| Foundry is a province-wide network of integrated health and wellness services for young people ages 12-24 and their caregivers. Integrated Youth Service (IYS) allow young people access to five core services in one convenient location: mental health care, substance use services, physical and sexual health care, youth and family peer supports, and social services. |
| Foundry’s beginnings can be traced back to 2007 when a small team of psychiatrists at St. Paul’s Hospital – an academic health sciences centre operated by Providence Health Care in downtown Vancouver – decided to take a completely different approach to helping young people. They knew that young people needed better access to mental health and substance use care, and primary health care. Also, numerous social issues such as homelessness, unemployment, sexual identity issues and lack of education needed to be addressed. As a result, St. Paul’s Hospital launched the Inner City Youth (ICY) program, which soon transitioned into the Granville Youth Health Centre. Since 2015, Foundry has expanded across the province, with 16 operating centres (in addition to Foundry Virtual BC) including centres in several rural communities. There are 9 more centres currently in development, and an additional 10 to come with the recent Foundry expansion announcement that was shared in March 2024. Recognizing the continued need for mental health and wellness services across BC, several teams at Foundry are focusing on how to make services more accessible and expand to youth living in rural communities. One of our primary goals is to work with and alongside community members to learn, adapt and evolve our services and better support the needs of rural and remote youth and families. Acknowledging we still have work to do in bringing this vision to reality, we hope to highlight the current and future direction for Foundry to increase accessibility for communities like yours. |
| Virtual Services for Youth and Caregivers Across BC Foundry Virtual BC offers free same-day and scheduled services to youth aged 12-24 and their caregivers anywhere across BC, through the Foundry BC app. All services a young person can access at their local centre are available through the Foundry BC app. Based on youth engagement and feedback, one unique element of Foundry’s virtual services is the modality of which appointments are accessed. Youth and caregivers can choose whether they want to access services by video, audio or chat options. We also offer phone appointments and a web portal (accessed through desktop devices) for those without a smart device and where internet is not available. |
The Foundry Virtual BC team is keen to work collaboratively with providers in rural and remote communities, where it is identified by the community that virtual services could play a supportive role—together with local services and providers—in helping fill service gaps. Open 7 days a week, all services accessed through the Foundry BC app free, and no referrals are required. When supportive, our team can bridge support between community providers and Foundry Virtual BC, through our Intake Coordinator. Please email online@foundrybc.ca to get connected!  |
| Attending various wellness fairs, conferences and local events — including most recently the All Native Basketball Tournament in Prince Rupert — Foundry Virtual BC has had the opportunity to build relationships, make connections and increase awareness and uptake of virtual services for young people and families in rural and remote communities. If you would like to learn more about virtual services and explore if/how they can support your community, please email Foundry’s Communications Officer, Sierra Turner at sturner@foundrybc.ca. |
 |
Community Development at Foundry Our Community Development team has been working with several communities to build capacity and reduce barriers to services. This past winter, we partnered with the Kaxla Heiltsuk Society to bring young people from Bella Bella to visit Foundry Port Hardy. Our hopes of having youth see and experience a Foundry centre were successfully met, and allowed our team to hear directly the wants, needs and feedback. Youth noted it was important for them to see a space and meet service providers in person, encouraging our team to explore further planning for future trips. We also recently piloted an Access Point project in partnership with the Kootenay Columbia Learning Centre in Castlegar, where students co-designed a wellness room where they could comfortably and safely connect with Foundry Virtual BC. They taught us how we can be creative in relationship building and tested out a hybrid approach to meeting service providers both in person and through a virtual scavenger hunt! We are continuing to build partnerships with rural, remote and Indigenous stakeholders across the province and are thrilled to join on as a member of the BCRHN. Foundry recently joined Northern Health as a key partner in the community-based substance use prevention project (Planet Youth), which aims to build capacity in the North, implementing the Icelandic Prevention Model. Foundry is Expanding The March 4th expansion announcement of 10 new centres continued to push us to hear rural voices. This expansion process brought more applicants from rural communities than ever before, further highlighting the need for youth mental health and substance use resourcing. We will continue to learn from these communities in our goal to understand and deliver appropriate services in a meaningful way in non-urban communities. While the expansion of 10 centres was great news, it also meant many rural communities who applied did not receive a Foundry Centre. Our rural and remote community development team is continuing to work with these communities and hopes that we can find creative ways to fill any gaps, when appropriate. Next Steps In the spirit of learning from one another, Foundry offers a monthly Rural and Remote community of practice to bring together champions of youth (service providers, clinicians, educators) in rural communities. If you are looking to create connections, inspire hope and stay up to date on Foundry’s Rural and Remote projects, email Raelene Hodgson, at rhodgson@foundrybc.ca To learn more, please visit www.foundrybc.ca or email info@foundrybc.ca. If you have questions about our provincial virtual services, please visit www.foundrybc.ca/virtual or email online@foundrybc.ca. If your organization would like a presentation on Foundry Virtual BC’s services, please email Sierra Turner at sturner@foundrybc.ca Click here to download posters and promotional materials Click here to find your local Foundry centre Click here to learn more about Foundry’s approach to supporting youth across BC |
| See more members of the month here. |
United Way BC grant application open for wildfire relief
May 16, 2024 | 5:00 AM BRITISH COLUMBIA— Communities across Northern B.C. have already been affected by devastating wildfires. With that the United for BC
