How much does therapy cost at Heart & Mind Therapy in Waterloo?

At Heart & Mind Therapy, session fees vary depending on the clinician and service type. Most sessions are covered in full or in part by extended health benefits — many extended health plans in Ontario cover services from Registered Psychotherapists (RP/RPQ) and Registered Social Workers (RSW). University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier, University of Guelph, and Conestoga students may access up to 80% coverage through their student health plans. We recommend contacting your insurance provider to confirm your specific coverage. To discuss fees directly, please reach out at info@heartnmind.ca or call (226) 918-9077.

Do I need a referral to see a therapist in Waterloo?

No referral is required to book a session at Heart & Mind Therapy. You can contact us directly to schedule a free 20-minute consultation call. Some extended health insurance plans may require a physician's referral for reimbursement purposes, so we recommend checking your plan details before your first appointment. Our team is happy to help you navigate the process.

Does Heart & Mind Therapy offer online therapy in Ontario?

Yes. Heart & Mind Therapy offers secure virtual therapy sessions to clients anywhere in Ontario. Our registered clinicians are licensed to provide telehealth services across the province, which means you can access care from Guelph, Cambridge, Kitchener, or anywhere else in Ontario without needing to travel to our Waterloo office. In-person sessions are also available at our location at 16 John Street W., Unit F, Waterloo.

What types of therapy does Heart & Mind Therapy offer?

Heart & Mind Therapy offers a broad range of evidence-based therapeutic modalities delivered by our team of Registered Psychotherapists and Registered Social Workers. These include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Somatic Therapy, Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), Motivational Interviewing, and Compassionate Inquiry. We provide individual counselling, couples therapy, student counselling, teen and youth therapy, faith-based Christian counselling, multicultural and multilingual therapy, addiction counselling, grief and loss therapy, and executive and high-performer therapy.

How do I get started with a therapist at Heart & Mind Therapy?

Getting started at Heart & Mind Therapy is straightforward. First, book a free 20-minute consultation call through our website or Jane App booking system. This conversation helps us understand your goals and match you with the right clinician. Alternatively, you can use our 60-second Therapist Match Quiz to be paired with a specialist. Once matched, you schedule your first full session either in person at our Waterloo office or virtually via secure video. There is no pressure to commit beyond the initial call.

Is therapy at Heart & Mind Therapy covered by student health insurance?

Yes. Students at the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Guelph, and Conestoga College can typically access up to 80% coverage for psychotherapy services through their student health benefit plans. Coverage applies to sessions with our Registered Psychotherapists and Registered Social Workers. We recommend confirming your annual benefit maximum and any per-session limits directly with your student plan provider before booking. Our team can help answer questions about the claims process.

What is Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy?

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a trauma-informed model of psychotherapy developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz. It proposes that the mind is naturally made up of multiple sub-personalities or 'parts,' each with its own perspective, feelings, and role. Some parts protect us by managing our emotions or keeping us busy; others carry wounds from past experiences. IFS therapy helps you connect with these parts with curiosity and compassion rather than judgment, facilitating healing from within through what the model calls Self-leadership — a calm, grounded core from which healing becomes possible.

What issues is IFS therapy good for?

IFS is particularly effective for trauma and PTSD, complex childhood experiences, self-criticism and shame, perfectionism, anxiety, depression, eating concerns, addictive patterns, and relationship difficulties rooted in attachment wounds. Because it approaches all parts of the person with compassion rather than trying to eliminate or suppress difficult emotions, IFS often reaches places that more cognitive approaches cannot. It is used by our clinicians Anna Barth, Emilie Chase, and Lydia Forge as part of integrated treatment plans.

Is IFS therapy available online in Ontario?

Yes. IFS therapy is available via secure virtual sessions to clients anywhere in Ontario. The relational and internally-focused nature of IFS translates well to virtual delivery, and many clients find the comfort of their own space helpful during deeper parts work. Evening and Saturday appointments are available.

Nesting dolls representing different parts of the self in Internal Family Systems therapy

Internal Family Systems Therapy in Waterloo

When Different Parts of You Want Different Things.

Part of you wants to move forward. Another part worries about what could go wrong. Another gets frustrated that you are still struggling with something you thought you should have figured out by now.

Internal Family Systems, or IFS, offers a way to become curious about these different internal responses instead of fighting with them. Therapy can help you understand what a reaction may be trying to protect and find ways of responding with more perspective and choice.

Book My Free 20-Min Consultation Find My Therapist

Individual psychotherapy for ages 16+. In-person at our Waterloo office at 16 John Street W., Unit F, and virtually across Ontario.

A different question

Instead of “Why am I like this?” what if you asked, “What is this reaction trying to do for me?”

IFS approaches difficult reactions with curiosity. Even a response you want to change may have developed for a reason.

When You Feel Pulled in Different Directions

You can want something and still have another part of you resist it.

You may want a closer relationship and still pull away when someone gets too close. You may want to rest and hear an internal voice telling you that you should be doing more.

You may know that a habit is creating problems while another part of you still reaches for it when stress becomes difficult to manage.

IFS offers one way of understanding these contradictions. Instead of assuming one side of you is irrational or defective, therapy can explore what each response is worried about, what it is trying to prevent and what it may need from you now.

The goal is not to get rid of parts of yourself. It is to understand your internal reactions well enough that they do not have to take over every time something feels threatening, painful or uncertain.

Patterns IFS May Explore

A difficult reaction may make more sense once you understand what it is protecting.

IFS may be useful when different thoughts, emotions or coping responses seem to compete with one another or take over in familiar situations.

Your inner critic gets loud when you make a mistake.

Instead of only challenging the criticism, you may become curious about what that critical voice believes would happen if it stopped pushing you so hard.

One part of you wants closeness and another pulls away.

Relationship patterns can involve competing needs for connection, independence, reassurance, protection or control.

You keep trying to be the person who holds everything together.

A responsible, productive or people-pleasing part may work very hard to prevent disappointment, conflict, rejection or loss of control.

You shut down when emotions become too much.

Numbing, withdrawing, distracting or disconnecting can sometimes function as protection when vulnerability feels difficult to tolerate.

An old hurt gets activated by something happening now.

A present-day interaction may bring up fear, shame, sadness or anger that feels larger than the situation itself.

You understand the pattern but still judge yourself for having it.

IFS can help shift the conversation from self-criticism toward curiosity about how a coping strategy developed and whether it still needs to work so hard.

Person looking at a map representing understanding internal patterns

What We Might Actually Do in Session

IFS helps you get curious about a reaction before trying to change it.

You do not need to arrive knowing the names of your “parts.” Your therapist may begin with something that actually happened and help you notice the different reactions that appeared.

Notice

Identify What Showed Up

Slow down a recent situation and notice the thoughts, emotions, impulses or body reactions that appeared when something felt difficult.

Separate

Create a Little Space Around the Reaction

Instead of “I am a failure,” you might notice that a part of you is afraid of failing. That small shift can make the experience easier to observe without pretending it is not there.

Understand

Ask What the Part Is Protecting

A critical, anxious, avoidant or controlling response may be trying to prevent something it expects would be even more painful.

Curiosity

Listen Without Automatically Agreeing

Understanding a protective response does not mean every belief or behaviour is helpful. It means learning enough about it to respond more intentionally.

Compassion

Change the Tone of the Inner Conversation

Therapy may help you relate to vulnerable, frightened or critical reactions with less shame and more perspective.

Choice

Practise Responding From a Calmer Place

As you understand the pattern, you can explore whether there is a way to respond that respects the concern without letting the protective reaction make every decision.

The Language of Parts

Different parts may try to protect you in different ways.

IFS uses the word “parts” as a way of talking about different internal reactions and roles. You do not need to take the language literally for it to be useful in therapy.

The Part That Plans Ahead

It may organize, prepare, anticipate problems or work hard to prevent anything from going wrong.

The Part That Criticizes

It may believe being hard on you will prevent mistakes, rejection, embarrassment or disappointment.

The Part That Avoids

It may procrastinate, withdraw or stay away from situations that feel emotionally risky or overwhelming.

The Part That Wants Relief Now

When distress becomes intense, another response may reach quickly for distraction, numbing, reassurance or another form of immediate relief.

The Part That Still Feels Hurt

Vulnerable feelings connected to rejection, loss, fear, shame or earlier experiences may become activated in present-day situations.

The Calmer Perspective IFS Calls “Self”

IFS uses “Self” to describe a more curious, compassionate and grounded way of relating to your internal experience rather than being fully overtaken by one reaction.

Integrated Psychotherapy

IFS can be one way of understanding you, not the only way.

At Heart & Mind Therapy, IFS may be used alongside other psychotherapy approaches. Your therapist can adapt the work depending on your goals, preferences, history and what seems useful in the room.

Start with what is happening

Begin with the anxiety, conflict, self-criticism, grief, avoidance or other pattern that is affecting your life.

Understand the internal response

Explore the different thoughts, emotions, impulses and protective reactions that tend to appear.

Use the approach that fits

Your therapist may draw from IFS alongside CBT, DBT, somatic work, motivational interviewing or other psychotherapy approaches.

Keep evaluating together

You can tell your therapist when language or an exercise does not fit. Therapy can be adjusted rather than forcing you into one model.

A note about research: IFS has a growing research base, including randomized and pilot studies, but it has not been studied as extensively as approaches such as CBT. We therefore avoid presenting IFS as a guaranteed treatment or as the right approach for every person or concern.

Find an IFS Therapist

The approach matters, but so does the person using it.

Anna may draw from Internal Family Systems alongside other psychotherapy approaches depending on what you are working through. You can also use our Find a Therapist page to compare the broader clinical team.

Anna Barth

RP, MA · Registered Psychotherapist

May be a fit if: anxiety, trauma, burnout, grief, identity or a major life transition has left you feeling internally divided, self-critical or stuck in familiar protective patterns.

Meet Anna

What to Expect

You do not need to identify all your “parts” before therapy starts.

Start with a free 20-minute consultation

Briefly explain what has been happening, ask how the therapist uses IFS and decide whether their style feels comfortable enough to try.

Book My Free 20-Min Consultation

Begin with something that actually happens

You might start with a recent conflict, anxious moment, episode of self-criticism, urge to withdraw or another situation that tends to repeat.

Notice the different reactions involved

Your therapist may help you slow the experience down and become curious about what each reaction is trying to accomplish or prevent.

Work at a pace that feels manageable

You do not need to force access to painful memories or emotions. You and your therapist can adjust the pace, pause an exercise or use another approach when something does not feel helpful.

IFS Therapy FAQ

Questions you may have before trying Internal Family Systems therapy

What is Internal Family Systems therapy?

Internal Family Systems, or IFS, is a psychotherapy model that uses the idea of different “parts” to understand internal reactions. You might notice a critical part, an anxious part, a people-pleasing part or a part that wants to withdraw. Therapy explores these reactions with curiosity rather than immediately treating them as something to eliminate.

Does having “parts” mean there is something wrong with me?

No. In IFS, “parts” is simply a way of describing different thoughts, feelings and responses that can show up in different situations. It does not mean you have multiple personalities or that your mind is fragmented.

What does IFS mean by “Self”?

IFS uses the word “Self” for a calmer, more curious and compassionate way of relating to your internal experience. Practically, this can mean having enough perspective to notice a strong reaction without automatically letting it determine what you do next.

Is IFS evidence-based?

Research on IFS is growing, and several pilot and controlled studies have reported promising findings. However, IFS has a smaller research base than extensively studied approaches such as CBT. We therefore avoid presenting it as a guaranteed treatment or as the best approach for every concern.

Can IFS be used for trauma?

IFS-informed work may be used when trauma or difficult past experiences are affecting current emotions, relationships or coping patterns. Trauma work should still be paced carefully. You should be able to pause, change focus or tell your therapist when something feels too activating.

Will I have to revisit painful memories?

Not automatically. You can begin with what is happening in your life now. If an earlier experience becomes relevant, you and your therapist can decide together whether exploring it feels useful and manageable.

Can IFS be combined with CBT or other therapies?

Yes. Depending on your therapist's training and your needs, IFS may be integrated with CBT, DBT, somatic therapy, motivational interviewing or other psychotherapy approaches. You do not need to decide the combination yourself before starting.

Can faith or cultural background be included in IFS therapy?

Yes, if you want them included. Family expectations, culture, spirituality, faith and values can all shape how you understand yourself and the roles you have learned to take on. These parts of your life do not have to be left outside the therapy room.

Is IFS therapy available in person in Waterloo?

Yes. Heart & Mind Therapy provides individual psychotherapy at 16 John Street W., Unit F in Waterloo. Virtual psychotherapy is also available across Ontario depending on therapist availability.

IFS Therapy in Waterloo

You do not have to fight with yourself to begin understanding yourself.

Start with the pattern that has been difficult. During a free 20-minute consultation, you can ask how the therapist uses IFS, what sessions may look like and whether their style feels right for you.