Thriving Forward is a clinical mental health and transition program for autistic and neurodivergent youth aged 15–17 in Markham and York Region — designed for the years that matter most, before the cliff.

Services may be covered by your Ontario Autism Program (OAP) funding allocation

OAP Core Clinical Services — Mental Health Category

Families with an active OAP funding allocation can use it to pay for Thriving Forward. We provide detailed receipts and documentation to support your claim.

See Pricing & OAP Details

You've been navigating this system for years. We see how hard that is.

Why Thriving Forward

By the time a family reaches us, they've often been through years of assessments, waitlists, school meetings, and a constant search for professionals who truly understand their teenager. What they need — and rarely find — is someone who gets it.

We built Thriving Forward for the 15–17 window because it's the most consequential stretch of your teen's journey. OAP services are ending. School supports will soon end too. And the skills, identity, and resilience your teen brings into adulthood are being shaped right now.

This isn't generic teen therapy. It's specialized clinical work with a clinician who is deeply trained in autism, neurodivergence, and the transition to adulthood — in English, Mandarin, or Cantonese.

Does this sound familiar?

  • "My teen has tried therapy before. It didn't work — the therapist just didn't understand autism."
  • "We're terrified of the transition cliff at 18. What happens when all the supports end?"
  • "My teen knows they're different. They're struggling with who they are and where they fit."
  • "Executive functioning is falling apart and school is barely holding together."
  • "We need someone who understands our cultural background and can work in our language."

Thriving Forward: what we work on together

Clinical work with neurodivergent teens doesn't follow a rigid script. We begin with a clear treatment plan built around your teen's individual goals, and weave together four interconnected areas of growth across 12 sessions.
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Identity & Self-Understanding

Who am I as a neurodivergent person? Building genuine self-knowledge, reducing internalized shame, developing a positive autistic identity — and the self-advocacy skills to communicate needs confidently.
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Emotional Regulation & Mental Health

Working with anxiety, overwhelm, and emotional dysregulation using trauma-informed, neurodivergent-affirming approaches. Building a personal toolkit that works with your teen's brain, not against it.
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Executive Function & Life Skills

Practical, personalized strategies for planning, task initiation, time awareness, and building routines that actually stick — grounded in how autistic brains work, not generic productivity advice.
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Transition Readiness & Future Planning

Navigating post-secondary options, employment, community participation, and adult services. Building a realistic, strengths-based vision of adult life — and the concrete steps to get there.

How the 12 Sessions Unfold

We begin with a separate 60-minute parent consultation to gather history and align on goals. Then sessions 1–2 are dedicated to building trust with your teen and completing a clinical intake.

Deep work on who your teen is, how their brain works, and building the emotional tools they need. Trauma-informed, strengths-led, and always at your teen's pace.

We pause to assess progress together — clinician, teen, and parent — and adjust the treatment plan as needed for the second half of the program.

Practical skill-building and real-world application. We start mapping what comes after 18 — education, work, community, independent living — and build concrete plans.

Consolidating the work, building a personal toolkit for the years ahead, and a final joint session with parent(s) to map out next steps and ongoing support needs.

Some teens talk to us. Some talk to Emma first.

Animal-Assisted Support

For many autistic teens, walking into a therapist's office is one of the hardest things they'll do. The performative pressure of "doing therapy right," the sensory demands, the social script — it can make genuine connection nearly impossible.

Emma and Evee change that. Our trained therapy dogs are a genuine clinical resource — not a novelty. Their presence lowers the threat response, removes the pressure to perform, and creates a relational anchor that makes real work possible. Many of our most meaningful clinical moments happen when a teen is simply sitting with one of the dogs.

In-person sessions at our Markham clinic can be booked with animal-assisted support at no additional fee.

Available for in-person sessions at our Markham clinic. Let us know at booking if you'd like Emma or Evee present — we'll match your teen with the right fit.

Emma — Bernese Mountain Dog

Calm, grounding, and deeply affectionate once she warms up. Emma is a steady presence for teens who need to slow down and feel safe. She tends to settle close and stay — a natural anchor for anxious sessions.

Evee — Bernedoodle

Playful, sociable, and the first to greet clients at the door. Evee brings energy and warmth to sessions, and has a particular gift for breaking the ice with teens who arrive reluctant or shut down.

Deeply trained. Genuinely invested.

Your Clinician

Bonny brings together clinical training in trauma, neurodevelopmental conditions, and adolescent mental health with over 14 years of background in immigration law and advocacy. She is deeply familiar with the experience of navigating complex systems — and with what happens to families when those systems fail to see them clearly.

She is trilingual in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese, and has spent years working specifically with neurodivergent youth and their families in York Region's culturally diverse communities. Her approach is warm, direct, and grounded in the belief that autistic teens deserve a clinician who understands their neurology — not one who treats it as a problem to fix.

Transparent pricing. OAP-eligible.

Investment

All fees are per session. Detailed receipts are provided for every session to support your OAP expense submission through AccessOAP.

Parent Intake Consultation

$200 60 minutes · one-time

A dedicated clinical consultation with parent(s) before the teen program begins. History gathering, goal alignment, and answering all your questions about the program.

Thriving Forward Program: 12-Session Clinical Block

$225 per session · $2,700 total

The full Thriving Forward program. Includes mid-point clinical review, parent check-ins at sessions 4 and 10, and a written transition plan at program close.

Continuation & Maintenance

$210 per session · second block

For families who want to continue after the initial program. A second 12-session block at a reduced rate, or monthly maintenance sessions at $225/session.

Using your OAP funding

If your family has an active OAP core clinical services funding allocation, Thriving Forward sessions may be eligible for reimbursement under the mental health and counselling/psychotherapy category. We provide itemized receipts with all required clinical documentation. If you have questions about your specific allocation, contact AccessOAP directly at 1-833-425-2445.

What families ask us

Common Questions

For OAP-funded sessions, yes — OAP requires a confirmed autism diagnosis. For self-pay, we welcome any neurodivergent teen aged 15–17 who would benefit from this program, including those with ADHD, anxiety, or a suspected but unconfirmed diagnosis.

OAP core clinical services funding can be used for mental health services including counselling and psychotherapy, delivered by a regulated professional from an approved college. We recommend confirming your specific allocation details with AccessOAP before booking. We're happy to provide our credentials and documentation for their review.

This is one of the most common things we hear. Generic therapy often fails autistic teens because it doesn't account for how their brains actually work — it can feel pathologizing, confusing, or simply irrelevant. Thriving Forward is built entirely around neurodivergent-affirming practice. We don't try to make your teen more neurotypical. We work with who they actually are.

Yes. Bonny is fluent in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese. Sessions can be conducted entirely in your preferred language. For families who are more comfortable discussing sensitive topics in their first language, this often makes a meaningful difference in how comfortable your teen feels opening up.

Emma and Evee are available for in-person sessions at our Markham clinic — they're not always in the room unless requested or unless we feel it would help. We always ask about preferences at intake and match each client with the dog that fits best. Some teens prefer a dog-free space, and that's completely fine.

At session 12, we complete a transition plan together — a written document your teen can keep. We discuss whether continuation makes clinical sense, and if so, offer a second 12-session block or monthly maintenance sessions. Some families transition to other supports; we can help navigate referrals and next steps as needed.

Your teen deserves support that actually understands them.

We offer a free 15-minute parent consultation call to answer your questions and help you decide if Thriving Forward is the right fit.

No obligation. Appointments available in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.