For Retirees
Your benefit plan includes support from the Arete Retiree Assistance Program? Congratulations! Your benefit provider knows that while retirement is an exciting and often rewarding time, retirees and their partners can often experience new stressors during this time of significant change and transition. The program ensures that you’ll remain resilient throughout any challenges that do crop up, and will be back to enjoying your hard-earned retirement before you know it.
Call us to access support for*
- Personal counselling for issues like:
- Feelings of boredom and loneliness
- Managing grief and loss
- Feelings of loss of purpose
- Relationship changes
- Managing illness
- Guidance around things like:
- Caregiving
- Legal issues or concerns
- Financial questions
*Services may vary by plan. Contact us for plan details.

Contact Us
If you need support, call us at 1-877-412-7483 to talk to our intake team who can pair you with a professional best suited to meet your needs. You can also request support through our online form, or you can email us a question through our contact form.
Resources for Retirees
Resilience in Retirement. Check out this page for valuable articles designed to help you build resilience and stay well throughout your hard-earned retirement.
Keep Talking Videos. Check out our Keep Talking video collaboration with CTV Two featuring everyday Canadians who have faced and met the challenge of mental wellness issues.
Head Forward Podcasts. Have a look through our library of Head Forward podcasts, all aimed at building personal, professional or organizational resilience.
Here are answers to a few questions we get often:
I’m covered under the Retiree Assistance Program with Arete. What can I or my spouse/dependents expect if we request counselling support?
With Arete, you are merely a phone call or click away from confidential and professional support—whenever and however you need it.
If you or your spouse/dependents need support, you simply:
- Call us at 1-877-412-7483 and provide your certificate and policy number. You can also request support through our online form.
- Next you’ll have a confidential conversation with a member of our intake team (or complete details on the online form) who will actively listen to your concerns and work with you to identify and match you to the professional from our extensive Canadian counsellor network best suited to meet your needs.
- You will then contact the counsellor to book your first session and begin accessing support.
- Note that you can access support in person, by phone or video.
I understand that my plan includes guidance for more than just counselling. How can I or my spouse/dependents access these other supports (like guidance around legal or financial issues)?
As with counselling, you are just a phone call or click away from accessing these other confidential and professional supports—whenever and however you need them.
If you or your spouse/dependents are looking to access support other than counselling, you simply:
- Call us at 1-877-412-7483 and provide your certificate and policy number. You can also request support through our online form.
- Next you’ll have a confidential conversation with a member of our intake team (or complete details on the online form) who will actively listen to your concerns and work with you to identify and match you to the professional from our extensive Canadian network best suited to meet your needs.
- The professional will then connect with you and you’ll work together to address your issue.
Is this service confidential? I’m concerned about my member organization knowing what I’m accessing.
Respect for your privacy starts as soon as you contact us. All Arete employees are bound by a confidentiality agreement and any personal information about you is collected in accordance with privacy legislation.
After your signed consent form is returned by your counsellor, subsequent communications never include your name or other identifying information. Instead, a confidential client coding system is used to protect your privacy. Details on the nature and content of your counselling sessions cannot be shared with anyone without your written consent, and your counsellor is further governed by their professional association’s code of conduct and ethics requirements, which are in place to protect your privacy.
While your member organization may be provided with high-level, aggregate program usage reports on occasion, these reports never include any identifying information. In fact, if there is any risk of exposure at all, we simply don’t issue them because your privacy comes first.