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Featured in Toronto Observer: How Hypnotherapy Addresses Mental Health Wait Times in Toronto
- Andrew Gentile
- Feb 10, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 11, 2025
So, we were recently featured in the Toronto Observer's article "Facing long wait times and high costs, many turn to hypnotherapy."
And I think it's really encouraging to see even a small local media outlet addressing what many of us in the mental health field have known for years: the lack of easily available, high-quality mental health services in Canada has become completely untenable.
This conversation is long overdue, and I'm hopeful it signals a shift toward recognizing the urgent need for accessible, effective mental health solutions.
The Mental Health Accessibility Crisis in Toronto
As demand for mental health services soars in Ontario, hypnotherapy is finally taking its rightful place as not only a viable alternative to traditional therapy, but the most effective healing modality out there for actual deep healing. In the last few years, Ontario residents and really people across Canada have been confronted with a tough situation. Lengthy wait times to access free services often stretch from months to over a year. And when they finally get to access these services, they walk away feeling like they didn't really get what they needed.
According to the Toronto Observer's reporting, a 2022 survey by CMHA Ontario found that 43 per cent of people are finding it difficult to access mental health services. This accessibility crisis has led many Toronto residents to seek alternative approaches to mental healthcare, with hypnotherapy emerging as a particularly effective option.
How We are Working to Address the Crisis
We are addressing Toronto's (and Canada's) mental health crisis on multiple fronts. Through Toronto Hypnotherapy, we continue to offer our deep holistic approach to change and healing through our comprehensive hypnotherapy sessions, holistic counselling, and our mental fitness training programs.
Toronto residents are struggling to get the mental health support they need through conventional channels, and they're finding real solutions through hypnotherapy and holistic mental health.
These approaches work directly with the subconscious mind and nervous system to create lasting transformation rather than just symptom management.
But our work extends far beyond individual sessions. What most people coming to Toronto Hypnotherapy don't realize is that through the Mandala Institute for Holistic Mental Health, we're working to change the entire landscape of mental health care, particularly in underserved populations throughout Canada.
Our approach recognizes that there's been a dangerous fragmentation in mental health care - the human experience has been reduced to clinical labels and isolated interventions when what people actually need is something far more expansive.
We're committed to nurturing good mental health as a way of being that honors the fullness of human life. This means providing spaces where individuals and communities can engage in generative frameworks that transform challenges into wisdom and foster collective well-being. We embrace the richness of each community's lived reality to build holistic, culturally responsive practices that empower people to thrive in an increasingly complex world.
Our work with Inuit communities exemplifies this approach. As Ilisapie Gordon from Iqaluit shared about our programming: "It was an amazing experience to be a part of this project, and in the company of my fellow Inuit... It is not always an easy thing on the road to healing but with guidance and education, it is so beneficial."
This culturally responsive work demonstrates how mental health support must honor each community's unique wisdom and ways of healing.
We're also training the next generation of holistic mental health practitioners through our comprehensive certification programs in holistic mental health practice and hypnotherapy.
These programs integrate humanist educational frameworks with proven holistic practices, developing practitioners who can think critically, work with cultural responsiveness, and facilitate genuine healing rather than just symptom management.
This multi-layered approach - individual healing, community transformation, and practitioner education - is how we create systemic change in mental health accessibility and effectiveness.
Why People Are Choosing Hypnotherapy Over Traditional Therapy
As I mentioned above, what we're seeing increasingly is that even when people are able to access psychotherapy or talk therapy, many find that while it may provide some relief or insight, it often doesn't help them to really resolve and heal their old issues at the deeper level they're seeking.
Hypnotherapy offers a fundamentally different approach that works directly with the subconscious mind, where our patterns, beliefs, and emotional responses are actually formed. This allows for the kind of profound, lasting change that many people have been seeking but haven't found through traditional talk therapy alone. So, Hypnotherapy isn't just an "alternative treatment", it's actually becoming an essential component of a complete mental health ecosystem.
And for Toronto residents facing mental health wait times, Hypnotherapy provides several key advantages:
Immediate availability - No months-long waiting lists
Faster, deeper results - Many clients experience significant shifts within the first few sessions
Addresses root causes - Works with the subconscious patterns that drive symptoms
Practical tools for daily life - Clients learn self-hypnosis techniques they can use independently
Cost-effective treatment - Often more affordable than ongoing private therapy sessions
The Growing Acceptance of Hypnotherapy in Toronto
As more people discover that if they want timely access to therapy, they must pay for it out of pocket, many are being driven to explore hypnotherapy - and what they're finding is that it's so much more effective than talk therapy for really changing the way you feel.
Here's the deal: Working directly with the subconscious mind is the most effective and efficient path to lasting change.
The media picking up on this is important because it validates what we've observed in our practice: when people invest in hypnotherapy, they're not just getting symptom management - they're experiencing fundamental shifts in how they think, feel, and respond to life's challenges.
The effectiveness of hypnotherapy, combined with its accessibility, is why more Toronto residents are choosing it as their primary approach to mental health and personal transformation that ever.
Our Commitment to Accessible Mental Health Solutions
True accessibility in mental health must include a focus on holistic modalities, like hypnotherapy, that help people develop the real skills they need to navigate the increasingly complex society we're living in.
Our approach recognizes that effective mental health support needs to be both comprehensive and natural - working with the mind's inherent capacity for healing and growth rather than just managing symptoms. And in our rapidly changing world, people need tools that help them build genuine resilience, emotional intelligence, and the ability to adapt and thrive amid complexity and uncertainty.
That's what real accessibility in mental health looks like.
This is why we're so committed to approaches that don't just help people cope, but that actually transform how they experience themselves and their lives.
Ready to explore how hypnotherapy can help you?
If you're among the many Toronto residents facing mental health wait times or looking for effective alternatives to traditional therapy, we're here to help.
