ICBC Counselling After a Motor Vehicle Accident

You might be here because

• You are physically healing but something still feels wrong
• Driving, or being a passenger, has become difficult
• You are replaying the accident, or avoiding the road it happened on
• Sleep has not returned to normal since it happened
• Everyone keeps saying you were lucky and it does not feel that way

None of that has to apply exactly. People often arrive unable to name what is wrong, and that is a perfectly good place to start from.

What the work looks like

Sessions deal with the part of an accident that does not show on a scan — the startle response, the avoidance, the sleep that has not settled. Where trauma symptoms have taken hold, EMDR and somatic approaches are often useful. We keep the paperwork side simple, and if your family has been affected by the accident and your recovery, it is worth asking your recovery specialist whether counselling is covered for them too.

Approaches most often used

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

  EMDR is a non-traditional psychotherapy used particularly for post-traumatic stress. Research has shown it effective at reducing PTSD symptoms and at resolving memories, so that a memory can be experienced as a point in the past rather than as something still active in the present.

  More on EMDR →

• Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy

  Mindfulness-based psychotherapy brings meditation techniques into therapy to cultivate warmth, compassion and self-awareness. Through focused attention and open monitoring you develop the ability to observe your own thoughts and feelings without judgment. You do not need to become a dedicated meditator for it to work.

  More on Mindfulness →

• Written Exposure Therapy

  A brief, structured trauma protocol — usually around five sessions — in which you write about the traumatic event in a specific, guided way, with the session used to process what the writing brings up. It is one of the shortest evidence-based PTSD treatments available, and there is no homework between sessions and no requirement to say any of it out loud.

  More on WET →

Further reading

• ICBC and funded counselling

  ICBC counselling after a motor vehicle accident: what you are entitled to in BC

  If you were injured in a motor vehicle accident in British Columbia, you are pre-approved for counselling for the first 12 weeks, no matter who was responsible, and you do not need a doctor’s referral. Here is how that works in practice.

• Fees and funding

  What counselling costs in British Columbia, and when someone else pays for it

  Counselling in BC is not covered by MSP, but it is not always paid out of pocket either. Extended health benefits, ICBC, WorkSafeBC and the Crime Victim Assistance Program each cover it under different rules. Here is how to work out which one applies to you before you book anything.