On the 25th anniversary of Action for Healthy Communities, and in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Mental Health Support initiated in July 2020 is one of the concrete resources added to enhance AHC strategies towards our contributions to build a stronger and healthier society.
The goal of the targeted AHC Mental Health Support is to facilitate interventions to improve the comprehensive and holistic health of individuals and diverse communities experiencing vulnerabilities.
As AHC has a diversity of clients (in terms of age, culture, background…), depending on the culture of each client, the topic of mental health can be extremely sensitive. In many cultures, unfortunately, needing mental health support is synonymous with weakness, lack of consciousness or disability. This need does not need to be expressed, or it must be hidden for fear of being misunderstood by others.
When seeking a mental health therapist, it’s important to find someone you are comfortable with. Mental health therapists should be trauma-informed in order not to retrigger a client’s past trauma, in addition to being aware of any of their own biases and limitations.
At AHC, we are mindful of this barrier and we focus effective ways to offer the Mental health Support needed by our clientele. The service provision at AHC is basically available in more than 15 languages. This is the reason why the participants’ first language will be taken in consideration during the process Mental Health service provision to be the most effective possible. Besides, other aspects such as the gender, the age, the culture, the background remain important points included in the specialized support offered.
A barrier to access mental health supports are the steep costs often associated with private therapy and counselling. Local agencies have recognized the increased need for free or low-cost mental health supports, and have pushed to offer them to their communities.
The Mental Health Support provided by Action for Healthy Communities is funded by the City of Edmonton, the Government of Alberta and Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
This is the reason why the Mental Health Support by AHC is provided for FREE.