Does NIHB Include Mental Health Counselling?

Yes.

Indigenous Services Canada's NIHB program includes professional mental-health counselling among the benefits available to those eligible.

Under the current benefit, an eligible person can receive up to 22 hours of counselling from an eligible therapist per calendar year. Additional hours may be considered case-by-case.

That counselling can provide support for many different mental-health concerns and life experiences.

How Do I Get Started?

You don't have to wait for NIHB to assign you a therapist.

In fact, you can contact therapists that you want to work with to see if they are covered by NIHB benefits. Your regional NIHB office can also help clients locate an NIHB-enrolled therapist.

When contacting a therapist, tell the practice that you're hoping to use NIHB mental-health counselling benefits.

Ask whether the provider is eligible and enrolled.

Ask about direct billing. It’s always best if the provider submits the billing on your behalf.

Ask whether any amount might be payable by you.

And ask whatever you need to know about the therapist themselves.

What Can You Bring to Therapy?

You can bring anxiety.
Grief.
Anger.
Uncertainty.
Relationship difficulties.

Experiences from the past that you aren't ready to describe yet.

You can also bring the feeling that something simply isn't right.

You don't need to translate your life into clinical terminology before speaking with a therapist.

Support Can Begin With a Question

Accessing a benefit program can sometimes feel administrative at exactly the moment when you have the least emotional energy for administration.

But you don't need to understand every NIHB rule before making an initial inquiry.

If you're eligible and seeking NIHB counselling in Sault Ste. Marie, Redbird Therapy can help you explore whether one of its NIHB-covered therapists may be an appropriate fit.

The first conversation can simply be about what you need and what happens next.

Sometimes making support easier to understand makes asking for it a little easier too.