Can We Help?

FEMAP can help you if you are:

Experiencing an episode of anxiety and/or mood symptoms and you have not been in treatment for these symptoms for more than 18 months
Between 16 and 25 years old

FEMAP is involved in scientific research to better understand mood and anxiety symptoms. You can contribute by participating in research.

There are two ways you can access help at FEMAP:

Being recommended by a health practitioner (e.g. a family doctor, counselor, mental health specialist)
Self-referral - you can contact us directly!

If you have addictions to alcohol and/or marijuana and/or other recreational drug FEMAP is available to help you as well, but you may also be referred to an addictions program.

What to Expect:

When you first call the First Episode Mood and Anxiety Program (FEMAP), you will be asked a set of questions to see if our program might be appropriate for you.

If it looks like we might be a good fit, we will email you the initial research questionnaires to complete on your own time. We will also send you a text to let you know we've sent them, and so that you have our texting number in case you have any problems or questions. Once you have completed the questionnaires, you will be added to the wait list for an intake appointment. Note that we cannot add you to the wait list for an intake appointment until we have received your completed questionnaires.

Intake appointments are usually scheduled several months after you return the intake questionnaires to us. Your in-person intake appointment will involve a detailed look at your mental health with our intake coordinator. Following this appointment, the intake coordinator will present your information to the intake team, who will decide whether FEMAP is an appropriate treatment option. If so, you will be added to the wait list for an appointment with a FEMAP therapist and we will let you know this. If it seems that another treatment program would be more appropriate for you, we will provide as much information as we can about other options and may be able to assist you in connecting with those services, if you would like us to.

FEMAP is both a clinical and research program. Research is an important aspect of FEMAP, studying the nature and causes of mental illness and following patient progress to identify the therapeutic methods that are most beneficial. Patients are encouraged to participate in research if they would like to.

FEMAP is NOT the right treatment option for patients with any of the following conditions:

•    Developmental disability or autism
•    Ongoing legal charges
•    Extensive criminal behaviour
•    Major medical conditions that affect thinking and mood or anxiety directly, e.g. multiple sclerosis, brain tumour, fibromyalgia, chronic pain
•    Head trauma with loss of consciousness longer than a few seconds
•    Primary eating disorder
•    Primary substance use disorder