The Ontario Structured Psychotherapy (OSP) program recently introduced a new “Stress and Coping” protocol, filling a gap for clients whose concerns don’t fit neatly into existing treatment categories such as depression or anxiety.
“We have protocols for depression, anxiety and related concerns — for example, post-traumatic stress and obsessive compulsive disorder concerns,” said Dr. Tejas Srinivas, Psychologist and Clinical Lead for OSP. “But sometimes, clients come in and report symptoms that may not align with one of our standard protocols.”
The new protocol was developed to support individuals experiencing acute, real-world stress — things like navigating a difficult divorce, taking on new caregiving responsibilities or facing sudden life changes. These clients may not be severely depressed or experiencing anxiety out of proportion to their circumstances, but their distress is real.
“It can be a very big deal,” said Dr. Srinivas. “Their symptoms might be quite severe and disruptive to their day-to-day lives.”
Designed as a short-term intervention — typically six sessions, though it can go up to 10 — the protocol is built to be highly customizable. It includes modules on caregiver stress, understanding emotions, unhelpful thinking styles, relaxation strategies and more.
“It’s meant to be tailored to a client’s needs,” Srinivas explained. “The client and therapist work together to choose modules that best address the challenges they’re facing.”
OSP is a provincial-level outpatient program that provides individuals who are experiencing symptoms related to depression and/or anxiety with access to free cognitive behavioural therapy services. Waypoint is one of the Network Lead Organizations for this program in Ontario.
Training for OSP therapists took place in late February, and the protocol has been available since early March. The response has been positive so far: “Therapists are very glad to have additional tools to help clients who are in need,” Srinivas said.
Unlike OSP’s protocol for generalized anxiety — where anxiety may be generalized across many domains and potentially be disproportionate to the actual stressors — this new approach is grounded in helping people cope with stress that is potentially acute and situational.
“This protocol helps clients deal with stress that may well be expected based on the psychosocial stressors they’re experiencing,” she said. “This kind of stress is not unusual; it can be acute and highly distressing, but can impact anyone over their life course.”
Clients can self-refer at therapyontario.ca or be referred by a primary care provider.
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