If you’re a social worker, school staff member, or youth justice worker considering a referral to Whistling Wind, you likely want to know more than what Action Therapy™ is — you want to know how it actually works day to day: how youth get contacted, what you can expect to hear back, how billing works, and what happens if things go wrong. This guide answers those questions directly, using the same standards Whistling Wind holds its own Action Therapists to.

A Model Built for Collaboration, Not Isolation

Action Therapy™ is explicitly designed to work alongside the systems already involved in a young person’s life, not around them. Community support and advocacy are central to the model: Action Therapists assist youth in navigating social services, education systems, justice involvement, housing, and employment. That advocacy is relational and shoulder-to-shoulder. Therapists don’t speak for youth; they make space for youth to speak for themselves, and help systems respond with respect and accountability.

Collaboration is treated as a requirement, not a courtesy. Whistling Wind works closely with social workers, caregivers, Elders, schools, and other support systems, with therapists present for case planning, transition support, and inter-agency coordination — so that a youth’s care stays consistent and grounded in both clinical and cultural safety.

How Engagement Actually Works

Rather than a fixed number of office sessions, Action Therapy™ adapts to the needs of the youth. Support typically includes:

• One-on-one therapeutic sessions rooted in narrative therapy and trauma-informed care
• Community walks, patrols, outreach, and group activities
• Cultural and land-based practices such as drumming, medicine harvesting, sweat lodge, and ceremony
• Crisis response, emotional regulation support, and real-time intervention
• Systems navigation, advocacy, and accompaniment to appointments, school meetings, or court

Every youth receives a minimum threshold of therapeutic support as the foundation of care, but engagement often grows well beyond that as trust builds. Time spent in a group circle, helping at a feast, or harvesting medicines is considered just as therapeutically meaningful as time in a formal one-on-one session.

Minimum Contact & Communication Standards

Agencies working with Action Therapists can expect defined, accountable communication:

• Action Therapists billing a full 10 hours per month maintain at least four separate contacts per month with the youth, including one-on-one sessions.
• For youth in CFS care, Action Therapists send monthly email updates to the assigned worker summarizing activities, highlights, and therapeutic meaning for the month.
• Action Therapists are required to respond to emails and phone calls from CFS workers within two business days to support collaborative case management.
• Critical Incident Reports — covering safety concerns, medical emergencies, injury, self-harm, or behavioural crises — are completed and submitted to the appropriate parties within 24 hours.
• Action Therapists are mandated reporters under provincial law. Any suspicion of abuse, neglect, or imminent harm is reported to the appropriate authorities without delay, in consultation with a Whistling Wind Director.
• If a youth is unresponsive or unwilling to engage, the Action Therapist documents at least three active engagement attempts per month and reports this in the monthly update — so agencies always know the current status, even when a youth isn’t ready.

How Group-Based Billing Stretches Support Further

Whistling Wind’s standard contract for Action Therapy™ services begins at 10 hours per month, billed at $90 per hour — $900 per month, or $10,800 annually. That baseline understates the actual therapeutic reach of the model, because of how group-based activities are billed.

When an Action Therapist leads a group activity, billed hours are split proportionally among the youth in attendance rather than charged in full to each individual. For example, if an Action Therapist leads a 6-hour land-based activity with 3 youth participating, each youth is billed for 2 hours — not 6. In practice, this means agencies working within a fixed hours-per-youth allocation can still connect youth to more frequent, more varied engagement (community patrols, sweat lodges, drum groups) without exceeding their monthly hours. Billing is limited to face-to-face contact and community support; brief phone calls or texts under 0.5 hours are not billed.

Whistling Wind submits monthly invoices using a standardized billing template, and summary reports are due one month prior to contract end and required before renewal.

Ethical & Confidentiality Framework Agencies Can Rely On

Because Action Therapy™ happens in public, community-based settings rather than a closed office, confidentiality works differently than in a traditional clinical model. Whistling Wind is explicit about where the line sits.

What’s expected and does not breach confidentiality: youth being seen participating in public activities such as patrols, ceremonies, or events; therapists collaborating internally to ensure coordinated, wraparound care.

What remains protected: personal disclosures shared by a youth in a therapeutic context; case notes, assessments, and written documentation; and any identifiable information, which is never shared on social media, publicly, or with uninvolved parties.

Confidentiality must be broken when a youth is at risk of harming themselves or others, or when abuse or neglect is suspected — in which case it is reported to Child and Family Services as required by law. Action Therapists are also held to strict non-exploitation standards: no romantic, financial, or exploitative relationships with youth or families, and no acceptance of gifts of significant value.

Training, Supervision & Accountability

Every Action Therapist completes foundational training in the model, narrative therapy, land-based and cultural engagement, and crisis intervention, then is paired with a senior mentor for shadowing, cultural mentorship, and ethical guidance. Ongoing structure includes:

• One-on-one clinical supervision with Masters-level clinicians trained in narrative therapy, social work, and Indigenous knowledge
• Team supervision circles grounded in shared reflection and ethical inquiry
• Mandatory peer collaboration circles and access to Elders and cultural advisors
• Annual ethics training, and up-to-date criminal record checks, child abuse registry checks, adult abuse registry checks, and liability insurance
• Preference for assigning new youth to therapists who participate consistently in training and collaboration circles

Overbilling, misrepresentation of hours, or breaches of the Code of Conduct are grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including contract termination. It’s a standard agencies can hold Whistling Wind to.

What Happens When a Contract Ends

Either party can cancel or terminate a service contract with 30 days’ notice, and a progress report is required before any renewal. When a therapeutic relationship with a specific youth concludes — whether planned or unexpected — Whistling Wind follows structured closure guidelines built around five principles: closing in a way that’s relational first and honours the connection built; using story-informed narrative conversation to reflect on strengths and growth; incorporating ceremony, prayer, food, or land where appropriate (culturally grounded); highlighting the relationships and spaces that remain (community-oriented); and celebrating what the youth has survived and become (strength-focused).

After formal closure, clear boundaries apply: a former Action Therapist is no longer in a therapeutic role with the youth, and any further contact must be approved by the legal guardian or agency. The broader Whistling Wind community, though, remains open. Youth are always welcome to continue joining patrol walks, drum group, sharing circles, and ceremonies, because Action Therapy™ is meant to offer not just support, but ongoing belonging.

Start a Partnership

Whistling Wind currently works alongside Manitoba Justice, school divisions, Child and Family Services, First Nations communities, and Correctional Service Canada. If you’re considering a referral or a new service contract, contact Whistling Wind to discuss your agency’s needs, or learn more about Action Therapy™ and available training and consultation options.

Action Therapy™ is a trademark of Whistling Wind Counseling and Therapy Services Inc.