How to Access  Thai Therapist in Toronto

As a native Thai resident living in Toronto, it is completely normal to feel the urge to talk out your daily grievances with someone you can be open and honest with. However sometimes finding a Thai therapist in Toronto or even within Canada can be challenging, despite the growing rate of individuals living there. It gives us great pleasure to announce we are now expanding our counselling services to Toronto at more affordable rates and for us to be accessible to our clients from anywhere and everywhere.

After successfully guiding and empowering our clients online globally, we have decided to expand our number of native Thai therapists for a range of counselling services which include:

• Alcohol and Addiction Counselling
• Depression Counselling
• Couples Therapy
• Life Coaching
• Career Counselling
• Art Therapy
• Hypnotherapy
• Adolescent Therapy
• LGBTQ Counselling
• Anxiety Counselling

Why is Counselling a Relatively new Concept for Thai People

There are certain factors that drive certain clients not to be aware of counselling services and resources around them in Thailand: from their environment to the individual’s perception. These are some of the issues commonly faced:

• Shortage of skills in healthcare: In Thailand, people are more familiar with the term clinical psychology, rather than counselling or therapy. It is common for it also to be the only professional license available. Support for mental and emotional wellbeing is usually given by psychiatrists and usually consists of medication. This is usually why clinical psychologists are assigned and responsible for most cases. Meanwhile, in other countries, we find that counselling areas are far more specific, inclusive and varied.

• Misconceptions toward mental treatments: Though counselling and therapy are far more accepted as another alternative to recovery, it has not gained immense traction in Asian societies and there is still an immense stigma surrounding it. There are several factors that happen to cause so many native Thai people to form an opinion around counselling and therapy:

• First and foremost, Thai native people may not see the necessity of it. Counselling requires commitment, time and money. The stigma around mental wellbeing is still very much prevalent in these parts of the world, and some people may not be convinced they are required to go through these steps in order to recover or may not believe they are suffering from anything in the first place.

• Secondly, some people may be affected by the social pressures which are more common in collectivistic societies. Thai people are from a collectivistic society and not an individualistic one. This may make them overly concerned over the opinions of others.

• Thirdly, it is common for some individuals to be in denial and simply not acknowledge the fact that they need help. Some individuals simply may think they are better than that or often deny they are facing any issues altogether, and think the problem may resolve itself.

• Lastly, some individuals may also have trust issues. They may not feel safe or comfortable being open, honest and transparent with someone they do not know.

Where to Find Native Thai Therapists In Toronto?

There are currently very few resources that are able to allow access to native Thai therapists in Toronto, which is why we have received several enquiries regarding expanding our services online in these areas.

In Toronto, our main goal is to be able to provide native Thai counselling services online at more affordable prices and with increased accessibility.

 Some websites indicate there are over 41,645 southeast Asians living in Toronto alone with very little in the way of specific Thai / Asian healthcare services. Couple this with the global pandemic we are facing and we can see there are many people who require support and feel that extra level of homesickness in such trying times. We aim to mend this gap by providing counselling services online with our Thai speaking therapists at times to accommodate various time zones.

Reasons Thai Nationals In Vancouver May Seek a Native Thai Therapist

• Loneliness- They may feel extremely lonely not being able to communicate with anyone in their first language.

• Inability to speak mother tongue with others- They may feel lost as they are unable to connect with their roots and speak their language with anyone around them.

• Lack of community- Since native Thai people are essentially from a collectivistic society, it may be challenging for them to face a lack of that sense of belonging.

• Cultural differences- There are immense cultural differences when looking at individualistic cultures versus collectivistic cultures, and sometimes it is important for you to be in an environment where people respect and maintain your culture.

• Lack of social connection or friends- They may lack healthy and meaningful relationships and friendships where they are able to fully be themselves.

• Thai-Western couples’ therapy- Cross cultural relationship counselling is something we are extremely experienced in both within Thailand as well as clients who are native Thai but are married to foreigners and now residing overseas globally.

• Inability to relate to other therapists- It can be hard to relate to therapists who may not have the same background and experiences as you. This may allow for clients to be more closed off than they would with a therapist they are able to fully be themselves with. We currently have four Thai therapists; two male and two female.

• Language barriers- Having to constantly wonder about what the correct translation is for that sentence or word can be exhausting and sometimes take away from the focus of the therapeutic session. Working with bilingual native Thai therapists helps make the process more effective.

How to Access Thai Therapists in Toronto?

If you feel you or someone around you is struggling in a foreign country, especially during the pandemic and needs that extra touch of home, reach out to us today via our website and get started. Additionally, we also offer a free consultation call without any financial commitment for you to decide whether we are the best fit for you or to simply answer any other questions you may have. Get started on your journey toward a better life!