Adult Services

Comprehensive Assessment Services

*** Currently, we are not accepting referrals for psychoeducational assessments of learning and attention for adults.  We hope to re-open the waitlist in May 2025 for consideration of assessments in 2026 or later. 

Our most common referral question for comprehensive, stand-alone assessments is to better understand the individual's style of learning. There may be diagnostic questions determining the presence or absence of a neurodevelopmental disorder, such as ADHD or a Specific Learning Disability. Please note that we are unable to provide diagnostic assessments for Autism Spectrum Disorder.

We take a hypothesis-testing approach to assessment to answer a particular referral question. The assessment typically takes place over several testing sessions, and includes standardized measures of intelligence, academic achievement, memory, executive function, and other areas as appropriate. We provide feedback and recommendations to the client, in addition to a formal written report.

We have a very limited capacity to conduct these types of psychological or psychoeducational assessments, and it can be difficult to predict wait times for service. 

Treatment Services for Adults 

The CMHRT provides psychotherapy to address the following types of concerns:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression and Mood
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
  • Adjustment difficulties
  • Interpersonal and Relationship difficulties

Approaches to therapy are selected to match the presenting issue and to reflect best practices. The CMHRT specializes in cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). Other approaches to therapy may be available and may include emotion focused therapy, compassion focused therapy, mindfulness, and others.

adult assessment

Common reasons for referrals

People most often contact the Centre for Mental Health Research and Treatment (CMHRT) because they are experiencing frequent and overwhelming anxiety or panic (e.g., excessive anxiety in social situations, chronic worry, frequent unexpected panic attacks), unwanted and repetitive thoughts, the need to repeat certain actions (e.g., hand washing, checking) over and over, difficulties with low mood or low motivation, trouble with attention and concentration, low self-esteem, anger management issues, trouble adjusting to a new situation (e.g., university life, death of a loved one), or difficulties with interpersonal relationships.

Intake process for adults 

Please note that we must speak the person who will be requiring services directly; spouse/partner, parents, etc. cannot make a referral on behalf of someone else.

Due to the nature of our centre we are unable to provide services for all presenting issues. Please see Exclusionary Criteria for details.

adult CBT

When you contact us seeking services this is the sequence of events:

  • The Centre Coordinator will take the information necessary to enter you into our database and will pass that information onto our Centre Assistants.
  • Within a week a Centre Assistant will contact you to ask more detailed questions about the problem for which you are seeking help to determine if our services seem appropriate for your needs.
  • If we think we can help, your name will be put on the Centre wait list. If not, we will provide you with the names and contact details of other services.
  • Once a Centre clinician becomes available he/she will contact you to schedule a diagnostic assessment.
  • Treatment can usually start the following week, unless after the assessment we think you would be better served by another mental health care provider.

A formal assessment report will be prepared which we can forward to other professionals involved in your care, with your written consent.

How long is the wait

The wait time varies depending on the time of year, the type of problem for which you are seeking services in relation to the expertise of the clinicians and supervisors currently able to take cases, and other factors. We invite you to check in with us regularly about your status on the wait list and we also encourage you to investigate other services as well. Please know that providing timely services is an utmost priority for us and we are actively pursuing every means we can to reduce wait times.