100 Main St. East, Suite 220
(2nd floor), use Commercial Entrance
Our program is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Late appointments are available on a limited basis and upon request. The building is closed weekends, and holidays.
Mental Health Services for Children, Youth and their Families
Child and Adolescent Services is a community-based children’s mental health clinic. It is part of Public Health Services in the City of Hamilton. We provide mental health counselling and treatment for children and youth, under 18, and their families. Our services are confidential and free.
We support children, youth, and families with:
How to access our services
How to access our walk-in single session counselling service
Child and Adolescent services (C&AS) offers walk-in mental health support for children and youth under the age of 18, along with their families and/or supportive people. Walk-in services provide single session therapy with a qualified therapist, typically lasting 90 minutes. This service is free, confidential with no referral and no health card needed.
Walk-in single session counselling service hours
- Monday 9 am to 4 pm (closed for lunch 12-1 pm)
- Tuesday 4 to 7 pm
- Wednesday 9 am to 7 pm (closed for lunch 12-1 pm)
- Thursday 1 to 4 pm
The last walk-in accepted 90 mins before closing time. Please be ready to stay 90 minutes for your session.
Location 100 Main St. East, Suite 220 (2nd floor), use Commercial Entrance
Walk-in sessions are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. There are a limited number of sessions every day. If the walk-in service reaches daily capacity and a therapist is not able to complete a single session with your child or youth, you will be offered an appointment for another time.
*New* Walk-in mental health services available at Neighbour to Neighbour
Location: 310 Limeridge Rd W Unit 10, Hamilton
Hours: Every Tuesday, 9 am to 7 pm
Before or during your first visit, we will ask you to complete a mental health questionnaire to help us get to know you. If you’d like to have your family or other significant people involved, we will ask them to complete a mental health questionnaire as well. Your answers will help us to learn more about you and what we can do to help.
We will send a link to the questionnaire by email. The questionnaires can typically take up to 20-30 minutes to complete.
If you would like support to complete the online questionnaire through our on-line Client Portal, please call us at 905-546-2424 ext. 3678
We are a team of professionals who work together to support you based on your individual needs, whether you are cared for virtually or in-person. Our team is made up of registered professionals who provide the following services:
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Counselling and Therapy
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Occupational Therapy
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Psychological Services
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Administrative Support
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Student Interns: We are a teaching clinic. If you give permission, we may include student interns in your care.
We embrace a collaborative and compassionate approach to providing services to children, youth and families. Our approach is informed by evidence and best practice. When developing a holistic plan of care with you, we will assess and take into consideration your unique needs, the best option for services, and whether or not you would like your family members to be involved. This may include a referral to other community service providers.
If you need to make, change or cancel an appointment, please contact your therapist directly or our program secretary at 905-546-2424 ext. 3678 as soon as possible.
We do our best to provide an appointment time that is convenient. Please understand that there are many requests for an ‘afterschool’ appointment time, and we do our best to share these preferred timeslots.
If you are late, more than 20 minutes without notice, you will need to re-book another appointment.
After missing three appointments we will close your referral. This ensures that Child and Adolescent Services can offer counseling service within a short time to children, youth, and families. If your referral has been closed for two months or more, you will need to call Lynwood Charlton Centre (LCC) by:Phone: 905-389-1361 to initiate a new referral.
We protect your personal health information, and we ask you for your consent before we share your information with others. In some cases, someone else may be able to provide consent on your behalf. This will be discussed further during your first visit as we know you may have questions. We will discuss situations when you have the right to keep your information private from anyone you choose, including family members. We will also discuss situations when others might be able to access your information.
We also want parents/caregivers to feel comfortable to share information. This information will be kept within your care team, unless we ask for further consent to share it.
There are times when privacy can’t be maintained due to safety.
Reasons for this:
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If a child under the age of 18 is being hurt or abused, or at risk of being hurt or abused
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If anyone is in immediate danger of hurting themselves or someone else
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If a regulated health professional is or has been sexually inappropriate with someone
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If we are required by law to release the records
Questions about the collection of this personal information can be directed to the therapist you are working with. Alternately, please contact the Manager of Child and Adolescent Services, Lynn Foye at 905-546-2424 ext. 3697.
We will ask you to complete short questionnaires throughout your care. The questionnaires will ask you about how you are doing and your experience of care. This information helps us keep track of what has been helpful for you in service and how we can better meet your needs.
Using information to improve services
Sometimes, we group your responses from the questionnaires together with responses from other youth and families to look at how well our services are doing overall. When the information is grouped, any identifying information (name, address, date of birth) is removed so your privacy is maintained. Your information helps us to improve our services and respond better to the needs of children, youth and families in our community.
Research
Research is an important part of the work we do. Through research we can learn more about the experiences of children, youth and families and how best to support them. We will ask you whether you and your family would like to be involved in current or future research. You can choose not to take part in research. Your decision will not impact your care in any way.
If you/your child’s needs become more urgent, please:
- Contact your family physician or go to your nearest Hospital Emergency Room
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Call the Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST) at 905-972-8338 to speak with a mental health clinician available 24 hours.
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Kids Help Phone: 24/7: 1-800-668-6868