Childhood educator Mr. Rogers taught us to look for the helpers to find hope in challenging times.
The last year at CUPS was filled with challenges, but it also proved to be a year of opportunity as CUPS found ways to be life-changing helpers, fostering hope and mental health support for the most vulnerable Calgarians facing adversity and trauma.
The number of people seeking counseling from CUPS and the intensity of the supports needed have increased substantially. New health restrictions introduced early in the pandemic escalated these needs, as people lost access to community support groups and group therapy. These are critical lifelines for many of the people CUPS serves.
With this increased demand for mental health care due to COVID, CUPS became a key partner in the community to make mental health support more accessible, reducing the waiting lists for acute care treatment and bringing more clients into the system to support them with other needs.
Through the Shared Care Mental Health team, CUPS responded quickly by expanding services and partnering with other organizations to help people in crisis.
When the pandemic first hit Calgary last year, the CUPS Shared Care Mental Health team already had a long list of people waiting for counseling. But that waitlist shot up as high as 245 when the stress of the pandemic added to those already struggling with job loss, economic and family issues.
The CUPS team made an immediate move to online delivery of counselling and added staff to keep up with the demand.
“The thing I am most proud of is how the whole team — from our counsellors to our medical office assistant to the nurses and our health team — rallied so hard to help us shift gears to online services right away. We didn’t miss a single day,” says Michael Sornberger, Program Manager for CUPS Mental Health.
Sometimes waitlists are not an option. When the need for mental health services is urgent for vulnerable Calgarians, Rapid Care Counselling is the answer.
This new initiative began earlier this year as a partnership for CUPS with Catholic Family Service (CFS) and supported by Calgary Homeless Foundation. The goal is to provide immediate, low barrier access to mental health services for people facing adversity or trauma. This new service means people who can’t wait more than a week for mental health service are not forced to suffer alone or go to hospital for costly care.
The service begins as a single counseling session provided by CFS. During that initial session, clients who need ongoing care are transitioned to the CUPS team and provided a counselor they can see on a regular basis for longer term support.
The partners have taken several steps over the past few months to forge a tight-knit bond, ensuring clients have the best possible service.
One step was implementing a buddy system for counselors. This means staff at CFS and CUPS each have a dedicated support when they are physically present on the partner facility. It results in stronger connections between the staff and mitigates the risk of miscommunication that could impact clients.
Another vital new integration is a bridging session, an in-person meeting to transition clients easily from the single session counselor at CFS to the longer-term counselor at CUPS. “These warm hand-offs let clients know that even though we are two separate organizations, we really are working together as one team,” explains Hayley Lynch-Brown, Rapid Care Counseling Team Lead. “It’s a place for information sharing and knowledge transfer so our clients don’t feel as though they have to start from scratch with a new counselor.”
Since the program began in mid-February 2021, through to the end of May, there have been 228 single session appointments and more than 50 clients have been referred to CUPS for longer-term support.
Knowing where and how to turn for help in challenging times is a critical first step.
Community Connect YYC is new online booking tool that makes this first step easy and emotionally safe for low-income Calgarians in need of supports for their wellness and mental health.
The new website brings together a range of affordable counseling and social services provided by organizations across the city. Available 24/7, clients can immediate book an online or telephone appointment and know that help is on the way.
CUPS is a proud participant in the multi-partner program, offering website visitors a free low-income program consultation. The goal is to help families manage adversity and build long-lasting resilience through appropriate CUPS programs, including Parent Education and Skill Development, Family Support and Coaching, as well as Counselling and Child Development for early years (0-6 years).
“One of the most important things we have learned over the past year is the importance of community,” adds Sornberger. “I am proud of how we have come together with our partners to address the mental health needs of our population. Not simply to patch holes, but to band together to provide comprehensive services with as few barriers as possible to the largest group of people possible.”
From the launch of Community Connect YYC at the end of August 2020, through until April 30, 2021, the Community Connect site has had more than 22,000 hits and more than 2,600 booked appointments.
As we shift into a post-pandemic world, one thing has become very clear: mental health programming needs to stay and continue to grow to support the community. Through active prevention, promotion and treatment, social services organizations working together can reduce the load on acute care and provide effective, efficient mental health support for those who need it most.