Serving the mental health needs of the Cowichan Valley.

The Cowichan Valley Branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association focuses on the rights and needs of persons involved in the mental health system.

The strength of our organization is in its people. We treat all people with respect, honesty, and trust, and seek every opportunity to preserve human dignity through equality, fairness, and respecting freedom of choice. 

Our Vision: Mentally healthy people in a healthy society.

Our Mission: As a locally-based champion for mental health, CMHA-CVB facilitates access to the resources people require to maintain and improve mental health and community integration, build resilience, and support recovery from mental illness and addiction.

Our Key Values and Principles:

• Embracing the voice of people with mental health and addiction issues
• Promoting inclusion
• Working collaboratively
• Influencing the social determinants of health (e.g. housing, justice)
• Focusing on the mental health needs of all age groups
• Using evidence to inform our work
• Being transparent and accountable

The CMHA-Cowichan Valley Branch operates over 20 programs. We support children, youth, and adults 16+. A few of these include:

Warmland House Shelter:

The shelter was designed to be a gateway to stable housing and integrated, client-focused support services to adult (19+) men and women who are coping with a variety of challenges such as mental illness, addiction, and chronic health conditions.

Warmland House is a three-story residential facility with 30 shelter beds, 24 apartments, a common room, a kitchen, a dining room, and a garden. Breakfast and dinner are served daily in the dining room. Laundry and shower facilities are also provided. 

BC Housing allows Warmland to initiate an ‘Extreme Weather Response Program’ during periods of winter weather that threaten the health and safety of homeless individuals: An additional 15 beds are made available. Typically, this program runs from November through March.

Sobering and Assessment Centre (SAC): SAC provides twelve emergency beds for those who are too intoxicated to find services elsewhere, have nowhere else to go, and just need a safe place o sleep. SAC is a non-judgmental, culturally sensitive, gender-neutral, and non-coercive sleeping program. Clients can leave at any time. SAC uses a compassionate but structured approach.  

Youth Centre: The Youth Centre provides accessible prevention and diversionary support services to youth 12 to 19 years of age Monday to Friday through a range of programs and activities. We strive to build a safe, inclusive space that fosters connectivity through mentorship and healthy relationship development. Staff work diligently to build social skills capacity and provide informative solutions for healthy lifestyles; aiming to nurture the growth of self-esteem, belonging, and self-confidence. Through strong community connections and advocacy, youth are supported in accessing appropriate community resources that are tailored to meet their individual needs. Our open-door policy is welcoming towards all youth regardless of race, abilities, socioeconomic status, and differences.

Youth have daily access to arts/crafts, games, movies, video, and table games.  In addition, outdoor, adventure-based, and experiential activities are offered during the summer, improving community belonging and allowing youth to escape everyday challenges with opportunities that youth may otherwise not have. Youth also have access to computers for educational and employment purposes. Lastly, proper nourishment and nutrition are essential in optimizing the potential of youth. The program provides a daily lunch program at noon, as well as nutritional snacks throughout the day

Rainbows Program: a free support group program for children and youth who have suffered a significant loss in their lives, either by death, divorce, or any other painful transition.  Rainbows aim to nurture in these grieving children, a belief in their goodness and the values of their own family. This program helps to instill the feeling that each change in life can become an occasion for a new beginning

Youth Outreach Engagement Program: The teams provide homeless youth access to services, nourishment, social connectivity, and empathy. Whether it is taking someone for a coffee, providing critical support, or simply listening, Youth Outreach Workers are often the only friendly faces at-risk youth encounter in their daily lives.

Family Capacity Program: support parents through a process of skill building in areas of consistency, structure, and communication to enhance healthy relationships with their children. 

Sexual Abuse Intervention Program (SAIP): This counselling program is designed for children and youth up to age 19 who have experienced sexual assault and/or abuse. The program also provides services to children up to age 12 with sexually intrusive behaviours. Our goal is to help children, youth, and their families recover from the trauma of sexual abuse.

Bounceback for Adults: Bounce Back® teaches effective skills to help adults,19+, overcome early symptoms of depression, and improve their mental health. Participants learn skills to help combat unhelpful thinking, manage worry and anxiety, and become more active and assertive.

Bounceback for Youth: For youth aged 13-18 years the Bounce Back® program has adapted the workbooks to be youth-focused and help individuals to “bounce back” from low mood, stress, and anxiety.