Emotional Support
(On-Call)
Many of the topics discussed in our Annual Training Forum can be challenging. Professional support is available to you via phone. If you would like emotional support, please reach out to our on-call counsellors:
- Tessa will be available on Thursday, Sept 26 from 9 am – 1 pm and Friday, Sep 27 from 9 – 4:30 pm, she can be reached at 778-765-3853.
- Harmony will be available on Thursday, Sept 26 from 1 pm – 4:30 pm, they can be reached at 778-828-3349
Tessa is a student counsellor centring her practice around empathy, compassion, collaboration, and safety. She believes in meeting each client where they are at, understanding that every person has their own story that shapes the way they experience the world. Clients can expect emotional support sessions from Tessa to be person-centred, trauma-informed and strength-based.
Harmony (she/they) is a transfem, neurodivergent student counsellor who lives with chronic pain. Her areas of interest and life experience include gender affirmation, religious trauma, disordered eating, and disability. Harmony strives to be flexible, creative, and ultimately responsive to the client’s needs. You can expect support from Harmony to be collaborative and client-centered.
Indian Residential School Survivors Society (On-Location)
Location: Lower Lobby, Gulf Islands B & C
The Indian Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS) is a provincial organization that provides essential services to residential school survivors and families experiencing intergenerational trauma.
Resolution Health Support Workers (RHSW)
The RHSW team supports emotional, mental, and spiritual development, along with healing and recovery for survivors, families and communities, and their work is guided by culturally-based values and principles.
Cultural Support Providers (CSP)
The counselling team supports emotional, mental, and spiritual development, along with healing and recovery, through culturally-based values and guiding principles for survivors, families and communities. The IRSSS provides an atmosphere that allows individuals to feel validated and heard, prioritizing physical and emotional safety.
Therapy Dogs
Location: Port Alberni (4th Floor)
Along with their handlers, Therapy Dogs do just what pets have been doing for centuries: offering companionship to those in need of comfort or emotional and physical support. Dogs calm the distressed, distract those in discomfort, and comfort the lonely. Program participants reap the therapeutic benefits through petting, affection, and regular visitation, many people benefit both physically and emotionally.
The St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog Program will be at the Port Alberni room during 12 – 1 pm both days. Please note that there will be limited capacity to meet with them based on the number of volunteers and therapy dogs.
Support Options off-site:Â
You can find confidential support across BC and Yukon and help with safety planning and services in your community in over 150+ languages, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at VictimLinkBC by phone or text at 1-800-563-0808, or by email to 211-victimlinkbc@uwbc.ca
Indian residential school survivors, intergenerational survivors and their families can access emotional support through the IRSSS 24-hour crisis lines:
LAMATHUT – 24/7 SUPPORT: 1 (800) 721-0066
The Indian Residential School Survivors Society operates a 24-hour crisis line to support survivors and families across British Columbia and beyond. Survivors can also access support as part of the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. The crisis line will remain open during the winter holidays.
NATIONAL CRISIS LINE: 1 (866) 925-4419
You can access our directory of MPSSG-funded frontline support services across BC at endingviolence.org/services-directory/.Â
EVA BC respectfully acknowledges our office is located on the unceded, ancestral and traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
