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The free consultation is a 15-minute phone or video call where you tell me what's brought you to therapy and I tell you a bit about how I work. There's no intake form, no clinical assessment, and no expectation that you'll have everything figured out before we speak. You might share what's been weighing on you lately, what made you decide to look for a therapist at this particular moment, or what you're hoping to feel differently about. I'll ask a few questions to understand your situation and you can ask me anything about my approach, my background, or what sessions actually look like in practice. At the end of 15 minutes, we'll both have a clearer sense of whether working together makes sense. I'm a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), Licence #19673, with an MA in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University. I grew up in Bangladesh and spent more than 30 years in South Asia before immigrating to Canada. If any of that is relevant to what you're looking for, we can talk about it directly on the call.

There's no pressure at all, and I mean that practically rather than just as reassurance. The consultation exists so you can make an informed decision, not so I can convince you of anything. If by the end of the call you'd like to book a first session, I'll tell you what that involves and how to get it scheduled. If you'd like time to think, that's completely fine. If you decide I'm not the right fit, that's useful information too. Therapy only works when the relationship feels genuine, and a 15-minute call is the simplest way to start finding out whether that's the case here. I'd rather you find a therapist you feel comfortable being honest with than book sessions with someone you're uncertain about. No follow-up pressure, no reminder emails designed to create urgency.

The consultation is 15 minutes. That's intentional. It's long enough to get a real sense of each other and short enough that you don't have to prepare a speech or explain your entire history before we've even started. I've found that within 15 minutes, most people have a gut sense of whether they want to continue talking to me. You'll notice whether I understood what you said without you having to over-explain it, whether my questions felt relevant to your actual situation, and whether the conversation felt like one you could continue in a paid session. If you have several questions or a particularly complex situation, we can use the 15 minutes entirely for that. There's no set structure I'll impose. The time is yours to use as you need, and I'll be straightforward with you about what I can and can't offer within it.

I offer both, and you choose whichever suits you. Many people prefer phone for a first call because it's lower stakes. There's no screen to think about, no camera to position, no concern about your background or lighting. The conversation itself is exactly the same either way. Video can be useful if you want to get a clearer sense of who you'd be sitting across from in sessions, particularly if you're considering in-person work at my Whitby office at 519 Dundas Street East. I offer virtual sessions by both phone and video to anyone in Ontario, and in-person sessions in Whitby. If you're in Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering, Scarborough, or elsewhere in Durham Region, virtual may be the more practical format. We can sort out which approach works best for you on or before the call.

You don't need to prepare anything. If it helps to jot down a few thoughts beforehand, go ahead, but it's genuinely not required. Most people start by describing what's been going on lately, what made them decide to look for a therapist at this particular moment, or what they're hoping to feel differently about. There's no wrong way to begin. I'll ask a few questions to understand your situation better, and you can ask me anything you're curious about. Some people come to the call knowing exactly what they want to work on. Others arrive with a general sense that something isn't right but can't yet name it. Both are fine starting points. I grew up in a context where talking about mental and emotional difficulty to a stranger wasn't common or culturally straightforward. I understand if that's part of what makes this call feel strange. You don't need to have the vocabulary sorted before we speak.

Yes, and I'd encourage it. My fee is $150 per hour for individual and couples sessions. I offer a sliding scale at $135 per hour for those who need it. I don't bill insurance directly, but I provide receipts after each session that you can submit to your own provider. Payment can be made by cash, cheque, Visa, Mastercard, or PayPal. For availability, I'm generally open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 3 to 9pm, and Wednesday from 12 to 5pm. If those hours don't work for your schedule, it's worth raising on the call so we can figure out whether there's a workable option. Getting the practical details sorted during the consultation means your first paid session can be entirely about you and the work, rather than logistics and uncertainty about what things cost.

That's a completely valid outcome of the consultation, and I won't take it personally. Fit matters in therapy in a way it doesn't in most other professional relationships. Research consistently shows that the quality of the therapeutic relationship is one of the strongest predictors of whether therapy produces real change. If you feel during or after our call that something's off, trust that instinct. I'm happy to suggest what to look for in another therapist if that would be helpful. If you're working through something specific to South Asian identity, immigration, Bangladeshi or Bengali cultural context, or single parenting after a major life transition, I can at least point you toward the kinds of background and training that tend to be most relevant. Finding a therapist who understands your world is worth the extra time it takes.