Therapy for driving anxiety and fear of driving after an accident

The 15-minute consultation is free, and sessions are $170 for 50 minutes with our associate therapists, or $190 with Melissa Huang. If your driving anxiety followed a motor vehicle accident and your accident benefits claim is open, we can bill your insurer directly through HCAI for approved assessment and treatment, so there is nothing for you to pay up front. Approval and limits are set by your insurer and your claim, not by us. Otherwise, sessions are often covered by extended health benefits. All our therapists direct bill Sun Life and Green Shield Canada, and our Registered Psychotherapists also direct bill many other insurers, including Manulife, Canada Life and Desjardins. Which insurers depends on your therapist, so ask at your consultation. For any plan we cannot bill directly, you receive a detailed receipt for reimbursement.

No. EMDR works with the memory rather than a blow-by-blow retelling. Melissa is also trained in the Flash Technique (EMDRIA-approved training), a step within EMDR. It is used to lower the intensity of the crash memory first, while your attention stays on something pleasant and you only glance at the memory for a moment. The reprocessing that follows is gentler, and you stay in control of what you say out loud.

It is one of the most common reasons people reach out to us. When the fear traces back to a crash, we use EMDR, grounding work and trauma-informed therapy to help that memory settle, alongside a gradual return to driving. If your accident benefits claim needs a psychological assessment, it is conducted by one of our psychologists: Dr. Rex Jose Joseph, Ph.D., C.Psych., or Dr. Sadet Yilmaz, C.Psych. If the accident was recent, we can also work alongside your medical and rehab team.

No. Sessions happen in the office or online. Any practice on the road happens between sessions, in steps you choose and feel ready for. Nobody is going to put you on the highway before you are prepared for it.

Yes. Plenty of people develop anxiety about driving without ever having a collision. It can start with a panic attack in traffic, a near miss, a long break from driving, getting a licence later in life, or general anxiety that settles on the road. You do not need a crash, a diagnosis, or a referral to reach out.

That is a very common barrier with driving anxiety, and it is exactly why we offer two ways to meet: securely online anywhere in Ontario, which is where most people working on driving anxiety start, or in person at our North York office near Leslie and Sheppard, with parking on site and the subway close by.

It depends on how long the fear has been there and what is underneath it, so we will not pretend there is a set number of sessions. We review progress with you as we go, and you decide the pace throughout.