More people seeking mental health support now than ever before

When requests for subsidized counselling services grew by up to 25% during the pandemic, Daya Counselling Centre responded by opening up single-session counselling appointments to tide people over, thanks to United Way funding.

With increasing numbers of people experiencing anxiety and depression during the pandemic, accessing help has been a challenge for many, especially for those with financial barriers.

At London’s Daya Counselling Centre, the urgency of the situation became clear in the months after the first COVID-19 lockdown as its wait list for subsidized counselling services grew to unprecedented levels.

There were so many on the verge of crisis, Daya staff knew they had to do something to help. With funding from United Way Elgin Middlesex, they opened up subsidized single-counselling sessions to those on the waiting list as a way to tide people over until longer-term spots opened up.

“If someone accesses mental health supports, they might be able to stay in a job or find a job, or to get connected to resources that help them access basic needs and supports,” said Daya Executive Director Kate Stewart.

And it was important to include those sessions as part of Daya’s subsidized—meaning low- or no-cost—services, she said.

“Affordable counseling services are so important to these clients at this particular moment in time, because the pandemic has compounded the challenges people are facing in their everyday lives.”

Even before COVID-19, Daya was known as a place that could help people who couldn’t afford expensive therapy. During the past year, the number of clients seeking subsidized counselling services skyrocketed, increasing by about 25 per cent compared to the year before.

That’s why the single sessions were “instrumental,” to helping people cope, said Daya psychotherapist Ana Barrientos.

“We’ve seen an incredible increase in the amount of people needing supports. And I’ve heard from many of them that if those supports weren’t subsidized, they would never be able to access them,” she said. “The pandemic really has impacted people’s livelihoods, their home situations.”

Noting some new clients reported never experiencing such severe mental health issues before COVID-19 struck, Barrientos said the pandemic has had a “ripple effect” that has continued to impact individuals and families who’ve lost jobs and income during the past 18 months.

“They haven’t necessarily recovered quite so quickly as others. They don’t have the same resources they once had and they don’t necessarily have the supports they need because others around them are also experiencing a lot of high stressors,” she said.

“I do see that there is a disparity in terms of that recovery for people coming from different socioeconomic statuses.”

And there’s no sign of that slowing. Despite the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, calls for service are continuing to rise.

“There certainly is some light at the end of the tunnel. But in terms of people’s mental health and well-being, I really don’t know if that light is all that bright at the moment,” Stewart said.

“As we start to recover from the pandemic we are seeing and hearing an increased need for mental health services across the board. But in particular we are hearing from individuals who are looking for affordable, but high-quality supports.”

Daya’s subsidized counselling program is funded 100 per cent by community donations, including United Way.

“We really wouldn’t be able to get through the pandemic if we didn’t focus on that sense of connection, the ways in which we can support each other,” Stewart said.

“With all of the uncertainty that the pandemic brought, it was such a relief to know that the United Way was there to support us.

“It was really a port in the storm.”

‘He would sign in from a bus stop. He wouldn’t miss a session.’

United Way helped keep families safe during the pandemic by providing funds to help Caring Dads deliver remote support to men at risk of abusing. As we start to recover and return to in-person activities, the program is exploring ways to keep the benefits of virtual support meetings and counselling sessions.

Tim Kelly has been answering the same questions for two decades.

“Why do you help the men?” people have asked since he first joined Changing Ways — a London-based organization that provides counselling to men involved in intimate partner violence.

“Why do you spend any time working with them?”

To Kelly and the community agencies who partner with Changing Ways, the answer is obvious.

“We work with these men, because they have children and women in their life that they’re impacting. We focus on the person causing the harm to help them create safety for themselves and their families.

“It is child-centred work.”

That statement is an underlying theme of Caring Dads, a Changing Ways program that focuses specifically on helping fathers who abuse or neglect their children.

Launched in 2001 with $5,000 in United Way funding, Caring Dads has been so successful that it has been adapted by agencies across Canada, the U.S., England, Europe and Australia and translated into five languages. In Elgin County, London and Middlesex County it supports hundreds of men each year.

“It helps to see I’m not alone. When you talk out loud about the issues in an environment where you’re not judged, it helps you work these things out,” said one client interviewed. “Since being in the program, I know I’ve become a better dad to my son and I see how my words affect him.

“I never want to miss a meeting.”

It was because of that dad and hundreds more that staff knew they had to do something to keep contact with dads involved in the Caring Dads program when COVID-19 forced global shutdowns.

With funding from United Way Elgin Middlesex, staff bought electronic tablets for clients so they could log in for virtual support meetings and counselling sessions.

While the remote access was meant to be a temporary bandage it had a lasting benefit.
“It did remove many barriers,” said Caring Dads facilitator Carina Corradi, recalling one man charged with assaulting his partner, who was homeless during the pandemic.

“He would participate in the program from the street—from the bus stop,” she said. “He wouldn’t miss one session.

“That is powerful.”

Changing Ways works closely with family-serving agencies as well as the Children’s Aid Society and probation services. It has also embarked on a partnership with London’s Muslim Resource Centre for Social Support and Integration to adapt services to meet different needs of different communities, Kelly said.

During the first year of the pandemic, 395 men from London, St. Thomas and rural communities of Elgin and Middlesex Counties were mandated by court and referred by other agencies or themselves to participate in the Caring Dads Program—a nearly 30 per cent increase from the year before. And during the second year of pandemic restrictions including rolling shutdowns, the program was on track for another 30 per cent increase in requests for service.

COVID-19 restrictions created a perfect storm of some of the top “risk factors” linked to intimate partner violence, including isolation, job insecurity and housing uncertainty, said Kelly.

To address the increased risks for the Caring Dads in their program, staff incorporated more outreach into the service, contacting the men to check in between scheduled counselling and group sessions.

“We scrambled pretty quickly to figure out how to keep the work going, how to keep the referrals coming in . . . and say, ‘We’re here. We’re open for business,” said Kelly.

“One thing we never lost sight of was that there are people that are at risk with the men we work with,” Kelly said.

“Our focus is specifically to help these men create safety for their children. For their families.”

Helping youth in St. Thomas and Elgin County see a brighter future

United Way helped youth navigate challenging times during the pandemic by providing funding to help Ignite Youth Centre deliver remote support to young people. As restrictions begin to ease, the Centre is starting to welcome youth back.

Cancelled classes, missed graduations, lost time with friends. Plans for school, sports and work postponed so much it seemed there was no point.

The COVID-19 pandemic took a devastating toll on youth mental health, robbing them of rites of passage during a time many expected to be the best years of their lives.

At Ignite Youth Centre — which serves nearly 500 Elgin County adolescents yearly through its free programs and vibrant drop-in centre in downtown St. Thomas — staff recognized early in the first shut-down that they needed a new way to help youth in the community.

“We started to do virtual programming as soon as we could,” said Spencer Mederios, a youth engagement co-ordinator at the St. Thomas-based organization which receives funding from United Way Elgin Middlesex.

“We knew they were struggling because of all the uncertainty. We knew we needed to focus on mental health, and on doing fun things.”

Keeping in mind Ignite’s underpinning theme of “smart decisions for success,” the staff put together new virtual programs that included paint nights, stressball-making workshops and movie nights. Not only did the youth sign up immediately, in some cases Ignite had to start wait lists because registration was full.

“It was so exciting,” Mederios said. “We had youth participating — laughing. It just made all the difference.”

In fact, it was a game-changer for teens and tweens from smaller communities such as Sparta, Union and Port Stanley, who participated in programs they could never attend in person, Mederios. Ignite plans to continue a mix of virtual and in-person programming after the pandemic.

But while the internet provided a lifeline, the team at Ignite knew the importance of helping youth build community connections and didn’t want to lose that during shut-downs. So with funding from United Way Elgin Middlesex, Ignite partnered with local agencies and businesses to launch a virtual farmer’s market, which gave teens experience in everything from online ordering to packaging to customer service.

The market fit into Ignite’s goal to help youth contribute to their community, while providing “connections to other peers and caring adults,” said Executive Director Jackie Van Ryswyk.

When COVID-19 restrictions were lifted this summer, staff launched two new programs—one to help youths gain self-confidence and appreciate themselves and the other on team work—designed to address the needs of youth who’d experienced isolation during the pandemic.

“We know there are more vulnerable and at-risk youth than there were before the pandemic and as we start to recover, many are anxious about what the future holds for them,” said Van Ryswyk. “It’s important for youth to learn to build connections again.”

“We are ready to serve those youth and to meet them where they’re at.”