New View Society
Local residents coping with mental illness and poverty will soon benefit from a new Mental Wellness Centre in Port Coquitlam thanks in part to a $5,000 grant from the First West Foundation and its Envision Financial Community Endowment.
The funds will help purchase much-needed kitchen appliances and equipment for the New View Society’s 11,800 square foot mental health wellness centre. Expected to open in early spring, the Centre will provide a variety of support services to individuals and families affected by mental illness. These include daily activities for individuals such as life-skills, pre-employment training, social opportunities, recreation, a community resource library, housing and employment support as well as educational opportunities and outreach to social service agencies. The centre will also provide semi-independent housing for up to 10 individuals.
“The demand for mental health support in the Tri-Cities has grown, making the construction of this new Wellness Centre that much more critical,” explains New View Society Executive Director Jill Calder. “It will allow us to better meet the growing needs of the community while also reducing the demand on neighbouring acute health care facilities.”
Seline Kutan, executive director of the First West Foundation, adds that the cost of treating mental illness in hospitals far exceeds community treatment. “It costs approximately $200,000 a year to keep a patient with mental illness in the hospital, while supporting that same person in the community is only $34,000. Community living not only provides a five-fold savings, but it’s also more beneficial to the individual. The Foundation is proud we could support this important project.”
Currently the New View Society serves more than 500 clients on an annual basis, and 24,359 visits were logged in 2008/2009 alone. Potential clients set to benefit from the new Mental Wellness Centre include the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless; individuals coping with bereavement and social isolation; community groups and agencies; families impacted by mental illness; young adults with mental health issues who are transitioning into adulthood and seniors who are experiencing major changes or dislocation.
New View Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to sustainable mental wellness initiatives. The Society has been in operation for over 38 years and is the largest provider of mental health services in the Tri-Cities area. For more information about the Society and the Mental Wellness Centre, visit www.newviewsociety.org.
The First West Foundation provides much-needed funding to community groups in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Kitimat and Thompson-Okanagan-Similkameen regions. The Foundation works to grow its endowments through charitable gifts and philanthropic giving. The First West Foundation has donated more than $1.6 million in grants to local community groups and projects over the last 14 years.
