Is OCD the same as just liking things clean or organized?

No. Clinical OCD involves genuinely distressing, intrusive thoughts and compulsions that interfere with daily functioning — not a personal preference for order, which is how the term gets used casually.

What is Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)?

ERP is a specific, structured form of CBT where you gradually face situations that trigger obsessions while deliberately not performing the usual compulsion, allowing your anxiety to decrease naturally over time rather than through ritual. It's considered the gold-standard treatment for OCD.

Will I have to face my worst fear right away?

No. ERP is built as a gradual hierarchy, starting with less distressing situations and building up at a pace that's actually manageable for you.

I have intrusive thoughts that feel disturbing or shameful — does that mean something is wrong with me?

No. Intrusive thoughts are a core feature of OCD, and having a disturbing thought says nothing about your actual character, values, or intentions. This is one of the most common and most misunderstood presentations of OCD, and it responds well to treatment.

Is this covered by insurance?

Sessions with a Registered Psychologist or Registered Provisional Psychologist are covered by most extended health benefit plans. Solasta offers direct billing to 30+ insurers. Visit our fees page to confirm coverage.

Is OCD therapy available online?

Yes — available online across Alberta, as well as in person at our Calgary office.

How long does OCD treatment usually take?

It varies significantly depending on the severity and type of OCD, but many people begin noticing meaningful reductions in compulsions within the first several weeks of consistent ERP work, with continued progress over a longer course of treatment.

Can OCD come back after treatment?

OCD can resurface, particularly during high-stress periods, but the skills learned in ERP are durable — most people who complete treatment are equipped to recognize and interrupt a returning cycle much faster than the first time around.

Do I need a referral to start OCD therapy?

No referral is required. You can book a free consultation call directly.

Solasta in the Community

Solasta is a Calgary practice, and we try to act like one — not just seeing clients in our office, but showing up for the community around us, in ways that go beyond a single session. That shows up in a lot of different forms: sponsoring local women’s sports teams who don’t get the funding they deserve, holding paid contracts with organizations that make assessments and counselling accessible to communities who need it most, training the next generation of psychologists in our own building, running a booth at events that matter to the people we work with, and simply being members of the neighbourhood our office sits in.

If any of these partnerships or programs raise a question — or you just want to know more about how we work — reach out

Why We Sponsor Women's Sport

According to The Rally Report, a national study from Canadian Women & Sport and Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities, 1 in 3 Canadian girls drop out of organized sport by late adolescence — compared to roughly 1 in 10 boys aged 16-18. Girls are quietly pushed out of exactly the environment — team, structure, physical confidence — that does the most for mental health during the years they need it most.

At the same time, even highly competitive women’s leagues remain chronically underfunded and under-sponsored compared to their male equivalents, regardless of how well those teams actually perform. Our team includes clinicians who specialize in sports psychology, working with athletes on performance pressure, injury recovery, and the identity strain of competing seriously in a sport nobody’s paying you to play. Sponsoring women’s sport is an extension of that clinical expertise.

Calgary Blizzard FC — Women’s Team

In 2025, we became a shirt sponsor of Calgary Blizzard’s women’s team. That season, Blizzard won the League1 Alberta Women’s Championship — their second Alberta title in a row — and went on to represent Alberta at the League1 Canada Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship.

Team Melville — Curling

In 2026, we became a Silver sponsor of Team Melville, a competitive U18 women’s curling team based out of NorthHill Curling Club here in Calgary, with two additional U20 athletes also curling out of NorthHill. Junior curling doesn’t get anywhere near the attention or sponsorship that junior hockey does in this province, and that gap is wider still for girls’ teams.

YYC World Autism Awareness Day

Every April, we support YYC World Autism Awareness Day (YYC WAAD), hosted by the Autism Aspergers Friendship Society (AAFS) — now the largest event of its kind in Canada. We run a booth at the event, alongside a free, all-ages celebration for the autism community and their families: a resource fair, live performers on the spectrum, art stations, and the event’s signature bubble-blowing ceremony. It’s a natural fit for us — our clinicians conduct adult and child autism assessments year-round, and this is one day a year where the whole community, diagnosed or not, gets to celebrate rather than just get evaluated.

Making Assessments and Counselling More Accessible

Cost is one of the biggest barriers to psychological assessment and therapy, so we’ve built funded partnerships with organizations who work directly with communities that need it most. In each case, we’re a paid, contracted service provider — these aren’t donations, they’re funded programs we’ve built the clinical capacity to support properly.

Siksika Family Services. Non-Insured Health Benefits, the federal health program for First Nations and Inuit people, covers counselling but not psychological assessment — a gap that matters when a child needs an autism, ADHD, or psychoeducational assessment to access the right support at school. Since 2025, we’ve been a contracted assessment provider for Siksika Family Services, helping close that gap for members of the Siksika Nation, on whose traditional territory — along with the rest of Treaty 7 — our practice operates.

Flourishing Futures Program, Otipemisiwak Métis Government. This accessibility grant provides Métis children aged 0-11 across Alberta with funding for developmental, social, emotional, and behavioural services. We’ve partnered with the program since 2025 to provide psychoeducational assessments, and as of late 2025, counselling as well — direct-billed, so families aren’t left covering the cost themselves.

The Mustard Seed. We hold a contracted assessments partnership with The Mustard Seed, supporting Calgarians experiencing homelessness and poverty who need psychological assessment as part of their path forward.

Training the Next Generation

Every registered psychologist started as a supervised trainee, and we take that stage seriously rather than treating it as a formality — seriously enough that we have a dedicated Early Career Development Lead, Marissa, overseeing how our interns are trained and supported. Our student counselling internship program has provided over 750 hours of free counselling to the local community so far — real sessions, delivered by dedicated therapists working under close supervision, at no cost to the clients who needed them.

Behind that number sits another: our senior clinicians have donated over 200 hours of free supervision to those interns, time that could otherwise have been billed to clients, spent instead making sure the next generation of Calgary psychologists is trained properly.

Our Neighbourhood

Our office sits at the southern edge of Capitol Hill, a Calgary community established in 1948, minutes from SAIT and the University of Calgary. In 2026, we became members of the Capitol Hill Community Association — because a counselling practice should belong to its neighbourhood, not just occupy a building in it.