Chestermere residents who immigrated to Canada may soon be able to access municipal counselling services in their native tongues.
The City of Chestermere recently sent out a call for proposals for counselling providers in five different languages, including Tagalog, Punjabi, Vietnamese, Urdu and Spanish.
According to HSAA’s board chair Scot Caithness, positive mental health and cultural inclusion are priority areas for the board. With Chestermere’s growing diversity, he said being able to offer counselling services to residents in their first language will help with their sense of well-being, equity and resiliency.
As per a news release from the City of Chestermere, funding up to $38,038 will be provided by Chestermere Family and Community Support Services to counselling agencies, immigrant service agencies, or any similar providers who complete and submit a proposal to deliver short-term therapeutic care, counselling and referral services in any of the five languages.
Danielle Fermin, a manager with community support services with the City of Chestermere, said proposals will be accepted until April 30. She added the multi-lingual support services are slated to run from July until the end of December.
“We are hoping to partner with an agency or agencies to deliver this type of service to the community,” she said. “The main focus is to provide more counselling services in more languages.”
Fermin said the City recognizes that a lot of government services are solely provided in English or French, and governments can do more to help serve residents who primarily speak other languages.
“When we have a policy that is from the City around creating services that are more diverse and inclusive, we want to put that into practice,” she said. “To be able to provide equitable and inclusive services – this is one [service where] we are hoping to promote that.”
With the struggles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Fermin added it has become clear there are inequities existing in the community.
“The pandemic has such an impact on people’s mental health,” she said. “We want to make sure that even those individuals and communities that don’t speak English as their first language aren’t left behind even more. That’s why we have been pushing for this.”
In the first week the City called on local practitioners for proposals, Fermin said the feedback was encouraging.
“Whether it’s just for us putting this out there, or people wanting to help, or wanting to receive a proposal package, it has been positive,” she said.
Service providers who would like to learn more and submit a proposal can request a submission package from the Community Support Services office by calling 403-207-7050 ext. 7063 or by emailing [email protected].
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
