Strength Through Journey offers counselling and psychotherapy for adults, couples, children, youth, and families — and 1:1 in-home ABA behaviour support for children with autism.
Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge · Virtually across Ontario
A calm place to begin, at a pace that feels manageable.
Life can feel heavy when stress, big emotions, behaviour challenges, or a new diagnosis start affecting home, school, work, or relationships. You do not have to sort through it alone.
At Strength Through Journey, we take time to understand you and your family first — your story, your strengths, and what you want to be different — then build practical next steps together.
Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)
Shagun is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) at Strength Through Journey in Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge. For more than six years she has supported children, youth, adults and families — including people living with acquired brain injury (ABI), autism and neurodivergence, and complex special needs — across home, school and community settings.
Her approach is compassionate, strengths-based and personalized: practical support and counselling that meet each person and family where they are.
Our Services
Two distinct services, each with its own path.
Support for adults, couples, children, youth, and caregivers working through anxiety, stress, substance use, emotional regulation, life transitions, and relationship challenges. Sessions are compassionate, strengths-based, and tailored to you — never one-size-fits-all.
Learn more →Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) for children with autism: individualized 1:1 in-home support that builds communication, independence, and daily living skills, with parents and caregivers involved at every step — OAP funding accepted.
Learn more →
Why choose Strength Through Journey
Rebuilding routines, confidence, and independence after injury.
Support for communication, conflict, and connection.
Support that honours how you think, learn, and experience the world.
Care for the whole family, not just one person in it.
Practical ways to calm overwhelm and feel steadier day to day.
Understanding big feelings — and what helps when they rise.
Attention, organization, and follow-through, at school and at home.
Space for the people who are usually holding everyone else up.
Easing school anxiety, homework battles, and stressful mornings.
Steady support through moves, school changes, and other big changes.
A brief first call to talk about what you are hoping for, and whether this feels like the right fit.
We learn about you, your child, or your family — your strengths, and the changes that matter most to you.
Sessions begin with clear, practical goals, and we review progress together along the way.
Rates, insurance coverage, and OAP funding are explained in full in one place — before any service begins, so cost is never a surprise.
Book a free 15-minute consultation to explore fit, ask questions, and talk about next steps — no pressure and no obligation.
Book a Free Consultation
Shagun Jariwala is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) at Strength Through Journey, based in Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge, Ontario. Her work brings together two closely connected fields — psychotherapy and Applied Behaviour Analysis — which gives her a distinctive perspective. She understands behaviour, emotions, and relationships together, and supports the whole person within the context of their everyday life — working with children, youth, and adults, as individuals, couples, families, and caregivers.
Shagun has more than six years of experience supporting children, youth, and adults across homes, schools, daycares, community programs, rehabilitation services, and clinic settings. She has worked extensively with children and youth with autism and other forms of neurodivergence, designing and overseeing individualized behaviour programs that build communication, independence, school readiness, and daily living skills. She partners closely with parents and caregivers in this work, coaching them on strategies they can use confidently between sessions, because she believes families are the most important part of any child’s team.
Her experience also includes supporting adults living with acquired brain injury (ABI) as they rebuild routines, independence, and confidence after injury, and providing behaviour support to adults with complex needs in community settings. Across every setting, the same thread runs through her work: careful observation, genuine warmth, and practical plans that fit real life rather than adding to its pressures.
Shagun has guided hundreds of families through the first steps of getting support — from the initial phone call and intake, through assessment and program planning, to ongoing progress reviews. She has supervised and mentored instructor therapists, collaborated with speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, educators, and other professionals on shared care teams, and presented clients’ progress to interdisciplinary teams. Clients, families, and caregivers often tell her the intake process felt clear and unhurried — she takes time to listen first, explain options honestly, and answer questions in plain language.
In her psychotherapy practice, Shagun works with individuals, couples, families, and caregivers — children, youth, and adults experiencing anxiety, stress, emotional overwhelm, burnout, relationship difficulties, and difficult life transitions. Her counselling includes relationship counselling for couples, alongside support for adults coming on their own and for caregivers. Her approach is compassionate, strengths-based, and personalized — never tied to a single method. Drawing on her foundation in behaviour science, she helps clients notice the patterns shaping their thoughts, feelings, actions, and relationships, then turn insight into small, practical next steps: calming overwhelm, strengthening coping skills, improving communication, setting boundaries, and building steadier routines. She has a particular interest in supporting neurodivergent individuals and their families, and in helping caregivers — who so often put themselves last — find support of their own.
Shagun offers sessions in English, Hindi, and Gujarati, and she values working with individuals, couples, families, and caregivers from diverse cultural backgrounds, including South Asian individuals and families navigating support systems in Canada for the first time.
How we walk with you
Warm, unhurried, and built around your goals.
A warm, supportive space to slow down and feel understood.
When stress starts spilling into your sleep, work, relationships, school, or family life, talking with someone who understands can help you find steadier ground. Counselling here is for adults, couples, children, youth, and families — on your own, in your relationships, or as a family — and includes relationship counselling for couples, support for caregivers feeling burnt out, and steady help through anxiety, substance use, workplace and academic stress, life transitions, and life after acquired brain injury (ABI).
Unhurried sessions, practical strategies you can use day to day, and steady support between one step and the next. Care is compassionate, strengths-based, and personalized — shaped around your story and your goals, at a pace that feels manageable, whether you come on your own, as a couple, or as a caregiver.
For rates, receipts, and what your plan may cover, see Fees & Funding — everything about cost sits there, in one place.
Individualized 1:1 support, right in your home.
Strength Through Journey provides ABA therapy for children with autism — individualized 1:1 in-home ABA behaviour support, with OAP funding accepted — where everyday skills are learned and used. Every program is built around your child's strengths, your family's priorities, and goals that make daily life easier and more joyful.
Behaviour therapy is provided under the supervised practice of a Registered Behaviour Analyst (RBA).
A free call to learn about your child, your goals, and your funding.
Goals are set together and an individualized program is designed for your child.
A trained therapist works with your child in your home, following the program and collecting data at every session.
You receive regular updates on your child's progress, and goals are reviewed and adjusted as your child grows.
For how OAP funding and self-pay are arranged, see Fees & Funding.
Every new client begins with a free 15-minute consultation. It is a chance to share what you are looking for, ask questions, and explore fit — with no obligation to book.
Rates are discussed during the consultation, before any service begins, so you can make an informed decision with no surprises. If you have questions about cost before booking, you are welcome to ask when you contact us.
Payment is accepted by e-Transfer and major credit cards. Receipts are provided for all payments.
Psychotherapy services are provided by a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) practising under clinical supervision. Services may be eligible for reimbursement under most extended health insurance plans that cover Registered Psychotherapists. An official receipt is provided for every paid session for your insurance claim. Because every plan is different, please confirm your coverage with your insurance provider.
OAP funding is accepted for ABA behaviour services. Behaviour therapy is provided under the supervised practice of a Registered Behaviour Analyst. Tell us about your funding during the consultation and we will explain the arrangement before services begin.
Answers, grouped by the service you are asking about.
Getting Started
Children, youth, and adults — including parents and caregivers.
Rates are discussed during the free consultation, before any service begins, so there are no surprises.
No. If you or someone you love is in crisis, please call 911, go to your nearest emergency department, or call or text 988 (Canada's Suicide and Crisis Helpline), available 24/7.
Psychotherapy / Counselling
Psychotherapy services provided by a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) may be eligible for reimbursement under most extended health insurance plans that cover Registered Psychotherapists. We provide an official receipt for every session. Please confirm your specific coverage with your insurance provider.
It means Shagun is registered with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario and practises under the clinical supervision of an experienced Registered Psychotherapist while completing the remaining requirements for full registration. It is the standard pathway for newly registered psychotherapists in Ontario.
Psychotherapy sessions are offered virtually across Ontario.
English, Hindi, and Gujarati.
Yes. Relationship counselling for couples offers a supportive space to work on communication, navigate conflict, and strengthen connection — whether you are going through a difficult patch or want to understand each other better.
Adults come to counselling for many reasons, including anxiety, stress, substance use, caregiver burnout, and life transitions — as well as low mood, relationship challenges, and workplace or academic pressure. You do not need to have the words for it before you start.
ABA & Family Support
Yes — we provide individualized 1:1 in-home ABA behaviour support for children with autism, provided under the supervised practice of a Registered Behaviour Analyst. OAP funding is accepted, and it starts with a free 15-minute consultation.
Yes. Ontario Autism Program funding is accepted for ABA behaviour services, which are provided under the supervised practice of a Registered Behaviour Analyst.
ABA behaviour support is provided 1:1 in your home in Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge and surrounding areas.
Articles and guides for individuals, couples, families, and caregivers — practical reading on counselling, behaviour support, and family life.
Autism & Neurodivergence
2026 · Child Psychiatry & Human Development
Most autism treatment studies measure progress in clinics or on school playgrounds. This one rated children's social behaviour from video recorded at home — where everyday life actually happens.
Read more →Autism & Mental Health
2026 · Journal of Counseling Psychology
Autistic adults frequently live with co-occurring mental-health conditions, yet psychotherapy is rarely designed with them in mind. This study explores how therapists experience and navigate that work.
Read more →Autism & Mental Health
2026 · Practice Innovations
Functional Analytic Psychotherapy works with the therapeutic relationship itself as the place where change happens. This article sets out how it can be applied in neuroaffirming ways with autistic adults.
Read more →ADHD
2026 · Psychoanalytic Psychology
Many adults arrive in therapy with an established ADHD diagnosis — but not every attentional difficulty works the same way underneath. This article looks beneath the diagnosis.
Read more →Neurodiversity & Harm Reduction
2026 · Addiction Research & Theory
Gambling harm is an emerging public-health concern, and neurodivergent people may face particular risks services barely understand yet. This assessment reviews what is known — and what isn't.
Read more →Caregiver Support
2025 · Journal of Affective Disorders
"Caregiver burden" is usually treated as one heavy score — but burden has parts, and they don't all weigh on a caregiver's mood the same way. This analysis maps which parts connect most strongly to depression.
Read more →Autism & ADHD
2023 · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Autistic youth experience mental-health difficulties at high rates, and effective psychotherapies exist — yet many never receive them. This study surveyed 557 clinicians about why.
Read more →Substance Use & Families
2023 · Industrial Psychiatry Journal
When a family member lives with alcohol dependence, caregivers carry much of the weight. This study asked what happens to that weight when the person enters treatment.
Read more →Brain Injury & Caregivers
2021 · Rehabilitation Psychology
A brain injury arrives suddenly — and so does the stress of caring for someone living with one. This review gathered 12 studies of remote, mostly online, support for TBI caregivers.
Read more →Culture & Therapy
2006 · Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training
Cultural competence is often reduced to a checklist of group differences. This widely cited article argues for something deeper: understanding what is at stake in a family's own world.
Read more →
Shagun Jariwala
Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)
At Strength Through Journey in Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge. For more than six years she has supported children, youth, adults and families across home, school and community settings.
Book a free 15-minute consultation to talk about your own situation — no pressure and no obligation.
These articles are for education only and are not a substitute for therapy or individualized advice.
Your first step is a free, unhurried conversation.
Based in Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge
Strength Through Journey is based in Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge, with in-home ABA support across Waterloo Region and the surrounding area, counselling in person locally and virtually across Ontario, and families served throughout the GTA and southwestern Ontario.
Kitchener · Waterloo · Cambridge · Guelph · and surrounding communities
Counselling is offered virtually across Ontario, and in-home family support is arranged across the region — if your community isn’t listed, ask us.
Virtual services available across Ontario.
Not for emergencies: If you are in crisis, call 911 or call/text 988 (Suicide and Crisis Helpline, Canada) — available 24/7. Please do not include detailed medical records in the contact form.
How we handle the information you share with us.
Effective: November 11, 2026
Last updated: November 14, 2026
Your privacy matters to us, and protecting it is part of our professional duty — not just good practice. This page explains, in plain language, what we collect through this website and in care, why, how long we keep it, and the choices and rights you have. If anything here is unclear, please ask — we are happy to explain.
Strength Through Journey is operated by Strength Through Journey Inc., an Ontario corporation. Clinical services are provided by Shagun Jariwala, a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) regulated by the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO). Psychotherapy services are provided in supervised practice, under the clinical supervision of an experienced Registered Psychotherapist, while the remaining requirements for full registration are completed.
Strength Through Journey Inc. is the health information custodian for personal health information collected through the practice under Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA). That law — together with CRPO’s professional standards — governs how your personal health information is collected, used, stored, and shared.
For any privacy question, request, or concern, contact the practice at care@strengththroughjourney.com. We serve Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge in person and clients virtually across Ontario.
This website collects very little — by design:
That is all. This site sets no marketing, advertising, or analytics cookies and uses no trackers that follow you around the internet. Visiting these pages does not build a profile of you.
Please do not send sensitive details through the form or by email. Do not include detailed personal health information, health histories, health card numbers, financial details, or documents in a form submission or an introductory email. A short note about what kind of support you are looking for is enough — sensitive details are discussed safely once care begins.
Information you send through this website is used only to:
If you become a client, information about your care is used to provide, plan, and review that care. We never sell or rent your personal information, and we never use it for marketing mailings. We will only contact you about the inquiry or care you asked about.
By submitting the contact form (including ticking “You may contact me about this inquiry”), you consent to us contacting you back about that inquiry, using the details you provided. Submitting a form is consent to be contacted — it is not consent to treatment, and it does not start therapy.
You can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing care@strengththroughjourney.com and asking us to stop contacting you or to delete your inquiry. Withdrawing consent does not affect anything already done with your information before you withdrew it, and it does not remove information we are required by law or by CRPO to keep in a clinical record.
Consent for treatment itself — including how your health information will be used in care — is discussed and confirmed with you directly at the start of services, before therapy begins.
What you share in therapy is confidential. Your information is not shared outside your care without your consent, except in the limited situations where Ontario law and professional standards require or permit disclosure. It is important that you know those limits plainly:
These limits are reviewed with you at the start of therapy, so there are no surprises. Wherever it is possible and safe to do so, we will let you know before information is shared.
Email and website forms are convenient, but they are not fully secure. Messages can pass through systems outside our control, and there is always some risk when personal information travels electronically. Please keep form messages and introductory emails brief and general, as described in Section 2 above. Once you are a client, we will talk with you about the safest ways to share more detailed information.
Contacting this practice — by form, email, or phone — does not by itself create a therapeutic relationship. A therapeutic relationship begins only once intake is complete and services have formally started.
This website and its forms are not monitored for emergencies. If you are in crisis, call 911 or call/text 988 (Suicide and Crisis Helpline, Canada) — available 24/7 — or go to your nearest emergency department. Please do not wait for a reply to a form or email in an emergency.
Clinical records: If you become a client, your clinical record is kept for at least 10 years from your last interaction with the practice — or, if you were under 18, for at least 10 years after your 18th birthday — whichever is later, as required by CRPO and PHIPA. When that period ends, records are securely destroyed.
Website inquiries: A message sent through this website that does not become part of a clinical record is kept only as long as needed to respond to you and keep a simple record of the correspondence, and is then deleted. If you would like an inquiry you sent us deleted sooner, contact us and we will remove it, unless we are required by law to keep it.
We use reasonable administrative, physical, and technical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of health information — such as access limited to those who need it for your care, password-protected systems, and care in how records are stored and transmitted. No system is perfect, but protecting your information is treated as a core professional obligation.
Like most small practices, we rely on service providers who process information on our behalf and only for that purpose — for example, our website host, our form-delivery service (which emails form submissions to the practice), and our email provider. Those providers have their own security and privacy practices, and some may store or process information on servers located outside Canada, where it may be subject to the laws of that jurisdiction. By using this website and contacting us electronically, you understand that this processing may occur.
We do not share your information with service providers for their own marketing or any purpose unrelated to running this website and responding to you.
You have the right to:
Start with us. Contact the practice at care@strengththroughjourney.com and we will respond and work to resolve your request or concern.
If you are not satisfied, you may also contact the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario about how your personal health information was handled under PHIPA. Concerns about professional conduct may be raised with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO). You do not need our permission to contact either body.
For personal information that is not health information (for example, a simple website inquiry before any care begins), Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) may also apply, alongside PHIPA.
We may update this policy from time to time — for example, if our services, providers, or legal obligations change. The current version will always be posted on this page, with its Effective date shown at the top. Significant changes will be reflected here before they take effect for new information we collect.
If you have any questions about this policy or about how your information is handled, please contact us at care@strengththroughjourney.com and we will be glad to help.