Prince Rupert once again comes up short, on the short list of new FOUNDRY locations in British Columbia

The Province of British Columbia is expanding on its successful FOUNDRY program, an initiative that provides for a range of vital health care services for young British Columbians.

“There’s nothing more important than helping kids and their families. That’s why we’re making a significant expansion in child and youth health and wellness supports so more young people can get connected to the services they need. Foundry centres provide a welcoming, stigma-free place where young people can connect to health and wellness supports so they can address mental-health and addiction challenges before they become roadblocks.” -- Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions

The statement from Minister Whiteside from yesterday, which you can review here, outlines the vision the province has for the FOUNDRY program.

Foundry centres are a crucial part of the Province’s work to provide better primary and mental-health supports to youth closer to home by offering young people aged 12-24 and their families access to free and confidential services, such as mental-health and addiction counselling, physical and sexual health care, peer support and social services.

And while the service would clearly be of major benefit for the youth of the Prince Rupert area, something we expressed some hope towards back in September of last year.  

When it came to the roll out, the North Coast once again did not make the cut.

The ten communities selected for the expansion are found in the Lower mainland Vancouver Island and Kootenay regions, along with Vanderhoof which is the only location in the Northwest for this round of funding.

As part of their information relay of Monday, the province outlined how they decided on where to locate the latest additions to the program.

Communities and operating agencies were selected based on key considerations including regional representation; proximity of existing centres; service provider readiness and capacity; and applicants’ values as they relate to cultural agility, justice and equity.

The new locations will join the current roster of FOUNDRY centres currently in operation in the following communities:

Vancouver-Granville, North Shore (North Vancouver), Campbell River, Ridge Meadows, Abbotsford, Kelowna, Prince George, Victoria, Penticton, Terrace, Comox Valley, Langley, Richmond, Cariboo-Chilcotin (Williams Lake), Sea to Sky (Squamish) and Port Hardy.

The Terrace FOUNDRY was announced in June of 2018 and since that time has been a well received addition to the overall care program for youth in that community, you can explore what they have to offer here.

Nine other Centres are currently in development, including one in the Burns Lake area. 

Other communities still working out logistics for the project include: East Kootenay (Cranbrook), Surrey, Fort St. John, Sunshine Coast, Tri-Cities, Kamloops, Vernon, and Foundry qathet (Powell River). 

Once in operation the initiative will be serving 35 British Columbia communities. 

More notes from the BC Legislature can be reviewed through our archive page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.