Therapy for First Responders
The Call Ends.
The Images Don’t.
You’ve spent your career staying calm for everyone else. If the job has started following you home, into your sleep, your temper, your marriage, that isn’t weakness. Our team of Registered Psychologists/Psychotherapists and Nurse Practitioners work with Ontario’s first responders, and there’s more than one way to pay: through WSIB, through your benefits plan, or privately.
Direct billing with Sun Life
We work with all insurance providers. What’s covered depends on your plan.
WSIB Mental Health Program of Care provider
Or call (437) 830-2088
Direct billing with Sun Life
We work with all insurance providers. What’s covered depends on your plan.
WSIB Mental Health Program of Care provider
Regulated · Recognised · Covered
It Rarely Arrives as One Bad Call
For most first responders it builds, hundreds of shifts, each one filed away, until something ordinary sets it off. You may recognise some of this:
Sleep that won’t come
Lying awake running the call again.
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Always scanning
Never fully off duty, even at home.
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A shorter fuse
Snapping at the people you’d take a hit for.
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Going numb
The good stuff stops landing too.
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Moral injury
The calls that sat wrong.
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Harder to wind down
Needing more to come down after shift.
Three Ways to Pay.
Pick the One That Fits.
You don’t need to have it all figured out before you reach out. Therapy with us can be paid for in three ways. If you’re not sure which one fits, we’ll help you work it out on a free consultation.
Through WSIB
If what you’re going through is connected to the job. We’re a provider in WSIB’s Mental Health Program of Care, and WSIB pays us directly for the care it approves.
Direct billing with Sun Life
Through Your Benefits Plan
We work with all insurance providers. On another plan? We give you a detailed receipt to submit. What’s covered depends on your plan.
Paying Privately
No claim, no insurer, no forms. You book, you pay per session, and you start when you’re ready.
Going Through WSIB
Do You Have a WSIB Claim?
As a provider in WSIB’s Mental Health Program of Care, we can start your therapy once WSIB approves it, and WSIB pays us directly. Where you start depends on whether you have a claim yet. More on the program: WSIB therapy at AREF.
Yes, I have a claim
- 1
Contact us with your claim number.
Book a free consultation or call (437) 830-2088.
- 2
We ask WSIB for approval.
We discuss your claim with WSIB and get its approval before anything starts.
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Assessment, then therapy.
WSIB may approve an assessment, therapy, or both. We match you with a therapist experienced in occupational trauma, in your language.
- 4
WSIB pays us directly.
Approved sessions cost you nothing. We send WSIB the reports it needs, and you focus on getting better.
No claim yet. We can help.
- 1
Start with a free call.
We’ll explain how a claim works and what WSIB will ask you for. If you want support right away, you can start through your benefits plan or private pay while you decide.
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Report it to WSIB.
You can report it online, or call WSIB at 1-800-387-0750 for help. Only you can submit your report. Claims have to be filed within WSIB’s six-month time limit.
- 3
No diagnosis yet?
You can still register.For the first-responder presumption, PTSD has to be diagnosed by a psychologist or psychiatrist. Once your claim is registered, ask your WSIB Case Manager about an assessment through the Mental Health Program of Care.
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Send us your claim number.
WSIB mails it to you. Then we take it from there (see “Yes, I have a claim”).
Claim denied? There are still options: WSIB Claim Denied? Next Steps for Mental Health Coverage.
WSIB Coverage
In Ontario, Your PTSD Is Presumed Work-Related
Most first responders don’t know this. Under section 14 of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997, if you’re a designated first responder diagnosed with PTSD, WSIB must presume it came from the job, unless the contrary is shown. You don’t have to prove which call did it.
- Presumed
- The burden flips. WSIB starts from the position that your PTSD is work-related.
- 24 months
- The diagnosis must come no later than 24 months after your last day as a first responder.
Key dates
You need at least one day of work in a designated role on or after:
April 6, 2014
Most roles, including firefighters, police officers, paramedics, dispatchers and correctional workers
May 8, 2018
Nurses in direct patient care, probation officers and their direct supervisors, provincial bailiffs, special constables, forensic identification and ViCLAS members
October 28, 2022
Wildland firefighters and wildland fire investigators
The presumption covers far more roles than the obvious three:
- Firefighters (full-time, part-time, volunteer)
- Fire investigators
- Wildland firefighters & fire investigators
- Police officers
- Special constables
- Paramedics
- Emergency medical attendants
- Ambulance service managers
- Dispatchers
- Correctional workers
- Secure custody & detention workers
- Nurses in direct patient care
- Provincial bailiffs
- Probation officers & their direct supervisors
- Emergency response team members
- Forensic identification & ViCLAS
Source: WSIB, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in First Responders and Other Designated Workers (policy published February 4, 2026).
Presumptive vs Regular
What Coverage
Actually Looks Like
The same diagnosis can take two completely different routes through WSIB. This is the difference the presumption makes.
Without the presumption
A regular mental-stress claim
- You have to show that work was the predominant cause of the condition.
- The burden of proof sits with you, not with WSIB.
- It often turns on identifying which incident, and exactly when.
- Cumulative exposure across hundreds of shifts is the hardest kind to evidence.
With the presumption
If you’re a designated first responder
A presumptive PTSD claim
- WSIB must presume your PTSD arose out of your employment.
- You don’t have to prove which call did it.
- The presumption stands unless the contrary is shown.
- What you do need: the service dates, the timing, and a diagnosis from a psychologist or psychiatrist.
Want the full breakdown? We’ve written the whole process out: what the presumption covers, the occupations on the list, how a claim is filed, and what happens if it’s denied.
Through Your Benefits Plan
We Work With All Insurance Providers
If you have extended health benefits through work or a family member’s plan, your plan may cover therapy with a Registered Psychotherapist. Here’s how it works with us.
Direct Billing
With Sun Life
If your plan is with Sun Life, we bill Sun Life directly. You don’t pay the full fee and wait to be paid back.
You pay only the part your plan doesn’t cover.
Every Other Insurer
Pay at your session, and we give you a detailed receipt to submit to your plan for reimbursement.
Before your first session
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Check that your plan covers a Registered Psychotherapist.
Plans name it differently, so look under psychotherapy, mental health, or counselling services.
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Check your yearly maximum.
And how much your plan pays per session.
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Not sure?
Send us your plan details and we’ll help you check.
Paying Privately
Prefer to Keep It Simple?
Pay Privately.
Some first responders would rather not involve WSIB or an insurer at all. With private pay, there’s no claim, no forms, and no approval to wait for.
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Book a free consultation, then start when you’re ready.
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Pay per session by e-transfer or credit card.
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Get a receipt after every session.
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Ask about reduced rates. Some of our therapists offer sliding-scale fees.
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Ask us about current session fees.
If you decide to file a WSIB claim later, we can move your therapy over to WSIB once WSIB approves it.
What to Expect
Nobody Will Make You
Relive the Call
Fifty minutes, by secure video or in person. The first session is about what’s happening now: your sleep, your home life, what you’re carrying. Not a debrief of your worst shift. Many people are surprised how little they’re asked to describe early on.
From there your therapist may use EMDR or trauma-focused CBT, alongside practical work on sleep, hypervigilance and getting your off‑duty life back. You set the pace. If something isn’t working, you say so and we change it.
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Trauma-trained and CRPO-regulated
Approaches with strong research support for trauma, including EMDR and trauma-focused CBT.
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They’ve heard it before
You won’t have to explain what a bad call is, soften the details, or manage your therapist’s reaction.
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Confidential from your service
What you say here isn’t going back to your employer. We’ll explain exactly what a WSIB claim does and doesn’t share.
Available in 14+ Languages
We speak your language. Literally. Therapy available in 14+ languages including Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, Tamil, Russian, Spanish, and more.
- English
- Français
- Türkçe
- العربية
- Español
- हिन्दी
- اُردُو
- Հայերեն
- ትግርኛ
- ગુજરાતી
- فارسی
- தமிழ்
- Русский
- and more…
Questions First
Responders Ask Us
Will my service or my employer find out I’m in therapy?
What you say in session stays between you and your therapist. If you file a WSIB claim, you have to report the injury, and your therapist sends WSIB the progress reports it requires. If you pay privately, there’s no claim at all. We’ll explain exactly what goes into those reports, and who sees them, before you start.
Do I need a PTSD diagnosis before I can start therapy?
No. You can start therapy with us any time, through your benefits plan or private pay. A WSIB presumptive claim does need a PTSD diagnosis from a psychologist or psychiatrist. Registered Psychotherapists can’t make that diagnosis. If you don’t have one yet, register your claim and ask your WSIB Case Manager about an assessment through the Mental Health Program of Care, which we provide.
Is my therapy covered, and what will it cost me?
It depends on how you pay. Through WSIB, approved care costs you nothing and WSIB pays us directly. Through a benefits plan, we bill Sun Life directly and give receipts for every other insurer. What you pay depends on your plan. Private pay is per session, and some therapists offer reduced rates. Your first consultation is free.
What if I’ve been off the job for years?
The presumption has time limits. The PTSD diagnosis must come no later than 24 months after your last day in the role. You also need at least one day of service on or after April 6, 2014, or a later date for some roles, such as May 8, 2018 for nurses and October 28, 2022 for wildland firefighters. Outside that window, other routes may still be open, and therapy is available either way.
I’m not sure it’s bad enough to need this. Should I still call?
Yes. You don’t have to be in crisis to deserve support, and you don’t have to decide anything on the call. Plenty of people get in touch because sleep has gone, or home has got harder, and want to know whether it’s worth doing something about.
Guides for First Responders
Everything we have written on workplace trauma, WSIB claims and getting support.
WSIB Benefits for Mental Stress & PTSD in Ontario
What WSIB covers for work-related PTSD and mental stress in Ontario — benefits, payouts, forms, and how approval works.
WSIB Claim Denied? Next Steps for Mental Health Coverage
Your WSIB mental stress or PTSD claim was denied? Here’s why it happens, how to object, the deadlines that matter, and where to get free help.
Workplace PTSD in Ontario: Coverage, Claims, and Treatment
Reviewed by the clinical team at AREF Psychotherapy — a team of Registered Psychotherapists serving clients across Canada. For the full breakdown of what an approved claim pays, see our guide to WSIB benefits for mental stress and PTSD. You went into a job that...
You Don’t Have to Be in Crisis to Deserve Help
One call. No cost, no commitment, no note in your file at work.
Or call (437) 830-2088
If you need support right now
Crisis · 24/7
Suicide Crisis Helpline
Call or text, any time, anywhere in Canada. Free and confidential.
Peer support
Boots on the Ground
Peer support by and for first responders: people who have done the job.