Addictions refers to problems using drugs, alcohol, or other problem behaviours such as gambling or sex addiction. Gambling involves risking any money, credit or other item of value in the hope of winning a prize. Gambling can be addictive and can cause severe financial, emotional, relationship and other problems.

Assessment and Referral Services are a good place to get started when looking for help for an addiction problem. It usually involves seeing an addictions professoinal for one or two sessions (each about one or two hours). The service can help you decide whether or not you need treatment, as well as where to go for treatment.

Information and Referral Services are somewhat similar to Assessment Services in that they help people find help. Unlike Assessment Services though, where you generally have to go see someone in person, Information and Referral services generally provide information by a telephone call or website.

Self-help or mutual support services (such as alcoholics anonymous) are regular meetings with people who have alcohol or drug problems who help and support one another.

These are services that offer treatment for an addiction.

Outpatient or "live-at-home" services where you go to a service during the daytime (or evening) but you otherwise continue to stay and sleep at home.

Inpatient or "live-in" services are where you have a place to stay that is alcohol/drug free, while receiving treatment.

This section has addictions resources that do not fall under any other headings.

Basic Needs resources are resources such as food, housing (including shelters), transportation and temporary financial assistance.

The child welfare / child protection system is a group of services that promote the well-being of children by protecting children from abuse or neglect, ensuring they are safe, and strengthening families so that they can successfully care for their children.

This section has resources about finances, money, grants, subsidies and other related information. This is not an exhaustive list of resources and services, but highlights those which might be of interest to individuals with mental health issues.

This section has programs that provide food or low cost food to those in need.

There are various shelters that people can use when they have no place to go.

Emergency shelters are places for people to live temporarily when they don't have a place to stay. Emergency shelters (such as women's shelters) are primarily meant for those fleeing an abusive relationship, sexual abuse or domestic violence. Some shelters limit their clientele by gender or age.

Homeless shelters are temporary places to stay, usually meant for homeless people. Usually located in downtown areas, they are similar to emergency shelters. The main difference is that homeless shelters are usually open to anyone, without regard to the reason for need. Some shelters limit their clientele by gender or age.

Women's shelters are places where women (and their children) can go to stay, and are typically for women fleeing domestic violence from their partners or spouses. Women's shelters offer safe, temporary housing and usually other services to enable a return to independent living such as counselling and referrals to community resources.

A group home is usually a single-family dwelling for special populations that need a supervised living environment. Common examples include children and youth in care, individuals with developmental or physical disabilities, individuals recovering from substance abuse, teenaged mothers, or victims of domestic violence.

Counselling and therapy can be helpful for dealing with a wide variety of issues (e.g. stress and coping, relationship problems) and mental health conditions (e.g. depression, anxiety, etc.)

This is a list of agencies and organizations that offer counselling and/or therapy services.

Here is a listing of places which provide a mixture of Counseling and Therapy in general, as opposed to focusing on just one particular type of specific therapy or counselling.

In practice, many mental health providers (such as psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and therapists/counselors) have training in different therapies so when they are helping others, they are using a mixture of techniques from different styles, as opposed to just one type of therapy.

Animal-assisted and pet therapy are types of therapy that use animals trained to provide affection and comfort to people in a variety of places including hospitals, retirement or nursing homes, mental health facilities and schools. Similar terms include riding therapy, or horse therapy, or hippotherapy.

Art therapy is a way of helping people through art, and is provided by accredited art therapists. Painting, drawing and sculpting are common ways that help people to express themselves and heal. Unlike traditional art, the focus is on the process of creating the artwork rather than the final product.

Coaching is the process whereby a coach teaches and directs another person via encouragement and advice. The coach provides an individual with feedback, insight and guidance on achieving their full potential in their business or personal life. Coaches usually first help by defining goals, and then supports the client in working out a strategy to reach those goals, and helps the client stay on track.

Compared to counselling, coaching generally has a narrower focus; focuses on performance rather than underlying root causes; tends to be shorter-term; does not seek to improve underlying psychological problems; focuses on improvement on function in already well-functioning individuals.

Coaching is generally more suitable for individuals who are well-functioning to begin with, whereas counselling/therapy would be recommended for individuals who are more distressed.

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is an effective type of therapy for numerous conditions such as depression and anxiety. CBT helps individuals by looking at negative thoughts and behaviour patterns, and changing those into more helpful coping thoughts and behaviours. CBT can be delivered by any health professional who has had adequate training in CBT, which in practice usually refers to psychologists, psychiatrists as well as some physicians and social workers.

Drama therapy (or the related term psychodrama) is a way of helping others by using drama or theater processes, and is given by an accredited drama therapist.

Drama gives participants an opportunity to tell their stories, set goals, solve problems, express feelings, resulting in behaviour change, skill-building and emotional growth.

eTherapy refers to therapy delivered online, through the internet.  It includes websites that provide online therapy as well as communicating with a therapist using email, or online chat sessions.  

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a treatment reported as being helpful in various conditions such as anxiety, and trauma (such as post-traumatic stress disorder).

A marriage, couple and family therapist specializes in helping concerns and problems in couple or family relationships.

Marriage, couple and family therapy can be given by any professional that has sufficient training, which usually tends to be social workers, psychologists or psychiatrists.

Unlike traditional therapy where the therapist just meets with the individual, family counselling and therapy is where the therapist meets with the individual and one or more more family members. The idea is that no matter what the difficulty is, others in the family are part of the solution and thus need to be involved in the therapy or treatment.

Hypnotherapy, which uses hypnosis to create a state of relaxation, which can thus be helpful in a variety of conditions, such as anxiety conditions (e.g. phobias).

Music therapy is the use of music by an accredited music therapist to promote, maintain, and restore mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

Play therapy uses play to communicate with and help children. Play therapy is useful for children because they naturally express themselves for play, and because they may not be able to express themselves verbally (using their words) as would be required for other types of therapy such as "talk therapies." Play therapy can be delivered by any mental health professional that has received sufficient training in it.

In Canada, it is preferable (though not always possible) to have a professional who has official training approved by the Canadian Association for Child and Play Therapy.

Solution-focused therapy (SFT) focuses on empowering individuals to find solutions in their life by figuring out what a person's goals are, and supporting them to find ways to achieve those goals. Various types of professionals may have training in SFT, and may work in counselling agencies, or in private practice.

Supportive counselling/therapy uses a person's strengths and social supports to help them focus on coping with current, issues. The focus is on the present, as opposed to the past.

Most mental health professionals are trained in this approach.

Refers to all programs that provide immediate assistance for people who are currently experiencing severe emotional distress; for any situation that is life-threatening, or poses harm to someone; or unable to cope with a problem that demands immediate attention. Crisis services help deal with the immediate crisis, and restore people back to their original (higher) level of function so that they can identify and deal with their problems.

Crisis lines offer free, immediate and confidential one-on-one assistance to callers in need and usually operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are generally staffed by either paid professionals, or trained volunteers. They will listen, offer support and advice, and if necessary, will try to help the caller get connected to help in his/her community.

There are various shelters that people can use when they have no place to go.

Emergency shelters are places for people to live temporarily when they don't have a place to stay. Emergency shelters (such as women's shelters) are primarily meant for those fleeing an abusive relationship, sexual abuse or domestic violence. Some shelters limit their clientele by gender or age.

Homeless shelters are temporary places to stay, usually meant for homeless people. Usually located in downtown areas, they are similar to emergency shelters. The main difference is that homeless shelters are usually open to anyone, without regard to the reason for need. Some shelters limit their clientele by gender or age.

Most hospitals have an Emergency Department that can help people going through mental health crises such as: 

• Thoughts of suicide or homicide (thoughts of seriously harming oneself or others)
• Conditions such as psychosis, mania or bipolar

Alternative schools are for students whose needs are not met by mainstream schools, which may occur for any variety of reasons, including students who have children, part-time jobs, or who simply have a different learning style that doesn't fit with a mainstream school. In general, alternative schools offer smaller classes, with more of an opportunity for one-on-one interaction with teachers.

In Ontario, students work on one course at a time, and can complete six or more courses in an academic year. Each classroom has 21 students who all work on individual courses, at their own pace. Contact your local school board for more information.

This describes other school/educational resources that don't cleanly fit into other categories.

Employment services refers to programs designed to help individuals find and keep a job. This is not an exhaustive list of resources and services, but highlights those which might be of interest to individuals with mental health issues.

There are various government agencies and organizations involved in mental health funding and services for children, youth and adults. This section also includes non-governmental organizations involved in mental health.