“People need someone to listen to, they need to be given a plan, they need to walk out with hope.”
At Family Counselling and Support Services for Guelph-Wellington (FCSSGW), the focus is, and has long been, on mental health. The organization has existed for over 50 years, and while they’ve expanded their services greatly, this is where the group got its start.
“Our foundations are in mental health, so counselling for trauma, abuse—on both sides of the road, both the people who are being abused and the abusers. We work with children, youth, seniors, every age group,” says Joanne Young Evans, Executive Director. “Nobody is turned away for any reason, whether it’s gender, race, religion, language or ability to pay.”
Their core services have broadened to include violence against women (VAW) programming, programs for men and women who are court-ordered to attend counselling for crimes they’ve committed against their partners, child witness programs and developmental services. They also have a call-in distress line, which fielded 1,200 calls alone last month, and the call-out TeleConnect service.
FCSSGW operates four walk-in clinics across Guelph-Wellington, in Mount Forest, Harrison, Guelph and Fergus. Three are free and one operates on a sliding scale.
“We have the only walk-in clinics where you can come in, you don’t need an appointment, a referral or a diagnosis—no one needs to know you’re coming—and you can have an hour with a therapist,” says Young Evans.
Over 35% of the people who visit these clinics are either considering suicide, have attempted suicide or are considering or have done self-harm. The stakes couldn’t be higher.
“That’s important because that means there are four clinics open over four different locations on four different days of the week where people can walk in and get help,” she says. They also offer services virtually due to COVID-19.
Approximately 20% of women or people who identify as a woman who visit these clinics will tell the therapist they’ve been feeling a little depressed or stressed, but after a few minutes reveal that they are being abused. The client is moved promptly into their VAW programming, which is 100% funded by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services.
Last year one of their clinics saw 500% over their targeted capacity. “You can see the critical nature of the work that we do,” she says.
This work would simply not be possible without the partnerships formed with a number of family health teams, the local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Family & Child Services for Guelph-Wellington and other family service agencies.
“We’re a very collaborative organization and because we’re mid-sized, we’re very nimble, we can move quickly, we can adapt programming and offer it fast,” she says. “When COVID-19 hit we were doing things virtually. We never closed.”
Some clients don’t have phones or computers, they’re in abusive situations so can’t call, or they lack privacy because of their home situation. The clinics are now open again for face-to-face counselling.
“One of the things people don’t realize is our therapists are regulated health providers. They’re educated and trained the same as the psychotherapists you find in primary care, acute care and private practice,” says Young Evans. “In many ways they are much more flexible and easier to work with because of the training and skills they have in so many different modalities.”
Help might involve narrative, cognitive behavioural therapy or dialectic behavioural therapy; there are dozens to choose from and the therapist assesses which, or which combination, will work best.
In 2020, FCSSGW will connect with at least 10,000 people. And yet a number of their programs are not funded by any provincial ministry or major stakeholder; they fundraise for these because they feel they’re important to the community.
“We’ve got evidence across this province that family service agencies and the work that we do with single-session & brief therapy counselling actually reduce anxiety. After a 1-hour walk-in session, 40% of clients had reduced anxiety, 33% had a reduction of depression symptoms and 83% were attuned, or connected with their therapist,” she says. “That’s only after one session.”
Young Evans is so thankful for the funding they do have to run these four clinics across Guelph and the county. Without it, thousands would be languishing on waitlists.
While their VAW programming is completely funded by MCCSS, they are always over target. She believes there needs to be a shift in thinking.
“90-95% of the time, the root of the problem is the violence of the men. A large percentage of the men who are causing this abuse were traumatized in their childhood and were abused in some form, so then they take it out on their significant other,” she says. “We need to work with these men to stop this cycle of violence and to get them where they need to be, in a healthy state.”
The Breaking Free program they developed tackles this head-on. FCSSGW currently has no funding for it but offers it to males, females and non-binary youth aged 12 to 18. The 10-week program teaches respect and healthy ways of getting out stress, anxiety and aggression. Upon completion, the change in attitude of these kids is absolutely amazing, says Young Evans. “That’s where more emphasis needs to be placed, so we can just stop this.”
They also offer workplace wellness and Employee Assistance Programs. Counsellors help in crisis situations, offer corporate workshops and training. FCSSGW offers face-to-face, onsite counselling, a service that is increasingly hard to find, for organizations of less than five staff to over 600 or 700.
“It’s challenging right now because everybody is having mental health challenges,” says Young Evans. “Family service agencies are really awesome and without the work, we do there would be a lot more challenges in the community.”
To learn more, visit Family Counselling and Support Services for Guelph-Wellington or call 519-824-2431.