3 minute read
Canadian Mental Health Association
300-1835 LONSDALE AVE., NORTH VANCOUVER
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Our work in the community
Over the past few years, the need for mental health support has been amplified and the gaps in services became chasms. At CMHA, we responded to the need by increasing our scope of programs and services and offered them in varying formats to best suit and reach the members of our community. Over the last two years, our low or no-cost counselling program added virtual or walk-in sessions. We also initiated a mobile civilian-led team that responds to crisis calls related to mental health and/ or substance use on the North Shore. Peer Assisted Care Team (PACT) launched on Nov. 4, 2021, and to date, we have fielded over 670 calls for help. It is available Thursday-Sunday 6 p.m. 12 midnight in English and Farsi. Another exciting social innovation that is coming in the spring of 2023 is Recovery College. This in-person and virtual program is being offered in partnership with Vancouver Coastal Health’s Consumer Involvement and Initiatives Program and CMHA Vancouver Fraser. Recovery College will provide an innovative learning space where anyone can access free courses, webinars, workshops, and events to learn, gain new skills, and connect with others in their community. Through supportive housing programs, our youth recreation program, weekly social support groups led by peers, low or nocost counselling, peer support, indigenous community wellness, and employment programs, we support those living with mental illness to navigate their road to recovery.
Testimonial
Outreach Client and recent refugee: Bita is a CMHA Outreach Worker. The client is describing the relief at knowing she wouldn’t have to go through the pain of retelling her story again. “My purpose is not to say what services and help Bita gave me. The money for the room rent, the bus ticket, or even the biscuit she gave me at the last moment were not material; they were love and support. They were humanity. ”
Recent Story
“When thinking of ‘ success ’ stories, I immediately think of two young women in the Steps group. One had been in the group for the past two years and the other joined us halfway through this session. Both struggle with social anxiety as well as depression, and usually keep to themselves out of school. Though they both go to the same high school, they are in different grades and had never met before. They now are extremely close friends that hang out often and offer wonderful mental health support to each other. ” - Elysia Dalgarno, STEPS Program Coordinator
Ways to support
Access our Services: northwestvancouver.cmha.bc.ca/programs-and-services DONATE to assist with growing community needs: northwestvancouver.cmha.bc.ca/donate Volunteer with CMHA NWV: northwestvancouver.cmha.bc.ca/volunteer Subscribe to our Newsletter: northwestvancouver.cmha.bc.ca/get-involved/e-newsletter
Mission Statement: To ensure that all people in Canada experience good mental health and well-being. We strive to provide responsive, impactful, and high-quality programs and services. We believe it is important to understand mental health needs through different lenses and worldviews.
Our People
Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is a federated charity, which means that we are a collective of organizations bound together by a brand and mission. Locally, CMHA North & West Vancouver (NWV) branch serves the communities of the North Shore, Sunshine Coast, and Sea-to-Sky corridor. Many of our team, staff, volunteers, and board of directors, have lived experience of mental illness. Together with our partners, supporters and donors, we are dedicated to improving quality of life and decreasing inequity. CMHA NWV Values: Agency, Connection, Integrity, Kindness and Social Innovation.
Facts
In any given year, one in five people in Canada will personally experience a mental health problem or illness. By the age of 40, about 50 per cent of the population will have or will have had a mental illness. CMHA envisions a Canada where mental health is a universal human right, a right that is free from stigma.
- A PACT CLIENT
contact us
telephone 604 987 6959 email northshore@cmha.bc.ca website northwestvancouver.cmha.bc.ca
