Powell River Child, Youth and Family Services Society (PRCYFSS) is making a move. The society will be opening its new doors at Oceanview Education Centre on December 17.
Heather Gordon, executive director, is excited about the future of the society and what the new space will bring to the community. “The new Parenting Centre and library is a joyful place,” she said. “It is a great resource available for drop-in family visits.” There will also be rooms for group visits and a front desk staffed by a family counsellor who can offer “in the moment support” to parents, children and teens.
PRCYFSS is set to broaden its reach in the community and it also seeks to broaden its community membership. “We want to bring new members into the society,” said Gordon. “We want the community to become invested in the work we are doing in [the] lives of children and youth in the community.”
The organization’s purposes include “developing, coordinating and delivering a comprehensive range of services to children, youth and families in Powell River and surrounding areas.” “We are committed to addressing the needs of families, youth and children broadly,” said Gordon. “We seek to support and nourish the best outcomes possible for Powell River’s children, youth and families.”
Over the past 20 years, PRCYFSS has coordinated services for families and youth taking on the delivery of services primarily mandated by government. But the society’s purposes are far larger than its budget and more comprehensive than the current mandates of government. It could not approach the “comprehensive range of services” it desired to address, and often its programs were driven by specific mandated programs that targeted particular needs.
“In the past much of our work has been directed by ministry of children and family development contracts, often in the role of crisis intervention,” explained Ann Kurtz, program director. Programs like Family Preservation and Reunification and Youth Justice Worker will continue, Kurtz confirmed, “and now we will be able to provide preventative services as well. We will be here to help get families over a bump, to creatively address the needs of a wide variety of parents and families.”
In 2013, PRCYFSS, like many non-profits across the province, faced serious financial pressures. The society was on the brink of dissolving as a separate entity and combining with another organization. At the eleventh hour, Jay Yule, superintendent of School District 47, offered a solution that not only enables the society to continue but also to grow into its purpose.
As a result of the new relationship with the school district, PRCYFSS will move to Oceanview Education Centre, where there is room for it to expand and to support a wider public. The Youth Resource Centre is already active at Oceanview. The new space will accommodate new offices for staff, a group meeting room and the new Parenting Centre.
Families will be able to get support by just walking through the doors of the Parenting Centre. Counsellor Erin Bradley will greet people and guide them to the library of resources for parents and children. “Erin has a Master’s degree in counselling psychology and brings to this role an unshakeable passion for working with families and their children,” said Gordon. “People can think that if you are getting support for parenting, you must be a bad parent. But really getting resources that you need is being the best that you can be. Seeking help as a parent is being a good parent. We all remember needing support in parenting.”
Having someone with counselling skills at the moment they need them will be a boon to many families. Previously, they may have had to be put on a waiting list. There is no charge for the services offered at the Parenting Centre or through other PRCYFSS programs.
Gordon and Kurtz are thrilled at the opportunities provided by the society’s new home. “We are blessed by the generosity of this small town working together,” said Gordon. “It feels as if we are coming of age as a society. We feel great about where we are going.”
