For physicians, psychologists, schools & EAPs
Referring a patient or client to Incourage
We’re a counselling practice in Burnaby seeing individuals, couples, and families in person and online across BC. Clients don’t need a referral to see us, but when you’re the one making the suggestion, here’s exactly what happens next, so you can tell them with confidence.
Three ways to refer
Preferred
Have them send an enquiry
Pass on our enquiry form. It takes about two minutes, reaches us directly, and lets us match them to the right clinician before anyone meets.
incouragecounselling.ca/get-startedCall us first
If you’d rather talk it through before referring (fit, scope, capacity, or whether we’re the wrong service for this person), we’d genuinely prefer the call to a referral that doesn’t land well.
604-352-1705Email us
No formal referral form is required. A short note with the presenting concern and the client’s consent to be contacted is enough.
info@incouragecounselling.caPlease don’t send clients straight to our online booking page. New clients are matched to a clinician and complete their intake and consent paperwork before the first conversation, so a direct booking skips the step that makes the first session useful.
What happens after you refer
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We respond within one business day
Every enquiry is read by a person at the practice, not sorted automatically. If someone describes being in crisis, we don’t put them in a queue. We respond to that first and direct them to emergency support.
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We match them to a clinician and book a free consultation
Where more than one of our clinicians could help, we say so and let the client choose. Where we’re not the right service, we say that too, and point them elsewhere.
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Intake and consent paperwork goes out at the moment they book
Our informed consent form and intake questionnaire are completed before the client meets anyone here, consultation included. It’s a practice-wide rule, so nobody’s first session is spent on admin.
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The consultation decides fit, not treatment
Free, no obligation: 30 minutes with our licensed team, 60 with an Institute intern. If it’s a fit, they book a full intake session of 60 to 75 minutes. If it isn’t, we help them look elsewhere rather than keep them.
Who we’re a good referral for
Good fit
- Adults, couples, and families in conflict or transition
- Men who have never been to therapy and are reluctant to start
- Children, teens, and the parents trying to support them
- ADHD and executive function difficulties, in counselling, and through Groundwork, our intern-run accountability and group program
- Anxiety, low mood, self-doubt, and burnout
- Clients needing reduced-fee care through our supervised Institute interns
Please refer elsewhere
- Anyone requiring acute psychiatric or inpatient care
- High-conflict separation or custody disputes, and court-ordered or forensic assessment
- Formal psychoeducational or ADHD diagnostic assessment. We’re not a diagnostic service, and Groundwork is not a diagnostic pathway
- Active substance withdrawal requiring medical management
If you’re unsure which side of that line a case falls on, call. We’ll tell you honestly.
Communication back to you
We can only confirm that someone contacted us, or share anything about their care, with that client’s written consent. That’s a requirement of BC’s Personal Information Protection Act and of our professional standards, and it applies even when you’re the person who referred them.
If you’d like to be kept informed, the simplest route is to ask the client to name you on their consent form at intake. Once that’s in place we’re glad to coordinate directly with your office. Without it, we can’t tell you whether they got in touch. Please don’t read our silence as a referral that went nowhere.
Talk to us before you refer
We’d rather spend ten minutes on the phone than have a client arrive somewhere that was never going to help them.
604-352-1705
info@incouragecounselling.ca
Current availability: [e.g. consultations typically within one week; Institute reduced-fee spaces limited]