WorkSafeBC Counselling

You might be here because

• Something happened at work and you have not been the same since
• You are dreading the shift before it starts
• A workplace incident keeps returning when you are trying to rest
• You have been off work and returning feels impossible
• The injury healed and the rest of it did not

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

Work under a WorkSafeBC referral follows what the referral letter approves, so the first thing we do is check what you have actually been authorised for — services not named on that letter are not covered, and it is better to know at the start than to find out afterwards. From there the work is what it would be for any trauma or anxiety presentation, with the return-to-work question held alongside rather than driving it.

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 →

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

  CBT is a short-term, goal-oriented, practical approach to problem-solving. I use it to change the patterns of thinking or behaviour sitting behind a difficulty, and so change the way you feel. It is used for everything from sleep problems and relationship difficulties to substance use, anxiety and depression.

  More on CBT →

• Solution-Focused Therapy

  A brief, forward-looking approach that starts from what you want to be different rather than from an account of how the problem began. It works with the exceptions — the times the difficulty is already smaller — and builds from there. Useful when you have limited sessions, or when re-telling the history is more than you want to do right now.

  More on SFT →

Further reading

• ICBC and funded counselling

  WorkSafeBC and psychological injury: how counselling gets covered after something happens at work

  WorkSafeBC accepts claims for mental health injuries, not only physical ones. Funded counselling runs through an accepted claim, and the diagnosis supporting that claim must come from a psychiatrist or a psychologist rather than from a counsellor. Here is the order the steps actually happen in.

• 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.