Foundry Kelowna gets $15K grant to create youth mental health mobile unit

To better serve youth in the Central Okanagan, Foundry Kelowna made the logical call of asking the very people they were trying to help.

The overwhelming response was that there was a gap in accessibility for young people who live beyond Kelowna’s city borders.

CMHA Kelowna, which operates Foundry Kelowna, set out to fix that by forming a youth mental health mobile unit and a grant from the Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund has made it happen.

The grant is worth $15,000 and it’ll allow Foundry Kelowna to bring this project to live and bring their focus towards the communities of West Kelowna and Lake Country.

“Last year more than 1,500 youth visited Foundry Kelowna for a range of services,” said Ben Macauley, manager of Foundry Kelowna.

“While that number shows we are helping a lot of young people, it also indicates there are still those who may need help and are not getting it.”

Thanks to the Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund, they’ll be able to up those numbers in coming months and years.

It’ll ensure youth all over the Central Okanagan have a safe, non-judgmental place to turn to that can also connect them to other avenues of help.

This year, Bell Let’s Talk Day falls on Wednesday, Jan. 29 and you’ll once again be encouraged to get involved in the conversation on social media and through text to raise important funds for mental health initiatives.