When you’re thinking about a therapist type, you’re most likely talking about their designation. Every designation has its own education and licensing specifications and, importantly, the laws overseeing them vary, sometimes province-to-province.

Designations (psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, psychotherapist / counselling therapist) are different from specializations (anxiety, depression, addiction, etc.) and the modalities they are trained in (CBT, DBT, mindfulness, etc.) —
more on those later.

You’ll need to know the difference to understand the kind of treatment you’ll receive, and your insurance coverage.