People seeking H&C-related evaluations may be living with trauma, family separation, precarious status, mental health strain, violence, caregiving burdens, or deep establishment in Canada. A clinical evaluation can help document that human reality, clearly and with care, for potential use in a legal setting.
The role of this service is evaluative and clinical, not legal.
Humanitarian and Compassionate applications are intended for people already in Canada who seek an exemption from one or more requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or Regulations in order to apply for permanent residence from within Canada. Official guidance states that applicants must explain the exemption requested and provide sufficient and compelling reasons for it to be granted.
This website describes an Immigration Evaluation service only. It does not offer legal services, legal eligibility advice, legal strategy, or representation. Those functions belong to authorized immigration lawyers or licensed consultants.
Assessment and documentation of trauma-related symptoms, mental health concerns, functioning, vulnerability, family context, hardship, and relevant psychosocial factors connected to the referral question.
An assessment process built around your pace and your safety, designed to document your experience without retraumatizing you.
A written evaluation report that may be shared with counsel when authorized by the client and when clinically appropriate, remaining clearly within clinical scope.
Immigration evaluations are a distinct clinical task. General mental health training does not automatically prepare a clinician to document trauma in the context of humanitarian and compassionate circumstances, to navigate the boundary between clinical opinion and legal analysis, or to produce reports that hold up in a legal setting. This work requires specific preparation.
Mego Nerses is a Registered Psychotherapist with fifteen years of clinical experience working specifically with refugee and newcomer populations. He has formal training in conducting immigration evaluations and has produced PRRA and H&C reports across a range of complex cases involving trauma, family separation, persecution history, and layered vulnerability.
He trains mental health clinicians in immigration evaluation practice through workshops delivered across Canada, a reflection of the depth of his engagement with this area of work.
In 2017, Mego Nerses received the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association Humanitarian Award, in recognition of his clinical work with refugee and newcomer populations.
Evaluations are conducted in English, Arabic, and Armenian, removing a significant barrier for many of the people this work is designed to serve.
An H&C application asks IRCC to allow a person already in Canada to apply for permanent residence based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, usually by requesting an exemption from one or more requirements of the immigration law.
The consultation determines whether an Immigration Evaluation is appropriate. It is not a consultation for legal advice.
Ottawa and Toronto, Ontario | Virtual services across Ontario
Languages: English, Arabic, Armenian
Tel: (613) 266.6203
Immigration Evaluations and clinical documentation for H&C-related matters.
Answer these 5 short questions to see if therapy might help you right now.
For the time being, we will be conducting appointments exclusively through virtual means.
Thank you for your understanding.
I am an Ottawa-based Registered Psychotherapist and have a full-time private practice. In the past, I worked in social service agencies for many years. I offer individual, relationship, and sex therapy in English, Arabic, and Armenian to adults 18+, and I do not work with minors.
In 2011, I earned a master’s degree in Counselling from the University of Ottawa. I am a Registered Psychotherapist in Ontario (CRPO#001132) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario. In addition, I am a Certified Counsellor with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA#3058). My clinical training focuses on relationship and sex therapy and trauma/PTSD. Since 2013, I have been at Algonquin College as a seasonal professor, teaching courses in mental health and addiction.
I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to publish peer-reviewed articles and contribute chapters concerning Counselling, coming out, and trauma related explicitly to LGBTQ+ refugees and newcomers to Canada. I have presented numerous workshops and continue to offer trainings nationally and internationally on the mental health of LGBTQI+ and SOGIE refugees and asylum seekers.
Professional Work
Early in my professional career, I specialized in individual therapy and served clients with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and grief. Since then, I have taken my clinical work to a higher level and gained more experience in four areas: PTSD and Trauma, Sexuality and Gender Identity, Sex and Relationship Therapy, and Refugee mental health issues. I have received various trainings in these areas since choosing to specialize. As an example, I received training from Division 56, Trauma Psychology, Physicians for Human Rights, and the Global Institute of Forensic Research in writing immigration evaluations for immigration courts. Furthermore, I have completed multiple trainings in trauma/PTSD therapy and relationship therapy (Poly. Kink). I have participated in numerous training opportunities in the field of sex therapy, sexuality, and gender identity.
I am a LGBTQI+/poly/kink/CNM supportive and informed therapist.
Therapeutic approaches
In addition to Narrative Exposure Therapy for PTSD (NET), I have also been trained in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for PTSD and Experiential Therapy and Focusing. I integrate social justice and rights-based principles into my work as a trauma-informed therapist.
Awards
In recognition of my dedication to helping LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers in Canada, I received the 2017 Humanitarian Award from the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA).
AffiliationsI have an international affiliate membership with Division 56, Trauma Psychology, the American Psychological Association (APA), and the Global Institute of Forensic Research.
