“To heal a suffering one must experience it to the full.” – Marcel Proust
Resources
24/7 Crisis and Suicide Support
- Suicide Crisis Helpline for all of Canada – Call or text 988
- ConnexOntario – mental health, addiction and problem gambling services
- Distress and Crisis Ontario – regional hotlines and locations
- Provincial crisis services for those experiencing violence – crisis lines for men and women, victims of sexual assault, emergency shelters
Free/low cost counselling and medical services for at risk, marginalized populations
- ACT – HIV counselling and support group in Toronto
- Find a Student Therapist – directory for low cost or free therapy, mental health blog
- PrEP Clinics – HIV medical treatment online, with locations in Toronto, Brampton and Ottawa
- Comprehensive Treatment Clinic – in-person addiction medicine and counselling for all substances in Toronto (harm-reduction approach)
- Renascent – in-patient and virtual addiction rehab programs for all substances
- Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) clinics – 70 clinics across Ontario providing medicine for alcohol and opioid use disorder
- TAIBU Community Health Centre -culturally affirming primary care and health programs for Black-identifying clients in the GTA
- Rainbow Health Ontario – lists places offering counselling services in Ontario that provide LGBT2SQ -affirming care
- Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) program – provides a range of health benefits to eligible First Nations and Inuit clients
- Jack.org – directory of Asian mental health services
- CMHA Mental Health Services for Gender-Diverse and Sexual-Minority Youth – provides a summary of the services and programs that support the mental health and well-being of gender-diverse and sexual-minority youth in Ontario
Tests, Quizzes and Assessments
Here are some tests I commonly suggest to clients for various purposes described in the headings. While some of the self-assessments are widely considered valid diagnostic tools, none of these are shared for the purposes of diagnosing mental disorders.
Quick career and personality tests:
- Holland Code Career Quiz – easy to answer IMO
- MBTI Personality Type Test
- The Big Five Aspects Scale – easy to answer IMO
- Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale – people pleasing
A deep dive that requires time and accurately reveals your negative core beliefs:
Self-assessments that indicate likelihood and severity of a psychiatric diagnosis:
- Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS v1.1) – ADHD
- Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) – depressive disorder
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) – Generalized anxiety disorder
- Post-Traumatic Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) – PTSD
- Dissociative Experiences Scale II (DES-II) – dissociative disorders
- Leibowitz Social Anxiety Scale – Social Anxiety Disorder
- Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) Calculator – OCD
- Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) – alcohol use
- Cannabis Use Disorder Test (CUDIT-R) – cannabis use
- Tobacco, Alcohol, Prescription medication, or other Substance use tool – multiple substance use
Attachment-style quizzes:
- Attachment style quiz from Psych Central (you may need your primary caregiver as a child to help you answer these questions)
- Attachment style quiz from The Attachment Project (this asks questions about your mother and father)