script. A first session is mostly a conversation about how the days are going, how long it's been like this, what your sleep and support look like, and what you'd like to be different. You don't have to arrive with the right words.
Our prenatal and postpartum therapy page explains how we work with new parents, and our depression counselling page covers the counselling itself. If worry started in pregnancy and never switched off, our article on anxiety during pregnancy describes that pattern.
At our practice, psychologists and Nurse Practitioners can assess and diagnose, and our Registered Psychotherapists and Registered Social Workers provide therapy. Our Nurse Practitioners, who see clients in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, can assess, diagnose and prescribe medication when it's needed. If you're already taking medication and something doesn't feel right, raise it with your prescriber or ask about our Nurse Practitioners, and don't stop anything on your own.
If the hardest nights are the problem
If the hardest nights have included thoughts of ending your life, or of harming yourself or the baby, please don't wait for an appointment. Thoughts like those are more common after birth than anyone tells new parents, and they're treatable, but they need somebody today. Our practice can't offer crisis support. Call or text 9-8-8 any time. In Waterloo Region, call Here 24/7 at 1-844-437-3247. If you're in immediate danger, call 911.
What to ask before you book
Bring this list to any practice, including ours.
What is the full fee for each session?
Which professional title will appear on my receipt?
Will you submit the claim to my insurer directly?
Has this therapist worked with new parents specifically?
Can I switch to online in a week when getting out is impossible?
What happens to my appointment if I have to cancel at short notice?
The cancellation question isn't a small one in the first year. Ask it before you need the answer.
Taking the first step
We've been part of Kitchener-Waterloo since 2016, and we see people in person in Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge and Ottawa, or online anywhere in Ontario, including from a room the baby is already asleep in. If the first year has been harder than anyone warned you it would be, a free 15-minute consultation is a way to say so out loud to somebody, free of charge and free of obligation.
