AT-A-GLANCE
Adults living in the South Okanagan area.
COVID-19 Surge Fund
What This Grantee Is Doing for Community Counselling
OneSky Community Resources serves residents of the Southern Okanagan who have mental health and substance use concerns. Their services are offered by counsellors and counselling interns on a sliding scale. CAI COVID-19 Surge funding supports the extension of OneSky Community Resources' counselling hours by 45-50 hours per week, the addition of a counselling intern to their team, and the expansion of their virtual counselling capacity, so that counsellors are able to connect with clients from the remote areas of the Southern Okanagan. In response to community needs, OneSky Community Resources is adding language capacity in Spanish and Punjabi.
Short-term individual counselling is offered, as well as regular rounds of group counselling and psychoeducational workshops on topics such as self-regulation and anger management, grief and loss, and coping with life transitions. As a result of the success of the program, a Counselling Clinic Director role was created in 2022 to manage the ongoing growth and development of Onesky Community Resources' counselling services.
Quote
"We have seen increased demand in counselling services from those who have experienced barriers to mental health support due to fees, location, or presenting issue. The grant has enabled us to serve clients throughout the South Okanagan through the adaptation of 85% of services to virtual services. It has also enabled us to serve victims of crime, or those who have witnessed crime, who do not qualify for CVAP. Finally, it has enabled us to serve though who have completed other community providers’ services (e.g. MHSU 6 session programs) but require ongoing mental health support to meet their goals."