Sibling co-founders of NWOCC Kaylee Heyens-McMahon and Brady Heyens celebrated their grand reopening at their new location at 209 Scott St. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
FORT FRANCES – Mental health care options are growing in the town as Northwestern Ontario Counselling and Consulting (NWOCC) expands its team of clinicians and its physical space.
On May 28, sibling co-founders Kaylee Heyens-McMahon and Brady Heyens celebrated their grand reopening at their new location at 209 Scott St. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“Part of our mission is de-stigmatizing mental health services in our town, in our area, so we wanted people to be able to walk into the therapy office right off of Scott Street, just like they walk into the eye doctor or the dentist” said Heyens-McMahon who is also a registered psychotherapist.
NWOCC and their growing team of 20 clinicians quickly outgrew their former rental space which was located at 399 Scott St., according to Heyens-McMahon. She added that the space was attached to a salon, with many unaware that their business was there, too.
“We were renting three offices, and we needed a lot more space so now we have seven offices and a boardroom” she said.
This growth, along with their virtual counselling that is accessible to all of Ontario allows them to continue to take new patients.
NWOCC officially moved into the building on April 1 of this year. The new space is also fully-accessible, which Heyens-McMahon called a very important change.
Mayor Andrew Hallikas performed the ribbon-cutting, and said that they have an ideal location in the middle of the downtown core to improve access.
“Right now, across Ontario, every community is suffering from the challenges of homelessness and addictions and of course, mental health struggles (…) They’re filling a critical gap because they’ve really expanded and are providing now a wide range of counselling and mental health services” said Hallikas.
He continued that “the way that they’ve done this kind of hybrid model of having in-person specialists and then additional specialists online so that they can expand their services that they offer is really innovative, and is really good for us.”
The open house and grand reopening offered guests a chance to learn about their services and tour the space, which used to be A Buck or Two!
NWOCC began in 2023 as a virtual counselling service between the Heyens-McMahon and her brother, Brady Heyens. They started offering in-person services in 2024, and purchased 209 Scott St. in 2025, finishing renovations and moving in last month.
More information is available on their website.