Season’s greetings
We know that 2020 has been a year like no other. The pandemic has been hard for everyone, but it has been particularly hard for Canadians living with mental health and addiction concerns. With December just a few days away, we wanted to let you know that our hearts are linked with yours and we are wishing you an extra measure of comfort, peace and joy this season. We hope that you find time for rest, for nourishment, and for the people and things that bring you happiness. May the new year bring new possibilities and better days.
—the CMHA NWV team
We 
businesses supporting CMHA
We were so pleased to be one of the recipients of a donation of 1,000+ beautiful, hand sewn masks that were made to 11 organizations in the lower mainland from the MTO Shahmaghsoudi School of Islamic Sufism. The masks were made and distributed in celebration of the birthday of the Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Volunteers with the school hope that donating the masks will help create peace and understanding throughout the community regardless of their faith.
>>Does you business want to support CMHA? Get in touch with us!
Register for Mental Health First Aid Virtual
Mental Health First Aid Standard Virtual is an 8-hour blended course where first aiders complete a 2-hour self-paced module and then participate in two, 3-hour instructor-led classes using Zoom videoconferencing technology. Participants learn how to recognize and respond to signs that a person may be experiencing a decline in their mental well-being or a mental health crisis.
Two Mental Health First Aid Standard Virtual courses are being offered in January:
January 18 + 19, 9 am – 12:30 pm
January 25 + 26, 9 am – 12:30 pm
$225 per person
>>Learn more about the course and register
Cheers to volunteers! Volunteer Spotlight: Carsten Crolow
Carsten started volunteering at the Kelty Dennehy Mental Health Resource Centre as a volunteer peer navigator a little over 2.5 years ago. As a volunteer peer navigator, Carsten provides one-to-one, free, confidential assistance over the phone to people struggling with their mental health
With Carsten, participants of the peer navigation program can expect an incredibly warm and insightful individual who can provide an empathic, non-judgmental listening ear and has a genuine interest in their story.
Carsten says, “Volunteering helps me to bridge a number of different interests. I am always interested in who people are and who they are becoming. Conversations that occur in mental health often hold an immediacy. Something is at stake for the people we are supporting. Having lived experience myself means that something is at stake for me as well. The many things that I’ve needed to work through are somehow alive in me. It feels pretty rewarding to chat with someone and feel them begin to orientate to their circumstance, find their feet, and continue on their path.”
Carsten lives on Bowen Island. He enjoys spending time in the forest and near the ocean. He is the father of two wily teens and finds parenthood engaging, artful and meaningful. He likes to cook, mountain bike, snowboard and bake. He is quite pleased that his kids are now better than him at all of these things.
Thank you, Carsten, for the 2.5 years of volunteer service and the ongoing care and compassion you show clients and staff alike.
Online Groups
Our groups will be on break December 21 – January 4. To find out what groups we are offering in December, view the event calendar online.