Foundry Cariboo Chilcotin – Now Open!

Foundry Cariboo-Chilcotin – Now Open!

We are excited to announce that Foundry Cariboo Chilcotin has opened its doors in Williams Lake – 51, 4th Avenue South!

Foundry Cariboo Chilcotin provides young people ages 12-24 and their families, free and confidential age-friendly services to fit their unique needs, such as drop-in counselling, medical services; including physical and sexual health care, youth and family peer support and social services. Currently, there are 14 Foundry centres open throughout the province with an additional 9 new centres in development.

We congratulate Cariboo Chilcotin Child Development Centre and the numerous community partners​​​​​​ who played an instrumental role in bringing Foundry to Cariboo Chilcotin! We are so excited to see Foundry Cariboo Chilcotin officially open its doors and welcome youth and their caregivers.

Read the news release or visit foundrybc.ca https://foundrybc.ca/cariboo-chilcotin-now-open/ to learn more.

Foundry Richmond – Now Open!

Foundry Richmond – Now Open!

We are excited to announce that Foundry Richmond has opened its doors at 101-5811 Cooney Rd!

Foundry Richmond provides young people ages 12-24 and their families, free and confidential age-friendly services to fit their unique needs, such as drop-in counselling, medical services; including physical and sexual health care, youth and family peer support and social services. Currently, there are 13 Foundry centres open throughout the province with an additional 10 new centres in development.

We congratulate Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCH), Richmond Addictions Services Society (RASS) and the numerous community partners​​​​​​ who played an instrumental role in bringing Foundry to Richmond! We are so excited to see Foundry Richmond officially open its doors and welcome youth and their caregivers.

Read the news release, available in both English and Chinese, or visit foundrybc.ca/richmond to learn more.

Foundry Sunshine Coast – Coming Soon!

Foundry Sunshine Coast – Coming Soon!

We are proud to announce that a new Foundry centre will be coming to the Sunshine Coast in the future!

Once open, young people and families/caregivers in the Sunshine Coast will have increased access to free and confidential health and wellness supports to fit their unique needs. We’re excited to welcome Foundry Sunshine Coast into our growing network of Foundry centres and continue our mission in supporting youth in living a good life.

Following Fort St. John, Tri-Cities and Kamloops, Foundry Sunshine Coast is the final new centre announcement of Budget 2021.

We are incredibly grateful to Sunshine Coast Community Services – the lead agency for Foundry Sunshine Coast – as well as the Government of BC and community partners across the province for their support in making this possible.

To learn more, read the news release here or visit foundrybc.ca/expansion.

If you have any questions, please email expansion@foundrybc.ca.

Foundry PhD research trainee receives prestigious Clyde Hertzman Memorial Fellowship

On August 31, 2022, Katherine (Katie) Hastings, a UBC doctoral student was named the successful recipient of the 2nd annual ‘Society to Cell’ Clyde Hertzman Memorial Fellowship for her research project, “How has the mental health service needs of youth in BC changed since the pandemic: a retrospective analysis using data from a province-wide integrated youth service network“. 

The ‘Society to Cell’ Clyde Hertzman Memorial Fellowship financially supports UBC trainees who are conducting research projects that will enrich our understanding of the impact of social and environmental factors on health and well-being across the life course.  

For Dr. Skye Barbic, Head Scientist at Foundry, this scholarship honours the legacy of Dr. Hertzman – who passed away suddenly in February 2013 – as a world-leading researcher in the social determinants of health, a champion for social justice, and a tireless advocate for youth.  

“We are so proud of Katie’s work to date,” says Dr. Barbic, “and look forward to partnering with her and Dr. Anne Gadermann from the UBC School of Public and Population Health to advance this impactful research and support Katie’s trajectory as a future health service leader, educator, and researcher.  

Learn more about her project below: 

How has the mental health service needs of youth in BC changed since the pandemic: a retrospective analysis using data from a province-wide integrated youth service network 

Canada and many parts of the world are investing in an emerging model of care called Integrated Youth Services (IYS), combining a blend of traditional (psychiatric care, counseling) and non-traditional services (peer support, primary care, and social services) delivered in a singular, accessible and youth-friendly location. This comes at a critical time in which youth are facing unprecedented levels of social isolation and missing important developmental milestones with school closures, quarantine orders, and increased family and individual stress due to the pandemic.  

The overall aim of this study is to understand the impact of integrated youth services (IYS) on access and service utilization patterns among diverse youth in BC, by describing characteristics and predictors of service utilization among youth accessing IYS; comparing temporal trends of service use and mental health outcomes of youth accessing services by IYS sites over time (2018-2022); and comparing overall service utilization patterns (i.e., any mental health-related services accessed in BC) of youth before and after an initial visit at an IYS. 

With widening socioeconomic and health inequities, understanding the impact of Foundry, an IYS established in 2015, and the needs of diverse youth in BC will help inform rapid policy and public health action to address these disparities. 

“Being awarded this fellowship means a lot to me,” says Katie. “Dr. Clyde Hertzman has left a huge legacy in the field of early childhood development and I hope to honor his vision to explore ‘differences that make a difference’ through this work.” 

“We have a unique opportunity to examine the mental health landscape and service needs of youth through the rich data sources available at Foundry. Findings from this study can be used to identify potential gaps in access and services needed to address the increasing mental health burden among youth brought on by the pandemic.” 

Congratulations to Katie on this award! 

 

 

Clyde Hertzman Memorial Fellowship Award, UBC researcher, Dr. Skye Barbic, Skye Barbic, Foundry BC, Foundry, the Foundry, integrated youth services, foundry counselling, youth mental health, translated mental health services,  kids mental health, free counselling, youth support, teenager mental health support, youth programs, mental health and addictions

Two Foundry teams funded through PHC’s annual Practice-based Research Challenge  

On Aug 23, two Foundry Vancouver-Granville teams were among the 15 successful teams receiving funding through the annual PHC Practice-based Research Challenge, for their research project: Experiences of Indigenous youth accessing mental health care through primary care and psychiatry at two inner-city integrative community health centres. 

The Research Challenge is a competition open to point-of-care PHC staff and offers research teams the opportunity to work with a mentor to develop a research proposal around a research question, where they learn basic research skills and compete with other teams for funding to conduct a small-scale research project.  

Presentations were judged by a panel comprised of scientific and Patient and Family Partner reviewers.  

Winning teams receive up to $5,000 each in research award funding to conduct their research over an 18-month period. 

Learn more about their project below: 

Experiences of Indigenous youth accessing mental health care through primary care and psychiatry at two inner-city integrative community health centres.  

Team members: 

Young people aged 15–24 are more likely to experience mental health and/or substance use disorders than any other age group. As a result of the negative impacts of colonization, cultural oppression and historical trauma, Indigenous youth experience a disproportionate burden of mental health and substance use concerns with even more barriers to accessing care than non-Indigenous youth. Primary care and mental health services in urban settings have generally not been adapted to serve the needs of Indigenous young people.  

The aim of this project is to gain an understanding of the experiences of Indigenous youth ages 16-24 years who have accessed mental health care through primary care and psychiatry at two urban health centres. Findings may help service providers optimize the care outcomes and experiences of urban Indigenous youth and directions for future research.  

What is the experience of youth transitioning from Foundry youth services to adult care? 

Team members: 

Our research project will look at the experience of youth transitioning from Foundry integrative youth services to adult care, or independence.  Foundry is a community-based youth (age 16-25 years) mental health and substance use clinic. Foundry Services are comprehensive and offer mental health care, substance use services, primary care, social services, and youth and family peer supports. 

Due to this “one stop shop” approach to care, our clinic is heavily involved in many aspects of a client’s life until they turn 25. There is currently no transition pathway or plan in place that Foundry clinicians can use to guide clients through the ageing out process.  

To explore this transition period, we will complete a qualitative research study using interviews and focus groups with former Foundry clients to identify the ways their health, and overall wellbeing has changed since ageing out of Foundry care. Our goal is to use the information gathered and to develop a pathway Foundry can use to better support and prepare our clients as they transition out of our care.   

Foundry Vancouver-Granville is part of the Foundry network, a growing provincial and national network that includes over 200 partnerships. It also serves as one of 12 Foundry centres across BC that provides free and confidential health and wellness services for young people ages 12-24.  

“The Foundry Network is a Learning Health System,” says Dr. Skye Barbic, Head Scientist, Foundry. “The Research Challenge is an opportunity to create, acquire, and transfer new knowledge from one centre and share insights with partner organizations in Vancouver and across the entire Foundry network. 

“The success of these teams shows incredible commitment from service providers at Foundry Vancouver Granville. We are grateful to their commitment to generate and share evidence to improve the outcomes and experience of youth and families.” 

Congratulations to Janae Dunlop, Lyn Heinemann, Emily Leake, Sarah Cochrane, Courteney Durand, Farzana Rayani, Chelsea Stratton, Ingrid Mayer, Danielle O’Callaghan on this award!  

 

 

 

PHC research challenge, PHC, Providence Health Care, Foundry Vancouver-Granville,  UBC researcher, Dr. Skye Barbic, Skye Barbic, Foundry BC, Foundry, the Foundry, integrated youth services, foundry counselling, youth mental health, translated mental health services,  kids mental health, free counselling, youth support, teenager mental health support, youth programs, mental health and addictions

Foundry is coming to Kamloops

Foundry is coming to Langley

Foundry is coming to the Tri-Cities

BC Games Society and Foundry partner to bring awareness of health and wellness supports available to Games participants.

Celebrating Beauty of Life In Psychosis (BLIP): A Retrospective

In the last two articles Anne Liao and I wrote about Foundry’s Beauty of Life In Psychosis (BLIP) group, Discovering the Beauty of Life In Psychosis and Beauty of Life In Psychosis (BLIP): Challenging the Definition of “Normal”, we reflected on our experiences co-facilitating the first two cohorts and shared some of the amazing artwork and insights from the group. Now, as this year-long project draws to an end, we’d like to wrap things up with a celebration of our third and final cohort. 

First, a little bit of background information about BLIP: Beauty of Life in Psychosis (BLIP) was an art and creativity group for young people who self-identify as experiencing psychosis, hearing voices, seeing visions, and/or having unique beliefs. BLIP was fully peer-led, which means that it was dreamed up, developed, and facilitated by people with these experiences – Anne and myself. Our concept for the group was simple: we wanted to create a safe(r) space to socialize, be part of a community, talk about our experiences, and express ourselves creatively, all without fear of judgment. We were able to host three six-session cohorts of the group, including supplying all participants with free art supplies, in partnership with Vancouver Coastal Health’s Consumer Initiative Fund, Foundry Virtual BC, and Early Psychosis Intervention BC (EPI). 

With BLIP, we hoped to challenge some of the stigmatizing ideas that exist around psychosis and unusual perceptions like hearing voices. We wanted to normalize speaking openly about our experiences in all their complexity, as a “regular” part of life and the spectrum of human experience – something that can be funny, scary, weird, interesting, or sometimes beautiful. We aimed to create a space where people felt able to explore their/our experiences in art and discussion, because often, there aren’t many opportunities to share these important conversations with other people. We wanted to recognize the value of the unique perspectives that everyone brought to the group, while also thinking about how the group could be a collaborative space to learn from each other and bounce ideas back and forth. With that in mind, for each cohort, we also worked together as a to come up with a final, themed group project. 

For the first two cohorts, our themes were “transformation” and “normalcy.” For the third cohort, the theme we settled on was “societal expectations.” The theme was deliberately open-ended, because we felt that it encompassed many sub-themes that we were interested in as a group. Some of the sub-themes we discussed were experiences of stigma and the expectation to conform; the expectation to “fit into categories”; expectations, assumptions, and judgments around “functioning” and “functioning levels”; and the challenge of finding your own authentic identity. Overall, the group painted a picture of the complexity of navigating societal expectations and identity as young people living with psychosis, voices, visions, and unique beliefs. Many of the sub-themes we discussed in this cohort weren’t specific to psychosis or mental health – instead, some were more about growing up and finding ourselves as people. After all, these experiences are only one aspect of our lives, woven into other, larger stories. 

Stay tuned in the new year for artwork from this cohort, which we’ll be sharing on Foundry BC social channel and ware looking to organize a combined exhibition of work by artists from all cohorts. Thank you to all the amazing artists who participated and to our partners at Foundry VIrtual BC, Vancouver Coastal Health and Early Psychosis Intervention BC (EPI) for helping make this group possible! 

Note about the author:
Rory (they/them) is an artist, peer support worker and researcher with lived/living experience of psychosis. They are the coordinator for the BC Hearing Voices Network and currently study psychosis in cultural context at the UBC School of Social Work. They draw heavily on their experience of psychosis in their practice as an acrylic painter.