Moving Forward (mffs.ca) a non-profit collaborative that provides low barrier counselling services to residents of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Before founding MFFS, I personally and professionally saw many people fall through the wide gaps in services, which is why MFFS doesn’t have any restrictions and minimal waits.
Chances are you or someone you know has struggled with mental health and/or addictions, or experienced loss or trauma. Upon reaching out for help, you likely discovered systems of care marked by long waits, requirements, or costs that made it impossible to access. It can be overwhelming.
The model of providing mentoring and support to students on practicum to address the above gaps, to complement rather than compete against existing services, has worked well – we have thousands of active clients and receive 50-75 new requests for service each week. And we do most of this with community support (we have one government funded position – this covers administration, tech, supervision and management) – the rest of our service delivery is covered through philanthropy.
This month, every dollar donated to MFFS via CanadaHelps.org from June 1st to 30th could help us win this year’s $20,000 grand prize.
Even if we do not win the grand prize, your support will help us continue to offer free and affordable counselling to thousands of clients monthly.
You can make a one-time donation or arrange for monthly contributions. Every dollar donated via the Canadahelps.org site to Moving Forward will be used to hire a clinical supervisor.
If 100 contacts were to donate say $20 per month, the $2000 generated would help to pay for a part-time supervisor.By hiring one part-time clinical supervisor, they would be able to supervise 10-15 intern counsellors – meaning your one dollar donation allows us to put out 10-15 times the services.
I realize these are difficult times, and thus donating may not be an option for you – in which case I would ask you to reach out to your networks and ask them if they are able to support our mission. If you are a business owner/entrepreneur, I welcome any dialogue around ways to work collaboratively on any potential social enterprise initiatives.
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/Moving-Forward-Family-Services-Society/
Sincerely,
Gary Thandi, MSW RSW
