Ottawa Centre For Resilience

Ottawa Centre For Resilience is a psychology practice located at 204-2197 Riverside Dr in Ottawa, Ontario, reachable at 613-714-0662. The team works with children, teens, and families facing everyday to complex mental health difficulties, offering assessment, psychotherapy, occupational therapy, and consultation services grounded in an understanding of child development.

Making sense of the terms used in a first conversation

Anyone calling a psychology practice for the first time will hear a handful of words that are worth understanding before the appointment, since they shape what actually happens in the room. At Ottawa Centre For Resilience, four terms come up often: assessment, psychotherapy, occupational therapy, and consultation — each pointing to a different kind of appointment with a different goal.

An "assessment" is not a treatment session — it is a structured process of gathering information, often through interviews, questionnaires, and standardized tasks, to build an evidence-based profile of how someone thinks, learns, feels, or behaves. The practice offers several types: neuropsychological (how the brain's functioning relates to behaviour and learning), psycho-educational (learning strengths and challenges, often relevant for school planning), mental health (a broader look at emotional and behavioural functioning), and forensic (assessments connected to legal or child protection processes). The output of an assessment is typically a written report with findings that can guide decisions made by parents, schools, or other professionals.

"Psychotherapy" refers to structured conversations and exercises aimed at helping a person better manage feelings, thoughts, behaviours, and relationships. It is talk-based and collaborative rather than something done to a person — a family should expect an ongoing series of appointments rather than a single visit. "Occupational therapy" looks at how a person functions in daily life — school, home routines, self-regulation — and works on practical strategies to support that functioning. "Consultation" is a bit different again: it is a service aimed at other professionals (such as those in child welfare or youth justice) who are looking for guidance on how to understand and plan around a child's behaviour, rather than a direct service to the child or family.

Families in the National Capital Region often arrive at these appointments after a referral from a school, a family doctor, or a child welfare worker, and the vocabulary can feel dense at a moment that is already stressful. Knowing the difference between an assessment appointment and a treatment appointment — and knowing that a report is a normal and expected part of an assessment — helps set realistic expectations going in.

What families actually find there, and who reaches out

Ottawa Centre For Resilience provides assessment, psychotherapy, occupational therapy, and consultation services, with particular experience in matters connected to childhood adversity and trauma. The practice describes its approach as brain-based, working from an understanding of child development and of how stress and adversity can affect that development.

The subject areas named by the practice give a sense of who tends to reach out: adoption, attachment, trauma, children in care, young offenders, behaviour concerns, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), substance use, self-harm, and human trafficking. This points to a client base that includes birth and adoptive families, foster and kinship caregivers, and professionals working within child welfare or youth justice systems, alongside families dealing with more everyday behavioural or emotional concerns.

Training is also offered, aimed at caregivers, teachers, and professionals in child welfare and youth justice, focused on understanding child and youth behaviour through a trauma-informed lens rather than through discipline alone. This is a separate offering from direct clinical care and is oriented toward adults supporting children rather than toward the children themselves.

A free initial consultation call is available as a starting point, which allows a family or professional to describe their situation before committing to a full assessment or treatment plan. Various payment methods are accepted; specific fees and coverage details are best confirmed directly with the practice.

Who this practice fits well, and who might look elsewhere

This practice is well suited to families and caregivers dealing with the aftermath of childhood adversity — adoption transitions, attachment difficulties, trauma histories, or a child's involvement with the child welfare or youth justice system — as well as to professionals in those systems seeking consultation or training. It is also a reasonable option for families looking for a general assessment or psychotherapy for a child or teen dealing with everyday behavioural or emotional difficulties, since the description explicitly covers both "everyday" and "complex" mental health needs.

It is less suited to someone looking for immediate crisis intervention outside of business appointment scheduling, or for adult-only individual therapy unconnected to a child or family context, since the described focus is on children, teens, and families. Anyone in an active safety crisis should contact emergency services rather than book a routine consultation call.

Frequently asked questions

When is a good time to reach out?

Since the practice centres on children, teens, and families, reaching out during the school year is often practical when a school-related concern (such as a psycho-educational assessment) is part of the reason for contact, but the free consultation call is the intended first step regardless of season — it exists precisely to sort out timing and next steps before anything is booked.

What other options exist in the Ottawa area for similar concerns?

Ottawa has a range of psychology and mental health practices, along with hospital-based and school-based services, that families dealing with childhood adversity, attachment, or behavioural concerns may also consider, particularly if wait times or a specific area of focus make a different fit more practical.

What should someone bring to a first consultation call?

It helps to have a short summary ready of the concern at hand, any relevant history (such as involvement with child welfare, prior assessments, or school reports), and a phone number or email where the practice can follow up, since the first call is meant to clarify what kind of assessment, treatment, or consultation would be appropriate.

Is this a good fit for families, or just individuals?

The practice is explicitly organized around children, teens, and families, and its subject areas — adoption, children in care, attachment — are inherently family-oriented, so it is a fit for family situations as much as, or more than, for an individual seeking care alone.