Programs & Services

The Child and Youth Mental Health Counsellor assists children and youth who suffer from mental health disorders or who are experiencing difficulties in their ability to function well in everyday situations. Issues may include anxiety, stress reduction, and behaviour.

• Individual, child and youth counselling
• Provides assessment and treatment.
• Groups and workshops
• Education

Our Family Services program provides counselling and ongoing support in areas of family stress, parenting strategies, coping, and communication. This program helps families work together to solve problems and to learn skills that enable them to create a more positive home environment.

We offer various skill building groups such as:

• Healthy relationship building
• Parenting programs
• Individual, family, couple, child, and teen counselling
• Healthy lifestyle series
• Groups and workshops
• Education
• Individual, child and youth counselling
• Provides assessment and treatment.
• Groups and workshops
• Education

The Connections Worker provides support, advocacy, and counselling to women who have experienced sexual assault, spousal assault, or childhood abuse and is available to provide community education on violence against women. This program includes individual counselling and group workshops in order to facilitate womens’ understanding of their own experiences and the emotional impact of the trauma. Past and present coping skills are explored in order to develop new skills. Issues such as depression, anger, and self esteem will be addressed.

Our Child and Youth Care workers provide individual support to children and youth ages 3-18 years who have been referred to the program due to their exceptional needs. ‘Exceptional needs’ may refer to ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome), ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), or similar conditions. It may refer to children experiencing social, emotional, or behavioural problems.

The primary goal of the program is to empower children to make positive changes in their lives by providing a program based on the strengths, needs, and interests of each child. Services may include life-skills training or individual sessions that assist the child with anger management, conflict resolution, self-esteem, improved communication, or expressions of emotion.

Referrals to this program may be initiated through the Ministry of Children and Family Development, parents, or community professionals.

Provides free individual and group counselling and support for children and youth ages 3-18 who have been exposed to family violence. This program helps children and youth understand their emotions, recognize their strengths, increase their self-confidence, and understand that they are not responsible for the violence they have experienced.

The Infant Development Program provides assistance to families with children between the ages of 0-3 years who are at-risk or developmentally delayed in one or more skill areas.

Recognizing that future physical, social, and/or intellectual development depends in part on a child’s early experiences with their family, the IDP Consultant, through regular home visits, helps parents learn how to enhance their child’s progress. The consultant develops a program of activities for the child and can refer to other community resources.

Community professionals involved in this program include the public health nurse, doctors, preschool teachers, physiotherapists, social worker, speech and language pathologist, and others.

Referrals to this program may come from any source (parent, doctor, public health, etc.). Participation in this program is voluntary and information shared is confidential.

Program support may include consultation, support within a centre or program, resources, child specific training, or access to the toy lending library and other equipment maintained at Mackenzie Counselling Services. Referrals to the SCD program must include a diagnosed developmental delay and may be made by parents, daycare providers, or community professionals.

Supported Child Development workers support children, aged 0-12, enrolled in a licensed centre or community programs. Children who require extra support due to exceptional healthcare needs, developmental delays, mental, physical, behavioural, or communication challenges may be included in typical settings.

The Safe Home program works directly with women and children who are victims of domestic violence.

The program philosophy includes the belief that every woman has to right to make decisions for herself and direct her life according to her own values and needs, a right to a safe place, without fear of abuse, within which she can explore the alternatives available to her, and a right to protection of her privacy and confidentiality.

This program meets the needs of abused women and their children by providing emergency shelter and emotional support in times of crisis.

Other services offered include crisis counselling, on-going support, referrals to other community resources and information. Additionally, the program is committed to providing preventative and educational services on the issue of family violence to the community of Mackenzie.

The Safe Home Coordinator is on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days week and can be reached at 250-997-6595. The Safe Home Coordinator provides office hours from Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Provides outreach services to address the social and emotional needs of seniors with one-on-one support, connecting to resources, providing advocacy and system navigation, identifying system gaps and engaging community volunteers to fill these gaps.

The Mackenzie Better at Home program helps seniors with simple, non-medical, day-to-day tasks so that they can continue to live independently in their own homes and remain connected to their communities. Better at Home is funded by the Government of B.C. and managed by the United Way. Services are provided by volunteers and contractors. Services may include:

• Friendly visits/social outings

• Lawn care and yardwork

• Housekeeping

• Transportation with accompaniment
• Snow removal
• Minor home repair
• Taxi services

This program provides inclusive support for all adults in a safe and validating environment to help gain insight and understanding of personal life challenges. We aim to provide clients with the skills needed to build a strong foundation to thrive. This program is staffed by a clinical counsellor and support workers. Areas of expertise include but are not limited to:

• Men’s support
• Women’s support
• 2SLGBTQI+
• Grief and trauma
• Stress
• Coping skills and regulation strategies
• Emotional regulation and management skills
• Communication skills
• Life transition
• Substance use support