Open Door CMHA

How do the Kin Park Youth Urban Farm SusTEENability girls celebrate the end of 2020? By making latkes! Girls aged 13-18, join the SusTEENability crew for a virt...ual latke making workshop on December 31st from 3:30 pm-5:00 pm. We will be celebrating all that we have accomplished this year as we set our sights forward into 2021. For the recipe and zoom link email [email protected]. We would love to welcome you to our last session of 2020! Not a girl? Still interested in getting involved at KinPark? Send Naomi an email! We want to connect and get you involved! Happy New Year!

We have a BounceBack program for youth too! https://www.cmhacowichanvalley.com/bounce_back_for_youth

Our Youth Outreach Elves Amrita and Christy have been hard at work creating Christmas Backpacks at the Open Door Youth Services Centre. Thank you to everyone for donating so generously and sharing the Christmas spirit with our youth. These gifts will be distributed tonight along with warm drinks and snacks. Thank you for helping us to help others.

This is such wonderful news for youth in the Cowichan Valley! Thank you to Cowichan Tribes for your leadership.

Help spread the word

The Open Door Youth Services Centre will be staffed by two of our caring youth outreach workers on Christmas Eve. Depending on COVID restrictions, we hope to ha...ve a small celebration, invite a few youth at a time in from the cold, and share some treats and small gifts such as backpacks, (new) make-up, batteries, journals, flashlights, gloves, socks, etc. Please drop unwrapped gifts at the Open Door,located at 371 Festubert Street on Tuesday or Thursday mornings during December. Please do not wrap the gifts as we will take care of that once we know what we have and how it will be distributed. Questions: please call 250.746.5521 Thank you so much.

Here’s our Youth CAP team serving the food they made last Friday at Meals-on-the-Ground!

Last Friday the Youth CAP team was back in Warmland kitchen working tirelessly to make nutritious food for those in need in our community. These youth whipped up an amazing dinner of lasagna and garlic bread for the Meals-on-the-Ground program! #mealsontheground #community #communitylove #communityservice #youthempowerment #youthactivism #cookingforcommunity #lasagna #garlicbread #cowichan #cowichanvalley

Every night in the Cowichan Valley, the experience of homelessness is a reality for many youth, whether they are couch-surfing, sleeping outdoors, or feeling unstable and unsafe in their current situation. CMHA's OPEN DOOR Integrated Youth Services Centre, at 371 Festubert Street in Duncan, is a space where youth can connect with our supportive staff. No matter what brings someone through the door, youth are always met by caring, welcoming, and non-judgemental staff, r...eady to listen and help in whatever way they can. To support this work, we are holding an online silent art auction, starting today, on October 26th The link in our bio can direct you to our Bids for Kids Silent Auction all proceeds from this auction will go to directly helping youth in the valley. With that being said: Start bidding!

Making good food for our community. Everyone deserves to eat nutritious and yummy food.

Check out Youth CAP team member Isaac's blog post about his experiences with Cmha Cowichan Valley Branch!

Here’s our Youth CAP team enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner together at the Open Door Youth Centre after serving a Meals-on-the-Ground dinner last Monday!

Real conversations being had, and meaningful work being done at Open Door

The Youth CAP team worked tirelessly all day on Monday to put together a Thanksgiving dinner for those in need on Monday night! They whipped up mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing and veggies and served it all on the mound!

Our Youth CAP team went shopping today! They were buying some supplies for Open Door this week and it looks like they had a ton of fun doing it! If you have the money and means, please consider donating supplies to the youth centre! We are always accepting donations but please refer to our website for a list of acceptable donations!

Artist: dinosandcomics Acceptance is critical for #mentalhealth and #mentalwellness #ymhc Register in #hoperising4youth at ymhc.ngo/hope-rising/ Purchase #menta...lwellness resources at edu.ymhc.ngo Get a compassionate message of support at ymhc.ngo/ccs Get a daily message of support at ymhc.ngo/dms Support a youth who is struggling with their #mentalwellness by providing tools for wellness at ymhc.ngo/mhr

Yesterday our Youth CAP team had a fun hangout day at The Fort in Duncan! It was team-member Isaac’s birthday and our team had so much fun celebrating with him!

Our Youth CAP team is already making waves in our community! A few weeks ago, these awesome youth manned the grill and cooler, selling hot dogs, Rice Krispies, chips and sodas at a BikeWorks Garage Sale! Where do you want to see our Youth CAP team helping out in the community? Let us know in the comments below! #youth #service #communityservice #youthcap #communityaction #community #communityactionproject #volunteer #volunteering #youthvolunteers #youthmakingchange #bethechange #cowichan #cowichanvalley #vancouverisland #duncan #youthservices #supportyouth #change #socialchange #action #youthtakingaction #garagesale #grillin’ #grilling #bikeworks

On Tuesday our Youth CAP team spent the day lending a hand at Kin Park Youth Urban Farm! Kin Park Youth Urban Farm staff are doing a small renovation of the Pool Building and they asked for our help getting things going! Our team scrubbed floors, moved furniture, sorted materials and dusted ceilings to make the inside of the Pool Building ready for a new coat of paint! What do you want to see the Youth CAP team doing in our community? Let us know in the comments below!

Check out this amazing article about how residential schools have affected members of our community! Together we push for a better future!

Some members of our Youth CAP team attended the Cowichan Valley Earth Guardians Orange Shirt Day and Red Dress Awareness Week sit-in at Charles Hoey Park. Our team participated in hanging orange shirts and red dresses. These articles of clothing are meant to remember and mourn Indigenous women and 2-spirit people who are missing or were murdered, and children who were survivors of residential schools. All these Indigenous people were lost and abused due to injustice and raci...sm deeply rooted in our governments and our society. Do you want to learn more about the impacts of the residential school system in the Cowichan Valley? If yes, check out the link in our bio. Did you wear an orange shirt on September 30th? How are you decolonizing your life? Let us know in the comments below!

Huge thank you to the Kiwanis Club of Duncan who donated $1,000 towards our Youth Community Action Project! This money will be gratefully used to support our team in doing meaningful community service work. Are you an social- or environmental-cause centred organization in our community that is looking for youth volunteers? Our team of 10 amazing youth would be thrilled to volunteer for you! Send us a DM to inquire about partnering with our Youth CAP team!

On Tuesday, our Youth CAP team volunteered at the Canadian Mental Health Association’s BikeWorks and ArtWorks, the Warmland Shelter kitchen, the Open Door Youth Centre and the Cowichan Intercultural Society! A few members of the team were even sporting our highly visible Youth CAP Volunteer shirts! Keep an eye out while in Duncan, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to sport one of the members of our team!

NEW ADDICTION SUPPORT We are excited to announce that Dr. Elizabeth Plant will be available on a drop in basis at the Open Door Youth Services Centre from 1-5pm on each Thursday. Dr. Plant specialized in addiction medicine and will be available to discuss accessing a safe supply, suboxone or any other concerns. Our Open Door Youth Services Centre is located at 371 Festubert St. Telephone # is 250.746.5521. Read more about Dr. Plant in this March article written by David Minkow in The Discourse.

We are hiring Child & Youth Workers, Outreach Workers, Harm Reduction Workers, Shelter Workers and more! The CMHA-Cowichan Valley Branch is a great place to work. Please visit the Careers section of our website for details. https://www.cmhacowichanvalley.com/careers