How it Works

Help Ahead staff speak English and there is an option when you call to press 2 in the greeting message to speak with someone in French from Centre Francophone. At this time, we do not have the ability to provide services in languages. Please ask a family member, friend or other person you trust who can speak English to help you with the process.

Other language requests can be accommodated in What’s Up Walk-In counselling sessions if there is a language specific counsellor available. This usually means making a counselling session may not be immediately available and booking an appointment may likely be necessary. Some of the clinics can arrange for interpretation services.

For ongoing services, some of the clinics can arrange for interpretation services. During the initial intake process, our Help Ahead staff would identify language needs and consult with agencies before sending the referral to see if the language required can be accommodated.

Yes! Calling Help Ahead and speaking with a member of our team is always completely free. We are funded by the Government of Ontario.

What’s Up Walk-In counselling sessions, accessed by calling us, are also available, free of charge.

For ongoing services, we will explore the options through our partnered community mental health agencies available to you at no cost. Should you be interested in fee-for-service programs or treatments, we can share relevant options for those as well.

We do not provide counselling over the phone, but are able to connect you to a therapist at the What’s Up Walk-In clinic for a telephone or video session likely on the same day that you call.

We also offer information about where to receive services in your community and will arrange for a referral to that service if you would like ongoing counselling and support.

An experienced mental health worker will ask you a short series of questions. These questions are designed to help the worker decide what type of service and agencies that will best help you. If you agree, the worker will contact the most appropriate agency and they will follow-up with you directly.

We’re happy to talk to you, even if you’re just looking for general information. No question is too small. We’re here to help 🙂

When you call you will be connected to a qualified and experienced mental health worker. We are here to listen, provide support, and help you with information, not to judge.

We do have call display however we will not record your phone number without your permission.

Call display is enabled in case we believe someone is at risk of immediate self-harm.

No, you don’t. However, if you want us to make a referral for service, you will need to provide your name and other identifying information.

We provide information about:

• ​​​​​​​Mental health services in your neighbourhood or in other parts of the city
• Crisis lines
• Self-help groups
• Distress centres
• Family services
• Information and referral to other services

Anyone under the age of 18 looking for mental health services or anyone who wants to support someone under the age of 18 can call 1-866-585-6486. This includes young people, a custodial parent or guardian who wants to be connected to a community-based mental health service serving infants, children, youth and families.

Healthcare and education professionals and service providers can also call us to learn about services in the community. However, we cannot proceed with a referral without speaking to or getting consent from a custodial parent, guardian or youth 12yrs and over.

We can connect individuals aged 0-29yrs, living in the Greater Toronto Area to What’s Up Walk-In sessions.

Access to ongoing mental health and counselling services, is provided to children and youth 0-18yrs and their families living in Toronto.

What’s Up Walk-In sessions are generally provided by a registered psychotherapist or registered social worker.

What’s Up Walk-In sessions are not with a psychologist or psychiatrist. Psychologist and psychiatrist require a doctor referral and are generally sought after to provide assessment and possibly medication management.

What’s Up Walk-In is meant to be a single session and provide support in the moment. It can be accessed as needed, but it is NOT a connection to a regular, consistent counsellor. Repeat callers are not guaranteed that they would speak to the same counsellor if they were to call again.

When referred for ongoing support individuals and/or families are assigned to one counsellor who will do the work with them on an ongoing basis until the service has ended.

What’s Up Walk-In is not ideal to support family and relationship counselling due to virtual limitations – it is intended for individual support.

What’s Up Walk-In can support individuals 0-29 years of age for direct support relating to themselves, or can support a parent of anyone 0-29 years if the reason for the call relates to their child.

Family support can be accessed through referral for ongoing support to one of our partner agencies.

Help Ahead can refer children, youth and families to our partner agencies in Toronto for ongoing support, but we can provide resources in the GTA for people to contact on their own if they are calling from outside Toronto.

For What’s Up Walk-In we can support the GTA with a limited capacity as some clinics will only accept callers residing within Toronto.

The mental health worker will send your referral information to the appropriate agency the same day you call us. You can expect to hear from the referring agency within five (5) business days to arrange a time to complete a more thorough assessment.

If you are calling about a counselling session through the What’s Up Walk-In Clinic you can expect to connect with a counsellor the same day.

An experienced mental health worker will ask you a short series of questions. These questions are designed to help the worker connect you to the right What’s Up Walk-In session.

If you agree to a session, the worker will contact the most appropriate partnered community mental health agency and a counsellor will follow-up with you directly.