Phone 613-549-2775  |  Email admin@daypsych.ca

Psychological Treatment

Psychotherapy and psychological treatment for adults, individually and as couples, at our Kingston and Trenton clinics.

Including psychological services for riders, and support after the loss of a horse or companion animal.

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Individual and couples therapy

Alongside our assessment work, Dr. Duncan Day, Ph.D., C.Psych. maintains a treatment practice for adults. Sessions are one-on-one, or with both partners where the work is couples-focused.

Dr. Day works with adults on the difficulties that bring most people to therapy: the things that are hard to shift on your own, that have started to affect how you work, sleep, or relate to the people around you. Couples work is offered where the difficulty sits between two people rather than within one.

If you are not sure whether what you are dealing with is something we work with, please call the office and ask. It is a short conversation and it saves you booking the wrong thing.

Psychological services for riders

Riding asks something unusual of a person: performing in partnership with a large, powerful animal, sometimes after a fall, sometimes after years away from it, sometimes under real competitive pressure. Dr. Day works with riders on the psychological side of that challenge, drawing on his clinical experience as a registered psychologist.

Do any of these sound familiar?

  • Adjusting as your riding changes. Bodies, abilities, and goals change over time. Active and aging riders often find themselves recalibrating what they can do and what they expect of themselves. We work through that adjustment, and how it affects your riding, your confidence, and your expectations.
  • Fear of re-injury. After a fall or a stable incident that caused injury, the fear of it happening again is one of the most common difficulties riders describe. We work on understanding that fear and moving through it at a pace that feels manageable.
  • Getting back in the saddle. Sometimes the barrier is not an injury. It may be too much time away, or anxiety that has nothing to do with riding at all but still restricts your ability to engage with it. We help you find a way back.
  • Getting more from the horse and rider relationship. Managing expectations, understanding how the horse thinks, and adjusting your own approach, so you can listen to and communicate with your horse more effectively.
  • Competition jitters. Performance anxiety and self-regulation under pressure, and staying composed and focused when it counts.

There is no particular discipline or level of riding required. Dr. Day has worked with riders ranging from an internationally competitive dressage rider to amateur weekend trail riders. Anyone interested in improving their ability to ride is welcome to get in touch.

Coping with the loss of a horse or companion animal

The loss of a horse is a particular kind of grief, and one that people around you may not fully recognize. The same is true of losing a dog or another companion animal you have built your days around.

Dr. Day has previously run grieving groups for pet owners, most often dog owners caught in the sadness of losing a companion, and has worked individually with a horse owner through the loss of a beloved animal. This support is available as part of his treatment practice.

How sessions work

Sessions are one-on-one and normally take place in a quiet, private consulting room at our clinic. In-person work is preferred, though sessions by videoconference can be arranged where distance is a barrier. Occasionally, and by special arrangement, sessions may be possible in a riding ring, though insurance considerations make this a rare exception.

Dr. Day offers six-session and ten-session packages, as well as individual sessions billed as you go. Packages normally involve a portion paid up front as a retainer. To discuss hourly or package rates, please call and speak with Dr. Day directly.

Fees and coverage. These services are not covered by OHIP. We bill clients directly rather than billing insurers, with one exception: for veterans and active CAF members, we can bill directly where a pre-authorized case number is in place. If you have extended health benefits, we can structure your invoice to support a reimbursement claim, though submitting the claim and following it up would be yours to do.