September 25, 2024 • 41 mins
In the first episode of A Way Forward Podcast: Conversations on Mental Health, presented by Beem Credit Union, Jessica Samuels covers the topic of Youth Mental Health with CMHA Kelowna CEO Mike Gawliuk and the need for more mental health resources and support for young people. The conversation focuses on the importance of early intervention and how providing mental health services sooner can have a lasting impact on youth as they transition into adulthood.
Mike shares his expertise on the current state of youth mental health in Kelowna, emphasizing that many mental health struggles can be mitigated or addressed with timely and adequate resources. The episode also explores the critical role that youth dedicated organizations, school, and families play in advocating for more accessible mental health programs and the long-term benefits of investing in early intervention.
The episodes wraps up with a discussion of programs and resources available for young people as they manage their mental health challenges.
**Key Topics Discussed:**
- The current gaps in mental health resources for youth
- The importance of early intervention in preventing long-term mental health issues
- How early support can help ease the transition from adolescence into adulthood
- The role of CMHA Kelowna/Foundry Kelowna in advocating for youth mental health
- How youth dedicated programs, schools, parents, and communities can collaborate to provide better mental health support
- How parents and caregivers know when to see out supports for youth
- Real-life stories of impact and success when intervention happens early
- Programs and resources that are available
**Resources Mentioned:**
- Foundry Central (provincial entity, Foundry Virtual)
- Foundry Kelowna (operated by CMHA Kelowna)
- ARC Programs (Family Connections Centre)
- The Upstream Project (Boys and Girls Club Okanagan)
- The Bridge Youth Services
**General Mental Health Resources:**
If you or someone you know is struggling, CMHA Kelowna's Find Help Now page has a list of emergency and non-emergency resources for individuals of any age. CMHA Kelowna - Find Help Now
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jessica Samuels (00:00):
Hello. I'm Jessica Samuels, and welcome to
A Way Forward, a podcast by BeemCredit Union. This podcast
covers the mental healthchallenges that we all face each
and every day and impact ourbroader community. Today's topic
is youth mental health, and CMHAKelowna CEO, Mike Gawliuk, joins
me. On today's episode, we'restarting with youth mental
(00:26):
health and youth mental illness.
Mike, this is a broad topic, onethat impacts so many, but we
actually wanted to kick offepisode 1 with this topic for
quite a few reasons. One ofthem, and I'm going to throw a
stat right away, and I don'tlike to open with stats, but the
reason that I'm doing that isbecause this has always been
(00:47):
such an impactful stat to me.75% of mental illnesses, so
these are individuals who arestruggling with mental
illnesses, and it's kind of thatbroader, larger, topic than
mental health, emerges beforethe age of 25. And interestingly
enough, it's young people aged12 to 25 who are not getting the
(01:11):
help they need. This stat blowsme away.
This is something in yourdecades of working in this
industry. This is something youknow quite a lot about.
Mike Gawliuk (01:21):
Yeah. I can certainly speak to a few of
those decades and my path toCMHA. I spent the 1st 10 years
of my career, working with youngpeople. Mhmm. In particular
young people at risk and andthose on the streets, and in
2,000 and 13, I made a move overto CMHA and, I recognized a lot
(01:46):
of people.
They were younger, when I knewthem, in the youth world, and
they were certainly, in a littlebetter condition than I saw them
at CMHA and right then and thereit kinda hit me in the face
that, what we're doing isn'tworking. And we need to spend
(02:10):
more time, more attention, moreenergy, and ultimately more
resources on young people, sothat we can prevent, them from
ending up in a situation like,the unfortunate situations I was
seeing for some of the peoplethat we were supporting here at
CMHA.
Jessica Samuels (02:28):
Mhmm. So you saw them when they were younger,
then you saw them later at CMHAas adults. And you really notice
that that change and and howthey were managing
Mike Gawliuk (02:40):
Yeah.
Jessica Samuels (02:40):
Negative it was a negative change is what you're
saying.
Mike Gawliuk (02:42):
What I'm saying is they were, you know, they were
struggling
Jessica Samuels (02:45):
Yeah.
Mike Gawliuk (02:46):
In terms of, managing their mental health. It
was clear that that wasn'twasn't happening. And the the
different scenarios from peoplethat struggled to have a roof
over their their head to thoseyoung people that I knew that
(03:07):
maybe I knew them back when andthey were employed. Now
struggling so much that the ideaor thought of a job just wasn't
possible. And again, just makesyou go.
What could we have done backthen that might have made it a
little bit better for them now?
Jessica Samuels (03:25):
So are you going to go as far as saying
that had we done something backthen, gotten them the help they
need a little earlier, theywould not be in. Would they be
fine? Would they not bestruggling at all? Or it might
just look differently?
Mike Gawliuk (03:40):
I I mean, there's a huge argument for, early
intervention and prevention and,certainly not having a crystal
ball, not going to be able tosay that this is exactly what
would happen. But what is knownand what is understood is that
an investment in, prevention andearly intervention allows for,
(04:03):
young people to get diagnosedproperly. It allows for them to
start receiving, treatmentsooner. It allows, for them to
work forward and, address someof those issues that are
ultimately there. Now thatassumes that we have a
functional and cohesive systemof care that, provides the
(04:26):
opportunities to do that.
But I would say ultimately, frommy start in 2013 to where we are
today, the world is far fromperfect, but some of the
initiatives that have happenedin this organization and
ultimately in this community area nod to, you know, prevention
(04:49):
and early intervention. So Iwould say absolutely, it would
make a difference for those thatI I saw, when I first came to
the organization.
Jessica Samuels (04:58):
Use the term investment in care and and what
I'm hearing that is is dollars,people, programs. This is a this
is a tough nut to crack. Youmentioned the health care system
that it's no secret. And I thinka lot of folks, whether you're
in this sector or they're not inthis sector, would recognize it
is far from perfect. So this isa big ask.
Mike Gawliuk (05:21):
Well, I think it's a big ask, but I think, you
know, I think we're really goodat. Spending money to address
emergencies. When we could havean opportunity to spend money to
prevent that emergency fromhappening in the first place.
(05:42):
And that's really the ideabehind prevention. Yes, it's a
big ask, but ultimately as welook at what's going on you know
across our province across ourcountry and the struggles that
we're having currently.
I would suggest that what dothey say about a little bit of
(06:02):
prevention is where the pound ofcure. I would suggest that that
investment is absolutelynecessary at this point in time
to to prevent future generationsfrom ending up in the spot where
we're in now. And it's not aneither it's it's not an either
or it's an all land. The realityis we need resources. We need
(06:26):
the people to ultimately do thework and we need to make the
investment so that we're notseeing the next generation of
unhoused adults, on the railtrail.
So that we're seeing peoplethat, are successfully, finding
and keeping a job. And for thosethat are part of our social
(06:48):
fabric and have the connection,like, it's absolutely essential
and necessary.
Jessica Samuels (06:53):
You know, that those terms early intervention
and prevention, they're they'recommon in in the medical, so
health care, mental health care,it's the same system. What
strikes me is is is if we take alook at kind of more that that,
medical physical health, just tokind of draw that line between
the two right now, Earlyintervention looks like
(07:16):
something very specific. Youhave a lump, you have a crack,
you have symptoms, it means XYZ.What's interesting to me about
this, and I have to wonder ifthere's folks out there,
caregivers, parents, saying,Okay, how how do we know when to
intervene early when it comes tothings like mental health, but
(07:41):
youth mental health. And so itleads me to the next question is
is I keep thinking of, like,this teen angst.
Like, is is that a realconsideration? Is is is or is
that just being flippant aboutthe struggles that young people
are are facing?
Mike Gawliuk (07:54):
Well, I think, you know, in terms of identifying
what, what differentiates teenangst from something that could
be more serious and require someform of intervention is really
taking a look at the impact andand any changes in that young
person's life. Right? Whetherthat's a change in
(08:16):
relationships, whether that's achange in things like sleeping
patterns, you know, eatingpatterns like significant
changes that are different than,and and that they would they
would normally see. Those arethings that tell you that maybe
(08:39):
it's time to take a closer look.What I would say to those
parents and caregivers as wellas through it you may not know.
What I would encourage iscontinue to have a relationship
with your child, be supportive,engage, like you normally would.
Let them know that you careabout them and that you're there
(09:01):
for them. And if you're reallycurious or really concerned or
starting to worry about some ofthose changes that you're
seeing, that's when you mightreach out to a place like
Foundry and ask to speak withone of our family navigators to
just really, talk about what'shappening. They can help to give
(09:22):
some perspective. They might beable to give you a little bit
more information on other thingsto look for and questions to
ask.
They may also talk to the parentor caregiver about how they're
taking care of themselves.Because oftentimes, you know,
when when it's your child orsomeone that you love, and you
see them struggling, that takesa significant toll on people
(09:45):
emotionally. And part of thework and part of the the focus
of, you know, parents andcaregivers is taking care of
themselves in the face of thesesometimes really uncomfortable,
scary times in order that theycan be the best support that
they can be as well.
Jessica Samuels (10:03):
We're going to talk about some of those
programs. We're going to talkabout foundry and and the
resources, not only throughCMHA, Kelowna, but across the
province, foundry being one ofthem. I'm going to just go back
as well. And I wanna ask, howtough question. How is life
impacting youth?
So when I think back in the daywhen I was a young, and and and
(10:27):
also to qualify, in thisinstance, youth is 12 to 25.
This is the reference that we'remaking for purposes of this
conversation. How many times, Idon't know if you're like me,
how grateful I am that we didnot have social media. Like, you
know, I just had to rely on myparents' and my friends' memory
and that's it. So, and I don'twanna demonize a single thing as
(10:48):
the single problem, but whatimpact is the world having on,
amplifying that teen angstamplifying the the negative teen
or youth mental health?
Mike Gawliuk (11:01):
Yeah. Well, I think overall right now, the
world's in a really concerningplace And I think, there's so
many different factors that areover overlapping and
intersecting that are, you know,causing anxiety and and that
angst you speak to certainlysocial media. You know the
(11:26):
world's a whole lot faster nowthan it was back when we were
younger because it wasn't justright in front of us what was
going on in the world. You knowthe issues that come with
technology and social media likecyberbullying, that becomes a
huge issue. The whole reality oflike social media and personal
(11:51):
image, right?
And how that can influencethings. I think it it I think it
plays a significant role and andI think you know, certainly as
I've seen in our school districtin terms of having, technology
in the classroom, there's beensome limits that have been put
(12:11):
on that. And ultimately, I thinkthat speaks to the reality that,
technology and ultimately socialmedia is one of the factors that
is impacting young people. Ithink there's many others that
are at play as well.
Jessica Samuels (12:26):
Climate, harder to get ahead. You know, you
think about the things, youknow, things that I struggled
with when I was coming up. I waslike, if I am I ever going to
own a home? Mhmm. Because thatwas a benchmark.
I wonder is that even abenchmark for young people now
because it doesn't matter orbecause it's just not
attainable? I mean, housingaffordability is another topic
(12:47):
for another episode. But alsothose those just yeah. How hard
it is to get ahead.
Mike Gawliuk (12:53):
For sure. I mean, I have a I have a 22 year old,
and I can tell you theconversations that we have about
the chance of him having a home.It's not very, it's not very
optimistic. Right? Like, and theability to, just be able to
afford to live is is such animpact that causes causes stress
(13:19):
and causes anxiety.
There's no doubt that that thatplays on on on things and
impacts young people's concerns.You know again we're also in a
climate emergency. That isanother factor that, young
people, think about on theirminds and it's something that
again you feel like you youdon't have a whole lot of
(13:40):
control over, but certainly cancause, angst, worry, concern, no
doubt about
Jessica Samuels (13:49):
that. Something that you and I have talked about
in the past, something that wecan examine as well is the
impact of the pandemic. Now, I'mnot someone who would like to,
years decades later, like toblame all of the ills on the
world of the world on thepandemic. I think there's also a
danger of underestimating theimpact on ourselves as adults,
(14:14):
but certainly some reallyformative for young people
during some really formativetimes in their lives. And so
talk about that, about that, thekind of the isolation piece,
being a young person.
I mean, I lived in it's my ownexperience. Right? So I'm just
talking about myself. I livedand died, but which friends I
(14:34):
was going to see at school thatday and kind of that connection
and tell them that story. Andthere was a significant chunk of
time where that just was not afact of life.
Mike Gawliuk (14:44):
Yeah. Well, and I think it ties into what we spoke
about earlier as far as,technology. Right? Right. The
connection became virtual.
You weren't necessarily going tobe able to to spend time at
school and spend time with yourfriends. Some of the things that
you might do on it on a dailybasis. So it absolutely changed,
(15:06):
how things how things worked,how it looked, and how
interaction, took place. Nodoubt about that.
Jessica Samuels (15:11):
And still does as we move forward.
Mike Gawliuk (15:13):
Sure.
Jessica Samuels (15:14):
Like, I think I wonder if there's this idea and
and and again, you know, I feellike I have it for myself in my
own life. Well, oh my gosh. Youknow, it's it's this date, we're
so far out of aren't we over ityet? Can't we just get over it?
Mike Gawliuk (15:28):
You know, it feels like that was the start of many
things that followed. Right? Andto talk, you know, again like
where we're at in the worldright now and all these things
that we're struggling with from,you know, the money to, you
(15:51):
know, the drug poisoning crisisto all the rest of these issues.
It just felt like that was thething that sort of just kicked
it off and, it's just sort ofbeen going from here and on and
on and on and there hasn'treally been a significant
reprieve along the way, I guess,is is how I would look at it.
Jessica Samuels (16:09):
Mhmm. Right. Okay. So youth are struggling.
Young people are struggling.
The state of of youth mentalhealth is is not good, not only
here in our community, but Ithink we can say more broadly
across the province and andelsewhere. Let's talk about some
of the things that those earlyintervention prevention pieces,
some of those things that, arehelping to address it. You
(16:33):
referenced earlier Foundry. SoFoundry is actually, its own
entity. It's it's I I would sayit's its own thing.
So it's its own program, acrossthe province
Mike Gawliuk (16:44):
Yep.
Jessica Samuels (16:45):
And, numerous communities. Kelowna was the
benefit in CMHA. Kelowna was thebenefit of being the proof of
concept. So one of the first ofa few. Can you talk a little bit
about broader foundry?
And then, we're we're gonna getback to some of those pieces
about the programs that Foundryhas specific to the topics we're
(17:09):
talking about.
Mike Gawliuk (17:10):
For sure. I I mean, I guess we were, in some
ways fortunate to be one of theearly adopters in the sense that
we were, I believe, the second,foundry to open up in the
province. What comes with thatis a lot of learning. We're now,
like, 7 years down the road. Theworld looks a whole lot
(17:31):
different than it did then.
Right? Mhmm. I think foundry asa concept, certainly foundry as
an initiative, has has I mean,we're going to be at a place
where there's going to be, over30 of these, across British
Columbia.
Jessica Samuels (17:51):
Right. Because the idea is that a young person
should be able to go to acommunity anywhere and say,
point me in the direction of afoundry.
Mike Gawliuk (17:57):
That that was the original concept that there
would be a foundry in everycommunity and a young person who
needed help could walk in andand start their journey there.
Full credit to Steve Mathias,really the the godfather of
foundry. And, his his influencehas been significant. You know,
(18:20):
last year when the federalgovernment was doing the
agreement with the provincearound health care transfers,
there was 3 outcomes that wereidentified in that. And one of
those outcomes was specificallyfoundry and the number of
foundries that would be open bya certain date that was signed
into that federal agreement.
(18:40):
That speaks, speaks volumes. Theother thing that foundry has
added to the mix which makes, itaccessible to, young people from
across the the province, isfoundry virtual. And so anybody
that has access to technologycan, go online, hit the Foundry
(19:02):
app and get access to variousservices, Foundry services even
if they don't live in acommunity that has a Foundry.
Jessica Samuels (19:09):
That's so interesting in this instance
that Foundry Virtual is aresource as a supportive piece.
And earlier, we were talkingabout the role that technology
plays. And that's why, you know,we didn't wanna necessarily
demonize technology, writ large.There's a way because frankly,
you know, access a physicalbuilding, a physical place
(19:30):
boundary. And then also, weoutside can be a scary place or
walking into a building and andseeing somebody and saying I
need help.
I mean, the the the amount ofanxiety or stress that that can
bring up on an individual oryoung person and that's a gap
that found you virtual can canhelp fill.
Mike Gawliuk (19:51):
Can help fill and and it's real. You know because
we've been around for a whilenow and the world looks
different and there's a numberof other services and things
that exist in in our communitythat didn't didn't before. Plus
it's kind of like a differentgeneration. Like 7 years ago, a
(20:13):
12 year old was 5. They wouldn'tthey wouldn't be they wouldn't
know about Foundry.
They wouldn't be able to accessthat. We've recently gone out
and done some youth engagement,specifically out in West Kelowna
because we're expanding ourservices out there. Young people
have told us, in terms of thethings that they need in order
to feel comfortable, There is acertain level of fear that
(20:36):
exists when you decide that it'stime to, you know, go and have a
conversation. They've told usthat to to be more comfortable,
for us to have staff that areout in the community to do
things like have barbecues,maybe have an ambassador team
that goes out that makes themaware of what Foundry is and
(20:58):
helps to set the stage to builda little bit more knowledge, a
little bit more relationships.So when the time comes and they
say, I need to go talk tosomebody, they're going to be
feel a little bit morecomfortable about walking into
or or if it's West Kelowna,potentially onto our Wellness on
Wheels clinic.
Jessica Samuels (21:19):
Which is the mobile unit that's been running
for a few years. Yeah. Andreally was meant to do that
bridge that gap, giving youngpeople in West Kelowna and and
West Bank First Nation access toservices that, they wouldn't
have, meeting them where they'reat, which is also another
foundational element of Foundry.Yeah.
Mike Gawliuk (21:38):
I think wellness on wheels is kind of the space
in between the Foundry KelownaClinic and Foundry Virtual.
Mhmm. And and it's been a it'sbeen an interesting experiment
as well, but certainly whatwe've identified is the ability
to make connections and buildpartnerships with the groups
that, we hadn't before. I mean,it was just last week that we
(22:02):
partnered, with WFN, to host asession at WFN around, suicide
specifically. So the presence offoundry wow, being invited in,
has has made all the differencein the world.
Jessica Samuels (22:20):
And that's years in the making. You can't
just show up and expect folks tocome if it's your first time.
And that's and that's really,again, meeting people where
they're at. Also meeting themwhere they're at. Talk a little
bit about the role of of peersupport.
In this instance, peer supportin the in the world of of, you
(22:41):
know, well-being and wellnessand mental health is is not a
new concept, but really isimpactful particularly when it
comes to young people gettingthe help they need.
Mike Gawliuk (22:50):
Yeah. I mean, fortunate. We're very fortunate
at Foundry to have, funding tosupport, peer supporters who are
our young people that have hadlived experience of mental
illness or substance use.There's a full training program
(23:10):
that foundry has created thatprovides those young people with
the skills, the knowledge theyneed and then they're supervised
through our foundry staff teamand ultimately to provide 1 to 1
support to other young people. Ithink and I know certainly,
hearing people talk about thatservice and and over the course
(23:33):
of time, having somebody who hasbeen there, who has experienced
that, it's just, it's that senseof they get it.
Mhmm. It might, ultimately openup doors that weren't
necessarily going to be opened.And, and and and it's really
(23:56):
interesting to see because, youknow, it starts with a one to
one relationship and then, welook at building things out. And
so there's peer groups atFoundry where young people get
get together and whether it'saround skill building or just
social connection. Young peoplethat that have that lived
experience are really kinda likethe the catalyst and are helping
(24:20):
to move that along.
And and I know as we look at andthis is one of the conversations
with Foundry Central when welook at the workforce. So we
talk about the need forincreased investment in, you
prevention early interventionthere becomes a question is when
you say when that investmenthappens you're going to need
people who can then work in thefield and a peer role at Foundry
(24:47):
in terms of the workforce andgetting into the mental health
field is a great first step. Soit serves, certainly serves
young people that come in thedoor looking for support, but
it's certainly an opportunityfor young people too from a
educational and employmentperspective, to get some really,
really good training andexperience.
Jessica Samuels (25:06):
Mhmm. Right. And when you mentioned earlier
about foundries for youngpeople, but we were talking
about when do parents andcaregivers know when to seek
help or to to kind of activatethat those conversations with
with a young person. That's alsopart of what Foundry does. So
it's it's recognizing thatsometimes to provide the best
(25:30):
help to the young person.
It also means providing for thecaregivers and and we use
caregivers because we recognizethat that parents is not all we
it's it doesn't apply to allsituations, necessarily their
parents in in in the traditionalsense. So you support parents
and caregivers through programs.For sure. We have we have
specific staff,
Mike Gawliuk (25:58):
family navigation and family support staff that
can work with, caregivers 1 on 1to get a better understanding of
what's happening for them. Thatcan then mean that they attend a
group at foundry or they getconnected to group groups in the
community. We're not the onlygame in town nor do we, propose
(26:20):
to be or want to be. There'sother organizations that are
doing really good work and so tomake those connections is a big
part of, of that work there. Itcould mean referring, the
caregiver on to counseling.
We're fortunate that we are ableto provide, virtual counseling
for adults, including, you know,adults 25 plus couples and
(26:45):
caregivers who may need a littleextra support in in their
circumstances. So and we wereactually when when I think back
to Foundry, we were one of thefirst five. Foundry itself
actually got its start out ofthe Granville Youth Health
Centre in Vancouver, and it wasvery focused on youth who were
experiencing homelessness. Sowhen it was set up, it was set
(27:08):
up to support those young peopleand families weren't really
considered part of that. Andwhen we opened up Foundry, we
certainly pushed and continue topush Foundry Central that young
people come with parents,caregivers, family members.
And in order to be effective intreating what's taking place,
(27:32):
you have to ensure that there'sresources available for them as
well. And so we are one of thefirst to to really push that
forward and to, you know, saythis is this is an important
piece of this. Mhmm. Inaddition, I, you know, what's
going on at Foundry? One of thethings that we've launched and
this has been over the course ofthe last year and and I think
(27:53):
this program holds a lot ofpotential and I think it signals
a way of doing things thatreally could influence how help
is is provided, not only in thiscommunity, but, you in various
circumstances.
So, the program is called Familyand Natural Supports, FNS. And,
(28:14):
it's focuses on young people whoare at risk of or experiencing
homelessness. And, the familyand natural supports piece,
makes sense. When you thinkabout it in your world, if
you're struggling withsomething, who's the first
person that you're gonna turnto? For some young people,
(28:35):
especially young people that arein the system.
The first person they're goingto turn to is what I refer to as
a paid friend. It's someone thatworks for an organization.
They're there to do their joband by all means the support
they provide is important. Butwhen I think about I'm
(28:59):
struggling with a scenario andwho do I reach out to first and
we joked about this earlier?Yeah.
I have a therapist on on call.They're not always the first
person I reach out to. I've gotI've got friends. I've got
people that care about me and,and, and connection is so
important. So with family andnatural supports, with that
(29:19):
group, what we're really tryingto do is help those young people
to build those kinds ofconnections.
In some cases, it's to reconnectwith family. So we have had a
couple of situations where youngpeople who have, been from other
communities have come to Kelownaand, experienced homelessness
and have been estranged fromtheir their families for the
(29:41):
better part of 3 or 4 years. Ican thank one, young person from
Victoria. And our FNS, teamstarted to work with them and
through the process started toengage with the family. And it
was a slow process.
Like, that was a good 6 monthsin the making, just slowly
starting the conversationprocess because again, it had
(30:03):
been strained to the point wherethat young person was was
without a home. The really cooloutcome of it was last year, for
the first time in 3 years, thatyoung person got to go home to
Victoria and spend Christmaswith their family.
Jessica Samuels (30:20):
Wow.
Mike Gawliuk (30:20):
And to me, that is huge. Yeah. And when I think
about connection, and I thinkabout, you know, again, some of
the issues that we'reexperiencing our world right
now, one of the things thatanybody can do is build a
relationship. And the importanceof natural connection whether
that's through a friends, amentor, or through family, that
(30:43):
can be the thing that makesmakes all the difference in the
world. And, so, we're reallyfocusing on this approach.
We're looking at how, it's it'simpacting young people and and
where we can reduce the relianceon paid friends and help young
people to build those naturalconnections that they'll use now
(31:07):
and when they're 2530 and so on.
Jessica Samuels (31:11):
Right. You know, and we're going to talk
about, some of the otherorganizations that are doing
work that you do. I'd referencein that last response to that
last comment. And I do want toremind folks that there are
foundries all across theprovince. You know, foundries,
though, the website, and and youcan take a look in the the show
notes to find links to some ofthese, and you can see the
(31:35):
communities that they're in.
I guess before folks do that,they might want to say, okay, so
you've just told a story, youknow, wonderful story. You've
been doing this for 7 years.Gotta have some some data. You
gotta have some information,foundries, you know, there's a
process right? You're right andkind of it's like data informed.
(31:55):
Yeah. How do we know this isworking?
Mike Gawliuk (32:00):
Well one of the ways we know that it's working
is that young people areaccessing the service. So when
we look at from the start to nowthe number of young people that
have walked through our doors issignificant. On average we see
roughly. 1800 youth individualyouth who come visit foundry
(32:21):
each year. We also know whenit's effective because young
people tell us.
You know sometimes throughsurveys and I talked to some
staff just yesterday it'sthrough you know the staff here.
They're awesome or they're supercool or they really helped me.
And then there's there's thethere's the stories, and there's
(32:44):
a couple that stand out for meand and this was early days,
when we first opened and, ouroriginal manager Melissa who was
just fantastic at greetingpeople as they came in and, had
worked with youth, throughouther her life. This one young,
(33:05):
young one man one easy for me tosay. A young man who had been
involved in several services andit never it never really stuck.
Like, we'd go for oneappointment and then that would
be it and then move to somethingelse and it wouldn't work. And I
remember Melissa telling thestory of how this this young man
(33:25):
came into Foundry and we hadapples at the front and so she
offered this young man an appleand and lo and behold he came
back and he got connected inwith some other services and he
became connected to foundry andyou know sought counseling and
sought some other assistance Andwhen Melissa said, what made you
(33:51):
come back? He said, you gave mean apple. And what that meant
was you treated me like a humanbeing. I had gone to these other
places before where I wasbasically just sort of looked at
sideways.
I wasn't welcomed, and youwelcomed me in and that made all
the difference in the world.That was huge. Another story
(34:16):
that I can tell and this is sortof where that idea of having
different services workingtogether come in handy is a
young person who moved up herefrom Vancouver walked in our
door. They had had substance useconcerns, had recently gone off
of their medication andrelapsed, which meant that they
(34:36):
also then, lost their job. Andso when they walked in the door
at Foundry, it was initially yousee a doctor to talk about
getting back on theirmedication, which they were able
to do.
But the cool thing about it iswhen they come in and they do
their assessment, it flags otherissues. So it was a way it was
clear that there was otherthings going on. While this
(34:57):
young person was paying theirrent, they were out of a job, so
they weren't gonna be able topay their rent much longer.
Fortunately, we have supportfrom BC Housing and we're able
to equip that young person witha rent supplement that kept the
roof over the head that theyhave. Then, because we were
working closely with employmentproviders in town, the why was
(35:19):
part of what was going on atFoundry and the young person was
able to get connected up withthe why which got them back on
the path of getting employed.
And then finally, we were ableto attach them to Interior
Health who offer substance useservices out of Foundry, so that
they could, they could work onthose specific issues that
(35:40):
caused them to to, you know, goback to using. And so through
one door, they were able toaccess all those services and
had that not existed they mayhave saw a doctor, they may have
been able to see like a youthworker, but they wouldn't have
(36:02):
been able to get the differentservices wrapped into one that
they did. And so not only did wehelp them stabilize from their
medication standpoint, but wekept them housed and we
supported them in in gettinggetting employed again and
that's significant and that'sone of many stories that
(36:24):
demonstrate the success. We'renot perfect and we certainly
have stories where thingshaven't worked out the way that
we would hope. What I can saythough our commitment to the
community has been and continuesto be that we grow and we work
and we partner to provide thebest service that we can and
that we listen to young people,around what they need, so that
(36:50):
those needs can be met.
Jessica Samuels (36:51):
Right. And you touched upon it there. And in
that last story, there's a feworganizations that you connected
with that are connected throughFoundry, but then also are doing
wonderful work when it comes toyouth mental health in our
community, whether or notthey're connected with family
Foundry. So Foundry is aresource. What are some other
community resources, where, areare really in this space, and
(37:14):
helping young people as theynavigate these challenges?
Mike Gawliuk (37:18):
Yeah. I think there's a there's a few
different, like programs or orgroups that are taking place.
So, one that I would mention isthe family connection center,
which is similar to Foundry.It's focused on, you know,
families, parents and inparticular young people that may
(37:39):
have, special needsdevelopmental disabilities.
It's, ran by ARC programs, butcertainly have a number of other
providers that are attached tothat.
It's it's a great resource forfamilies who need it. I think of
programs like, and we're apartner in this upstream through
(38:00):
BGC. And, that's in school earlyintervention program, whereby
young people do a survey. And,it's a survey to assess risk for
potential future homelessnessand then they're connected up
with different resources in thecommunity, different partner
groups and it's demonstrated.It's shown itself to be quite
(38:23):
successful.
You know, I think about theBridge Youth and Family Services
and their youth recovery houseand certainly, it was just in
the media in the last couple ofdays. They're going forward with
an expansion of that and when welook at substance use and we
look at what's happening againin communities across our
province and our country,organizations like the bridge
and that type of service is sonecessary in terms of supporting
(38:47):
young people. So those are justthree examples of, organizations
and initiatives that are quitesuccessful, in this community.
There's one thing that kind ofunites all of this is that the
organizations and the programs,there's partnerships that are
are are involved and there'sorganizations that are working
together. And to me, that'salways a key to, being able to
(39:11):
provide something bigger thanyour organization could on its
own when you work as acollective.
Jessica Samuels (39:18):
Right. I think it's important to note that
foundries across the provinceand here in Kelowna are also
working with with the schooldistricts because that's another
avenue when you think aboutwhere young people are seeking
help and support, and andsometimes getting to school is
easier.
Mike Gawliuk (39:35):
Yep.
Jessica Samuels (39:35):
And and so if those supports can be there.
Mike Gawliuk (39:37):
Yeah. We, a couple of years ago, were fortunate
and, we have counselors, in allthe middle schools across the
school district. I know that ourprograms offers mental health
and substance use counseling forhigh schools and, I think
there's some elementary schoolwork that they do well as well.
(39:58):
We've got a really strongrelationship with the school
district that allowed that thatto happen, and they've been a
fantastic partner right from day1. Not only from the standpoint
of, you know, resourcing youngpeople who were, in need, but
also opening up the doors toyoung people when foundry first
started.
(40:18):
And, and and so we value that,that partnership. It's been one
of those we talk about superpartners. They've been one of
our super partners across, thetime the foundry has been
operational.
Jessica Samuels (40:30):
Okay. Lots of good resources there. Thanks,
Mike.
Mike Gawliuk (40:33):
Thank you.
Jessica Samuels (40:35):
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Union.
Hello. I'm Jessica Samuels, and welcome to
A Way Forward, a podcast by BeemCredit Union. This podcast
covers the mental healthchallenges that we all face each
and every day and impact ourbroader community. Today's topic
is youth mental health, and CMHAKelowna CEO, Mike Gawliuk, joins
me. On today's episode, we'restarting with youth mental
(00:26):
health and youth mental illness.
Mike, this is a broad topic, onethat impacts so many, but we
actually wanted to kick offepisode 1 with this topic for
quite a few reasons. One ofthem, and I'm going to throw a
stat right away, and I don'tlike to open with stats, but the
reason that I'm doing that isbecause this has always been
(00:47):
such an impactful stat to me.75% of mental illnesses, so
these are individuals who arestruggling with mental
illnesses, and it's kind of thatbroader, larger, topic than
mental health, emerges beforethe age of 25. And interestingly
enough, it's young people aged12 to 25 who are not getting the
(01:11):
help they need. This stat blowsme away.
This is something in yourdecades of working in this
industry. This is something youknow quite a lot about.
Mike Gawliuk (01:21):
Yeah. I can certainly speak to a few of
those decades and my path toCMHA. I spent the 1st 10 years
of my career, working with youngpeople. Mhmm. In particular
young people at risk and andthose on the streets, and in
2,000 and 13, I made a move overto CMHA and, I recognized a lot
(01:46):
of people.
They were younger, when I knewthem, in the youth world, and
they were certainly, in a littlebetter condition than I saw them
at CMHA and right then and thereit kinda hit me in the face
that, what we're doing isn'tworking. And we need to spend
(02:10):
more time, more attention, moreenergy, and ultimately more
resources on young people, sothat we can prevent, them from
ending up in a situation like,the unfortunate situations I was
seeing for some of the peoplethat we were supporting here at
CMHA.
Jessica Samuels (02:28):
Mhmm. So you saw them when they were younger,
then you saw them later at CMHAas adults. And you really notice
that that change and and howthey were managing
Mike Gawliuk (02:40):
Yeah.
Jessica Samuels (02:40):
Negative it was a negative change is what you're
saying.
Mike Gawliuk (02:42):
What I'm saying is they were, you know, they were
struggling
Jessica Samuels (02:45):
Yeah.
Mike Gawliuk (02:46):
In terms of, managing their mental health. It
was clear that that wasn'twasn't happening. And the the
different scenarios from peoplethat struggled to have a roof
over their their head to thoseyoung people that I knew that
(03:07):
maybe I knew them back when andthey were employed. Now
struggling so much that the ideaor thought of a job just wasn't
possible. And again, just makesyou go.
What could we have done backthen that might have made it a
little bit better for them now?
Jessica Samuels (03:25):
So are you going to go as far as saying
that had we done something backthen, gotten them the help they
need a little earlier, theywould not be in. Would they be
fine? Would they not bestruggling at all? Or it might
just look differently?
Mike Gawliuk (03:40):
I I mean, there's a huge argument for, early
intervention and prevention and,certainly not having a crystal
ball, not going to be able tosay that this is exactly what
would happen. But what is knownand what is understood is that
an investment in, prevention andearly intervention allows for,
(04:03):
young people to get diagnosedproperly. It allows for them to
start receiving, treatmentsooner. It allows, for them to
work forward and, address someof those issues that are
ultimately there. Now thatassumes that we have a
functional and cohesive systemof care that, provides the
(04:26):
opportunities to do that.
But I would say ultimately, frommy start in 2013 to where we are
today, the world is far fromperfect, but some of the
initiatives that have happenedin this organization and
ultimately in this community area nod to, you know, prevention
(04:49):
and early intervention. So Iwould say absolutely, it would
make a difference for those thatI I saw, when I first came to
the organization.
Jessica Samuels (04:58):
Use the term investment in care and and what
I'm hearing that is is dollars,people, programs. This is a this
is a tough nut to crack. Youmentioned the health care system
that it's no secret. And I thinka lot of folks, whether you're
in this sector or they're not inthis sector, would recognize it
is far from perfect. So this isa big ask.
Mike Gawliuk (05:21):
Well, I think it's a big ask, but I think, you
know, I think we're really goodat. Spending money to address
emergencies. When we could havean opportunity to spend money to
prevent that emergency fromhappening in the first place.
(05:42):
And that's really the ideabehind prevention. Yes, it's a
big ask, but ultimately as welook at what's going on you know
across our province across ourcountry and the struggles that
we're having currently.
I would suggest that what dothey say about a little bit of
(06:02):
prevention is where the pound ofcure. I would suggest that that
investment is absolutelynecessary at this point in time
to to prevent future generationsfrom ending up in the spot where
we're in now. And it's not aneither it's it's not an either
or it's an all land. The realityis we need resources. We need
(06:26):
the people to ultimately do thework and we need to make the
investment so that we're notseeing the next generation of
unhoused adults, on the railtrail.
So that we're seeing peoplethat, are successfully, finding
and keeping a job. And for thosethat are part of our social
(06:48):
fabric and have the connection,like, it's absolutely essential
and necessary.
Jessica Samuels (06:53):
You know, that those terms early intervention
and prevention, they're they'recommon in in the medical, so
health care, mental health care,it's the same system. What
strikes me is is is if we take alook at kind of more that that,
medical physical health, just tokind of draw that line between
the two right now, Earlyintervention looks like
(07:16):
something very specific. Youhave a lump, you have a crack,
you have symptoms, it means XYZ.What's interesting to me about
this, and I have to wonder ifthere's folks out there,
caregivers, parents, saying,Okay, how how do we know when to
intervene early when it comes tothings like mental health, but
(07:41):
youth mental health. And so itleads me to the next question is
is I keep thinking of, like,this teen angst.
Like, is is that a realconsideration? Is is is or is
that just being flippant aboutthe struggles that young people
are are facing?
Mike Gawliuk (07:54):
Well, I think, you know, in terms of identifying
what, what differentiates teenangst from something that could
be more serious and require someform of intervention is really
taking a look at the impact andand any changes in that young
person's life. Right? Whetherthat's a change in
(08:16):
relationships, whether that's achange in things like sleeping
patterns, you know, eatingpatterns like significant
changes that are different than,and and that they would they
would normally see. Those arethings that tell you that maybe
(08:39):
it's time to take a closer look.What I would say to those
parents and caregivers as wellas through it you may not know.
What I would encourage iscontinue to have a relationship
with your child, be supportive,engage, like you normally would.
Let them know that you careabout them and that you're there
(09:01):
for them. And if you're reallycurious or really concerned or
starting to worry about some ofthose changes that you're
seeing, that's when you mightreach out to a place like
Foundry and ask to speak withone of our family navigators to
just really, talk about what'shappening. They can help to give
(09:22):
some perspective. They might beable to give you a little bit
more information on other thingsto look for and questions to
ask.
They may also talk to the parentor caregiver about how they're
taking care of themselves.Because oftentimes, you know,
when when it's your child orsomeone that you love, and you
see them struggling, that takesa significant toll on people
(09:45):
emotionally. And part of thework and part of the the focus
of, you know, parents andcaregivers is taking care of
themselves in the face of thesesometimes really uncomfortable,
scary times in order that theycan be the best support that
they can be as well.
Jessica Samuels (10:03):
We're going to talk about some of those
programs. We're going to talkabout foundry and and the
resources, not only throughCMHA, Kelowna, but across the
province, foundry being one ofthem. I'm going to just go back
as well. And I wanna ask, howtough question. How is life
impacting youth?
So when I think back in the daywhen I was a young, and and and
(10:27):
also to qualify, in thisinstance, youth is 12 to 25.
This is the reference that we'remaking for purposes of this
conversation. How many times, Idon't know if you're like me,
how grateful I am that we didnot have social media. Like, you
know, I just had to rely on myparents' and my friends' memory
and that's it. So, and I don'twanna demonize a single thing as
(10:48):
the single problem, but whatimpact is the world having on,
amplifying that teen angstamplifying the the negative teen
or youth mental health?
Mike Gawliuk (11:01):
Yeah. Well, I think overall right now, the
world's in a really concerningplace And I think, there's so
many different factors that areover overlapping and
intersecting that are, you know,causing anxiety and and that
angst you speak to certainlysocial media. You know the
(11:26):
world's a whole lot faster nowthan it was back when we were
younger because it wasn't justright in front of us what was
going on in the world. You knowthe issues that come with
technology and social media likecyberbullying, that becomes a
huge issue. The whole reality oflike social media and personal
(11:51):
image, right?
And how that can influencethings. I think it it I think it
plays a significant role and andI think you know, certainly as
I've seen in our school districtin terms of having, technology
in the classroom, there's beensome limits that have been put
(12:11):
on that. And ultimately, I thinkthat speaks to the reality that,
technology and ultimately socialmedia is one of the factors that
is impacting young people. Ithink there's many others that
are at play as well.
Jessica Samuels (12:26):
Climate, harder to get ahead. You know, you
think about the things, youknow, things that I struggled
with when I was coming up. I waslike, if I am I ever going to
own a home? Mhmm. Because thatwas a benchmark.
I wonder is that even abenchmark for young people now
because it doesn't matter orbecause it's just not
attainable? I mean, housingaffordability is another topic
(12:47):
for another episode. But alsothose those just yeah. How hard
it is to get ahead.
Mike Gawliuk (12:53):
For sure. I mean, I have a I have a 22 year old,
and I can tell you theconversations that we have about
the chance of him having a home.It's not very, it's not very
optimistic. Right? Like, and theability to, just be able to
afford to live is is such animpact that causes causes stress
(13:19):
and causes anxiety.
There's no doubt that that thatplays on on on things and
impacts young people's concerns.You know again we're also in a
climate emergency. That isanother factor that, young
people, think about on theirminds and it's something that
again you feel like you youdon't have a whole lot of
(13:40):
control over, but certainly cancause, angst, worry, concern, no
doubt about
Jessica Samuels (13:49):
that. Something that you and I have talked about
in the past, something that wecan examine as well is the
impact of the pandemic. Now, I'mnot someone who would like to,
years decades later, like toblame all of the ills on the
world of the world on thepandemic. I think there's also a
danger of underestimating theimpact on ourselves as adults,
(14:14):
but certainly some reallyformative for young people
during some really formativetimes in their lives. And so
talk about that, about that, thekind of the isolation piece,
being a young person.
I mean, I lived in it's my ownexperience. Right? So I'm just
talking about myself. I livedand died, but which friends I
(14:34):
was going to see at school thatday and kind of that connection
and tell them that story. Andthere was a significant chunk of
time where that just was not afact of life.
Mike Gawliuk (14:44):
Yeah. Well, and I think it ties into what we spoke
about earlier as far as,technology. Right? Right. The
connection became virtual.
You weren't necessarily going tobe able to to spend time at
school and spend time with yourfriends. Some of the things that
you might do on it on a dailybasis. So it absolutely changed,
(15:06):
how things how things worked,how it looked, and how
interaction, took place. Nodoubt about that.
Jessica Samuels (15:11):
And still does as we move forward.
Mike Gawliuk (15:13):
Sure.
Jessica Samuels (15:14):
Like, I think I wonder if there's this idea and
and and again, you know, I feellike I have it for myself in my
own life. Well, oh my gosh. Youknow, it's it's this date, we're
so far out of aren't we over ityet? Can't we just get over it?
Mike Gawliuk (15:28):
You know, it feels like that was the start of many
things that followed. Right? Andto talk, you know, again like
where we're at in the worldright now and all these things
that we're struggling with from,you know, the money to, you
(15:51):
know, the drug poisoning crisisto all the rest of these issues.
It just felt like that was thething that sort of just kicked
it off and, it's just sort ofbeen going from here and on and
on and on and there hasn'treally been a significant
reprieve along the way, I guess,is is how I would look at it.
Jessica Samuels (16:09):
Mhmm. Right. Okay. So youth are struggling.
Young people are struggling.
The state of of youth mentalhealth is is not good, not only
here in our community, but Ithink we can say more broadly
across the province and andelsewhere. Let's talk about some
of the things that those earlyintervention prevention pieces,
some of those things that, arehelping to address it. You
(16:33):
referenced earlier Foundry. SoFoundry is actually, its own
entity. It's it's I I would sayit's its own thing.
So it's its own program, acrossthe province
Mike Gawliuk (16:44):
Yep.
Jessica Samuels (16:45):
And, numerous communities. Kelowna was the
benefit in CMHA. Kelowna was thebenefit of being the proof of
concept. So one of the first ofa few. Can you talk a little bit
about broader foundry?
And then, we're we're gonna getback to some of those pieces
about the programs that Foundryhas specific to the topics we're
(17:09):
talking about.
Mike Gawliuk (17:10):
For sure. I I mean, I guess we were, in some
ways fortunate to be one of theearly adopters in the sense that
we were, I believe, the second,foundry to open up in the
province. What comes with thatis a lot of learning. We're now,
like, 7 years down the road. Theworld looks a whole lot
(17:31):
different than it did then.
Right? Mhmm. I think foundry asa concept, certainly foundry as
an initiative, has has I mean,we're going to be at a place
where there's going to be, over30 of these, across British
Columbia.
Jessica Samuels (17:51):
Right. Because the idea is that a young person
should be able to go to acommunity anywhere and say,
point me in the direction of afoundry.
Mike Gawliuk (17:57):
That that was the original concept that there
would be a foundry in everycommunity and a young person who
needed help could walk in andand start their journey there.
Full credit to Steve Mathias,really the the godfather of
foundry. And, his his influencehas been significant. You know,
(18:20):
last year when the federalgovernment was doing the
agreement with the provincearound health care transfers,
there was 3 outcomes that wereidentified in that. And one of
those outcomes was specificallyfoundry and the number of
foundries that would be open bya certain date that was signed
into that federal agreement.
(18:40):
That speaks, speaks volumes. Theother thing that foundry has
added to the mix which makes, itaccessible to, young people from
across the the province, isfoundry virtual. And so anybody
that has access to technologycan, go online, hit the Foundry
(19:02):
app and get access to variousservices, Foundry services even
if they don't live in acommunity that has a Foundry.
Jessica Samuels (19:09):
That's so interesting in this instance
that Foundry Virtual is aresource as a supportive piece.
And earlier, we were talkingabout the role that technology
plays. And that's why, you know,we didn't wanna necessarily
demonize technology, writ large.There's a way because frankly,
you know, access a physicalbuilding, a physical place
(19:30):
boundary. And then also, weoutside can be a scary place or
walking into a building and andseeing somebody and saying I
need help.
I mean, the the the amount ofanxiety or stress that that can
bring up on an individual oryoung person and that's a gap
that found you virtual can canhelp fill.
Mike Gawliuk (19:51):
Can help fill and and it's real. You know because
we've been around for a whilenow and the world looks
different and there's a numberof other services and things
that exist in in our communitythat didn't didn't before. Plus
it's kind of like a differentgeneration. Like 7 years ago, a
(20:13):
12 year old was 5. They wouldn'tthey wouldn't be they wouldn't
know about Foundry.
They wouldn't be able to accessthat. We've recently gone out
and done some youth engagement,specifically out in West Kelowna
because we're expanding ourservices out there. Young people
have told us, in terms of thethings that they need in order
to feel comfortable, There is acertain level of fear that
(20:36):
exists when you decide that it'stime to, you know, go and have a
conversation. They've told usthat to to be more comfortable,
for us to have staff that areout in the community to do
things like have barbecues,maybe have an ambassador team
that goes out that makes themaware of what Foundry is and
(20:58):
helps to set the stage to builda little bit more knowledge, a
little bit more relationships.So when the time comes and they
say, I need to go talk tosomebody, they're going to be
feel a little bit morecomfortable about walking into
or or if it's West Kelowna,potentially onto our Wellness on
Wheels clinic.
Jessica Samuels (21:19):
Which is the mobile unit that's been running
for a few years. Yeah. Andreally was meant to do that
bridge that gap, giving youngpeople in West Kelowna and and
West Bank First Nation access toservices that, they wouldn't
have, meeting them where they'reat, which is also another
foundational element of Foundry.Yeah.
Mike Gawliuk (21:38):
I think wellness on wheels is kind of the space
in between the Foundry KelownaClinic and Foundry Virtual.
Mhmm. And and it's been a it'sbeen an interesting experiment
as well, but certainly whatwe've identified is the ability
to make connections and buildpartnerships with the groups
that, we hadn't before. I mean,it was just last week that we
(22:02):
partnered, with WFN, to host asession at WFN around, suicide
specifically. So the presence offoundry wow, being invited in,
has has made all the differencein the world.
Jessica Samuels (22:20):
And that's years in the making. You can't
just show up and expect folks tocome if it's your first time.
And that's and that's really,again, meeting people where
they're at. Also meeting themwhere they're at. Talk a little
bit about the role of of peersupport.
In this instance, peer supportin the in the world of of, you
(22:41):
know, well-being and wellnessand mental health is is not a
new concept, but really isimpactful particularly when it
comes to young people gettingthe help they need.
Mike Gawliuk (22:50):
Yeah. I mean, fortunate. We're very fortunate
at Foundry to have, funding tosupport, peer supporters who are
our young people that have hadlived experience of mental
illness or substance use.There's a full training program
(23:10):
that foundry has created thatprovides those young people with
the skills, the knowledge theyneed and then they're supervised
through our foundry staff teamand ultimately to provide 1 to 1
support to other young people. Ithink and I know certainly,
hearing people talk about thatservice and and over the course
(23:33):
of time, having somebody who hasbeen there, who has experienced
that, it's just, it's that senseof they get it.
Mhmm. It might, ultimately openup doors that weren't
necessarily going to be opened.And, and and and it's really
(23:56):
interesting to see because, youknow, it starts with a one to
one relationship and then, welook at building things out. And
so there's peer groups atFoundry where young people get
get together and whether it'saround skill building or just
social connection. Young peoplethat that have that lived
experience are really kinda likethe the catalyst and are helping
(24:20):
to move that along.
And and I know as we look at andthis is one of the conversations
with Foundry Central when welook at the workforce. So we
talk about the need forincreased investment in, you
prevention early interventionthere becomes a question is when
you say when that investmenthappens you're going to need
people who can then work in thefield and a peer role at Foundry
(24:47):
in terms of the workforce andgetting into the mental health
field is a great first step. Soit serves, certainly serves
young people that come in thedoor looking for support, but
it's certainly an opportunityfor young people too from a
educational and employmentperspective, to get some really,
really good training andexperience.
Jessica Samuels (25:06):
Mhmm. Right. And when you mentioned earlier
about foundries for youngpeople, but we were talking
about when do parents andcaregivers know when to seek
help or to to kind of activatethat those conversations with
with a young person. That's alsopart of what Foundry does. So
it's it's recognizing thatsometimes to provide the best
(25:30):
help to the young person.
It also means providing for thecaregivers and and we use
caregivers because we recognizethat that parents is not all we
it's it doesn't apply to allsituations, necessarily their
parents in in in the traditionalsense. So you support parents
and caregivers through programs.For sure. We have we have
specific staff,
Mike Gawliuk (25:58):
family navigation and family support staff that
can work with, caregivers 1 on 1to get a better understanding of
what's happening for them. Thatcan then mean that they attend a
group at foundry or they getconnected to group groups in the
community. We're not the onlygame in town nor do we, propose
(26:20):
to be or want to be. There'sother organizations that are
doing really good work and so tomake those connections is a big
part of, of that work there. Itcould mean referring, the
caregiver on to counseling.
We're fortunate that we are ableto provide, virtual counseling
for adults, including, you know,adults 25 plus couples and
(26:45):
caregivers who may need a littleextra support in in their
circumstances. So and we wereactually when when I think back
to Foundry, we were one of thefirst five. Foundry itself
actually got its start out ofthe Granville Youth Health
Centre in Vancouver, and it wasvery focused on youth who were
experiencing homelessness. Sowhen it was set up, it was set
(27:08):
up to support those young peopleand families weren't really
considered part of that. Andwhen we opened up Foundry, we
certainly pushed and continue topush Foundry Central that young
people come with parents,caregivers, family members.
And in order to be effective intreating what's taking place,
(27:32):
you have to ensure that there'sresources available for them as
well. And so we are one of thefirst to to really push that
forward and to, you know, saythis is this is an important
piece of this. Mhmm. Inaddition, I, you know, what's
going on at Foundry? One of thethings that we've launched and
this has been over the course ofthe last year and and I think
(27:53):
this program holds a lot ofpotential and I think it signals
a way of doing things thatreally could influence how help
is is provided, not only in thiscommunity, but, you in various
circumstances.
So, the program is called Familyand Natural Supports, FNS. And,
(28:14):
it's focuses on young people whoare at risk of or experiencing
homelessness. And, the familyand natural supports piece,
makes sense. When you thinkabout it in your world, if
you're struggling withsomething, who's the first
person that you're gonna turnto? For some young people,
(28:35):
especially young people that arein the system.
The first person they're goingto turn to is what I refer to as
a paid friend. It's someone thatworks for an organization.
They're there to do their joband by all means the support
they provide is important. Butwhen I think about I'm
(28:59):
struggling with a scenario andwho do I reach out to first and
we joked about this earlier?Yeah.
I have a therapist on on call.They're not always the first
person I reach out to. I've gotI've got friends. I've got
people that care about me and,and, and connection is so
important. So with family andnatural supports, with that
(29:19):
group, what we're really tryingto do is help those young people
to build those kinds ofconnections.
In some cases, it's to reconnectwith family. So we have had a
couple of situations where youngpeople who have, been from other
communities have come to Kelownaand, experienced homelessness
and have been estranged fromtheir their families for the
(29:41):
better part of 3 or 4 years. Ican thank one, young person from
Victoria. And our FNS, teamstarted to work with them and
through the process started toengage with the family. And it
was a slow process.
Like, that was a good 6 monthsin the making, just slowly
starting the conversationprocess because again, it had
(30:03):
been strained to the point wherethat young person was was
without a home. The really cooloutcome of it was last year, for
the first time in 3 years, thatyoung person got to go home to
Victoria and spend Christmaswith their family.
Jessica Samuels (30:20):
Wow.
Mike Gawliuk (30:20):
And to me, that is huge. Yeah. And when I think
about connection, and I thinkabout, you know, again, some of
the issues that we'reexperiencing our world right
now, one of the things thatanybody can do is build a
relationship. And the importanceof natural connection whether
that's through a friends, amentor, or through family, that
(30:43):
can be the thing that makesmakes all the difference in the
world. And, so, we're reallyfocusing on this approach.
We're looking at how, it's it'simpacting young people and and
where we can reduce the relianceon paid friends and help young
people to build those naturalconnections that they'll use now
(31:07):
and when they're 2530 and so on.
Jessica Samuels (31:11):
Right. You know, and we're going to talk
about, some of the otherorganizations that are doing
work that you do. I'd referencein that last response to that
last comment. And I do want toremind folks that there are
foundries all across theprovince. You know, foundries,
though, the website, and and youcan take a look in the the show
notes to find links to some ofthese, and you can see the
(31:35):
communities that they're in.
I guess before folks do that,they might want to say, okay, so
you've just told a story, youknow, wonderful story. You've
been doing this for 7 years.Gotta have some some data. You
gotta have some information,foundries, you know, there's a
process right? You're right andkind of it's like data informed.
(31:55):
Yeah. How do we know this isworking?
Mike Gawliuk (32:00):
Well one of the ways we know that it's working
is that young people areaccessing the service. So when
we look at from the start to nowthe number of young people that
have walked through our doors issignificant. On average we see
roughly. 1800 youth individualyouth who come visit foundry
(32:21):
each year. We also know whenit's effective because young
people tell us.
You know sometimes throughsurveys and I talked to some
staff just yesterday it'sthrough you know the staff here.
They're awesome or they're supercool or they really helped me.
And then there's there's thethere's the stories, and there's
(32:44):
a couple that stand out for meand and this was early days,
when we first opened and, ouroriginal manager Melissa who was
just fantastic at greetingpeople as they came in and, had
worked with youth, throughouther her life. This one young,
(33:05):
young one man one easy for me tosay. A young man who had been
involved in several services andit never it never really stuck.
Like, we'd go for oneappointment and then that would
be it and then move to somethingelse and it wouldn't work. And I
remember Melissa telling thestory of how this this young man
(33:25):
came into Foundry and we hadapples at the front and so she
offered this young man an appleand and lo and behold he came
back and he got connected inwith some other services and he
became connected to foundry andyou know sought counseling and
sought some other assistance Andwhen Melissa said, what made you
(33:51):
come back? He said, you gave mean apple. And what that meant
was you treated me like a humanbeing. I had gone to these other
places before where I wasbasically just sort of looked at
sideways.
I wasn't welcomed, and youwelcomed me in and that made all
the difference in the world.That was huge. Another story
(34:16):
that I can tell and this is sortof where that idea of having
different services workingtogether come in handy is a
young person who moved up herefrom Vancouver walked in our
door. They had had substance useconcerns, had recently gone off
of their medication andrelapsed, which meant that they
(34:36):
also then, lost their job. Andso when they walked in the door
at Foundry, it was initially yousee a doctor to talk about
getting back on theirmedication, which they were able
to do.
But the cool thing about it iswhen they come in and they do
their assessment, it flags otherissues. So it was a way it was
clear that there was otherthings going on. While this
(34:57):
young person was paying theirrent, they were out of a job, so
they weren't gonna be able topay their rent much longer.
Fortunately, we have supportfrom BC Housing and we're able
to equip that young person witha rent supplement that kept the
roof over the head that theyhave. Then, because we were
working closely with employmentproviders in town, the why was
(35:19):
part of what was going on atFoundry and the young person was
able to get connected up withthe why which got them back on
the path of getting employed.
And then finally, we were ableto attach them to Interior
Health who offer substance useservices out of Foundry, so that
they could, they could work onthose specific issues that
(35:40):
caused them to to, you know, goback to using. And so through
one door, they were able toaccess all those services and
had that not existed they mayhave saw a doctor, they may have
been able to see like a youthworker, but they wouldn't have
(36:02):
been able to get the differentservices wrapped into one that
they did. And so not only did wehelp them stabilize from their
medication standpoint, but wekept them housed and we
supported them in in gettinggetting employed again and
that's significant and that'sone of many stories that
(36:24):
demonstrate the success. We'renot perfect and we certainly
have stories where thingshaven't worked out the way that
we would hope. What I can saythough our commitment to the
community has been and continuesto be that we grow and we work
and we partner to provide thebest service that we can and
that we listen to young people,around what they need, so that
(36:50):
those needs can be met.
Jessica Samuels (36:51):
Right. And you touched upon it there. And in
that last story, there's a feworganizations that you connected
with that are connected throughFoundry, but then also are doing
wonderful work when it comes toyouth mental health in our
community, whether or notthey're connected with family
Foundry. So Foundry is aresource. What are some other
community resources, where, areare really in this space, and
(37:14):
helping young people as theynavigate these challenges?
Mike Gawliuk (37:18):
Yeah. I think there's a there's a few
different, like programs or orgroups that are taking place.
So, one that I would mention isthe family connection center,
which is similar to Foundry.It's focused on, you know,
families, parents and inparticular young people that may
(37:39):
have, special needsdevelopmental disabilities.
It's, ran by ARC programs, butcertainly have a number of other
providers that are attached tothat.
It's it's a great resource forfamilies who need it. I think of
programs like, and we're apartner in this upstream through
(38:00):
BGC. And, that's in school earlyintervention program, whereby
young people do a survey. And,it's a survey to assess risk for
potential future homelessnessand then they're connected up
with different resources in thecommunity, different partner
groups and it's demonstrated.It's shown itself to be quite
(38:23):
successful.
You know, I think about theBridge Youth and Family Services
and their youth recovery houseand certainly, it was just in
the media in the last couple ofdays. They're going forward with
an expansion of that and when welook at substance use and we
look at what's happening againin communities across our
province and our country,organizations like the bridge
and that type of service is sonecessary in terms of supporting
(38:47):
young people. So those are justthree examples of, organizations
and initiatives that are quitesuccessful, in this community.
There's one thing that kind ofunites all of this is that the
organizations and the programs,there's partnerships that are
are are involved and there'sorganizations that are working
together. And to me, that'salways a key to, being able to
(39:11):
provide something bigger thanyour organization could on its
own when you work as acollective.
Jessica Samuels (39:18):
Right. I think it's important to note that
foundries across the provinceand here in Kelowna are also
working with with the schooldistricts because that's another
avenue when you think aboutwhere young people are seeking
help and support, and andsometimes getting to school is
easier.
Mike Gawliuk (39:35):
Yep.
Jessica Samuels (39:35):
And and so if those supports can be there.
Mike Gawliuk (39:37):
Yeah. We, a couple of years ago, were fortunate
and, we have counselors, in allthe middle schools across the
school district. I know that ourprograms offers mental health
and substance use counseling forhigh schools and, I think
there's some elementary schoolwork that they do well as well.
(39:58):
We've got a really strongrelationship with the school
district that allowed that thatto happen, and they've been a
fantastic partner right from day1. Not only from the standpoint
of, you know, resourcing youngpeople who were, in need, but
also opening up the doors toyoung people when foundry first
started.
(40:18):
And, and and so we value that,that partnership. It's been one
of those we talk about superpartners. They've been one of
our super partners across, thetime the foundry has been
operational.
Jessica Samuels (40:30):
Okay. Lots of good resources there. Thanks,
Mike.
Mike Gawliuk (40:33):
Thank you.
Jessica Samuels (40:35):
Beem Credit Union is proud to be a part of
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