Dear friends,

This has been quite the year for The Peoples’ Counselling Clinic.  It has been our first full year in our beautiful new clinic space on Quinpool Road.  We expanded quickly in recent years and are not showing any signs of slowing down.  This year we welcomed new staff members and started new partnerships to help us move into the next phase of our development. 

Always focused of representation from diverse communities, we have achieved a nice balance of people from varied backgrounds on staff.  This, of course, helps us serve the people who access the clinic.  It also lets us get different perspectives and worldviews when making policy and programming decisions.  We spent 2024 using staff meetings to vision our future and identify priorities.  We spent 2025 taking action to make that vision a reality. 

Some highlights for the year include expanded funding from the Nova Scotia Department of Justice to match our ongoing contribution to the Halifax Domestic Violence Court Programme, and a large investment from the provincial Office of Mental Health and Addictions to support our work in community based mental health service delivery.  In partnership with that office, we have been able to inform the development of policy and programming in the sector.  We have started to increase our focus on therapy and case management for youth, couples and families.  We have also started to formalize our work in sexual behaviour assessment and intervention.  We have continued to offer immigration hearing assessments, Parenting Capacity Assessments, and sexual misconduct assessments.  Our forensic assessment services help us inform the courts and other institutions about the needs of the individuals, families, and communities we work with.  We have also continued to partner with other organizations to develop specific services for African Nova Scotian students and other Black community members.  We engage in public education and consultation to let us shift policies and programmes in the larger system.  To that aim, this year our Executive Director presented at an international men and families conference in Barbados.  The conference was a part of a larger movement to bring together experts from around the world who work to address the issues men and boys face.      

The clinic is demonstrating its value as a low-barrier, effective model of service delivery that reaches people who are not adequately served by mainstream programmes.  People who want to access our services can self-refer, and we also accept referrals from other agencies.  We require no formal referral or diagnosis, just a simple call or email from the person who wants help or one of their service providers.  Our clinic offers flexibility for people who may need to work on a range of issues.  We have been able to successfully operate with no wait list, and first appointments are usually offered within a few weeks of someone reaching out. 

We are always looking to expand our network and find new ways to fill in gaps in services.  If you are a worker or administrator at another organization and want to work together, please get in touch.  We are looking forward to another year of solving problems.  We strive to create services that are safe, accessible, inclusive, responsive, innovative, and relevant.  In these ways, we hope to move toward our vision of societies and communities where all peoples enjoy equitable access to mental health and social services.  

With gratitude,

-James and Kim

Our staff met monthly in 2024 and developed a plan for the future of the clinic.  The linked 2025 Strategic Planning Document outlines our next steps in shaping mental health service delivery in Nova Scotia.

-James

Dear friends of the clinic,

2024 has been an exciting year for staff and students here!  We have moved into a new space of our very own and have been busy making it home.  Our services became fully hybrid, and all clients now have the option of attending in-person, virtual, or telephone sessions.  Our group room technology has been working well and our hybrid groups have allowed us to increase access to people who live outside of the Halifax area.  We have participated in a pilot with the Office of Mental Health and Addictions focused on universal access to mental health care.  This work has let us demostrate our value to the larger system and we are expecting to deepen our partnership with that office in 2025.  Whereas in previous years our focus was on sexual and intimate partner violence, in 2024 we shifted resources, attention, and time to more general community-based mental health service delivery.  Our free counselling services have been incredibly popular in that context.  That is not to say we have stopped serving people who experience, or perpetrate, sexual or intimate partner violence.  Our work with the Department of Justice and other agencies on the Halifax Domestic Violence Court Programme has continued to grow.  We have also continued to offer and strengthen ManTalk, our group for male-identified victims of sexual abuse.  This trauma-specific therapy service has been very popular and we continue to receive new referrals from various community partners in addition to self-referrals from men who want help.  The year ahead will bring more expansion and more partnerships with allied agencies.  We plan to branch out into new areas of forensic assessment.  We also hope to focus more on public education and offering training opportunities to other agencies and individuals.  We look forward to working with you all in 2025!

-James          

We're excited to let you know that we have moved to a new location.  We're now on the second floor of 6169 Quinpool Road (suite 202).  Along with the new space comes the opportunity to offer more in-person services.  All of our clinicians now offer truly hybrid services (in-person, online, and telephone therapy).  Our group therapy is also now offered both in-person and online using a new hybrid boardroom setup.  We're very excited to welcome you into the new space as we continue to expand!

-James    

Here is a news story featuring our new pilot with the Office of Addictions and Mental Health: https://globalnews.ca/video/10416455/clinic-sees-funding-boost-amid-demand-for-service/

-James

ADDICTIONS/MENTAL HEALTH--More Mental Health Supports for Marginalized, Underserved Nova Scotians
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A Halifax clinic is expanding to meet the growing demand for mental health and addictions services.

The Peoples’ Counselling Clinic offers marginalized and underserved communities free mental health counselling, individual and group therapy and assessments.

“Community-based organizations like this one play an important role in delivering much-needed mental health services to Nova Scotians,” said Brian Comer, Minister of Addictions and Mental Health. “The Peoples’ Counselling Clinic is doing great work already, and additional government funding will help them do more of it. This kind of partnership is an important part of our work to implement universal mental health and addictions care in Nova Scotia.”

A one-time grant of $425,000 from the Office of Addictions and Mental Health (OAMH) will be used to add two new full-time staff to the team and offer more services to more people. As part of the funding agreement, the clinic will pilot the use of service codes by a community-based organization as part of an insured service program.

The low-barrier, culturally competent and 2SLGBTQIA+ friendly clinic provides services to people with multiple challenges whose needs are currently underserved by other systems and programs. No appointment or referral is necessary.

The clinic offers counselling in areas including:
- complex trauma stemming from severe abuse, neglect, racial violence and other adverse childhood experiences
- patterns of abuse in relationships, including counselling for people involved in criminal justice proceedings
- attachment and development
- sexual behaviour problems
- the use of violence in relationships
- sexual and intimate partner victimization
- complex and intersecting mental health, substance use, addiction and social challenges.

OAMH provides one-time and multi-year grants to community-based organizations to support mental health and wellness across Nova Scotia, including services, supports and initiatives to prevent and reduce the risk of suicide.

Quotes:
“What a great opportunity to help shape the future of mental health service delivery in Nova Scotia. Staff and students at The Peoples’ Counselling Clinic are ideally situated to inform policy in ways that prioritize marginalized and underserved groups. Universal access cannot mean one size fits all and we are committed to that shining through in this pilot.”
— James Owen Dubé, Executive Director, The Peoples’ Counselling Clinic

Quick Facts:
- The Peoples’ Counselling Clinic runs a teaching clinic with university students from social work and counselling programs
- OAMH provided $4.9 million in one-time grants in the 2023-24 fiscal year
- OAMH currently funds 22 multi-year grants and service level agreements for community-based organizations totaling more than $15.6 million

Additional Resources:
The Peoples' Counselling Clinic: http://www.thepeoplescounsellingclinic.ca/

For non-crisis support, people needing treatment and care for mental health and addictions can contact the mental health and addictions intake service at 1-855-922-1122 to be matched with appropriate services

Programs and supports for mental health, wellness and addictions: https://novascotia.ca/mental-health-and-wellbeing/

Action for Health, the government’s plan to improve healthcare: https://actionforhealth.novascotia.ca

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Our clinic manager spoke on the Todd Veinotte show on July 6 at 10am.  Here is the recording.

-James

Michael Tutton wrote this article featuring ManTalk and other programmes offered by the clinic.

-James

We are sad to see Catherine Phinney move on from the clinic.  She has been a great addition to the team here and we wish her all the best.  No doubt she will continue to do great work in the larger community.

-James  

Here is a link to the article by Gareth Hampshire.  It highlights the complexities of working with people who are dually victims and perpetrators of violence.  We were also featured on radio and television.

-James