Pausing Same-Day Counselling
It is with heavy hearts that we announce a temporary pause of same-day counselling services at Foundry Victoria/Victoria Youth Clinic. This pause is effective immediately and will continue until further notice. This is not news we ever wanted to give, and we recognize the impact this pause will have on our community. We are working hard to fill vacancies on our Counselling team and will resume services as soon as possible.
In the meantime, here are some places you can reach out to for support. You’re also welcome to call our front desk at 250-383-3552 to chat through other options:
Foundry Virtual (Foundry BC App) – Same-day virtual counselling appointments for young people and caregivers across the province. Download the app or give them a call at 1-833-308-6379 to check them out.
Central Access and Rapid Engagement Services (CARES) –Offers Single Session Therapy and other Mental Health and Substance Use supports for people 19+. Give them a call at 250-519-3485 for more info.
Urgent and Primary Care Centres (UPCCs) – There are 6 UPCCs across greater Victoria, including the Downtown Victoria UPCC. They can offer free, short-term counselling. Give your local centre a call at 9:00am (to avoid the 8:00am doctor’s appointment rush) and ask to make an appointment with a counsellor or “consultant”.
Vancouver Island Crisis Line – Call them at 1-888-494-3888 24 hours a day to talk to a mental health counsellor. You can also text them at 250-800-3806 between 6:00pm and 10:00pm every night. You don’t have to be in crisis to call for information about local services, or if you just need someone to talk to.
Community-Led Crisis Response Team (CLCR) - CLCR is a peer-assisted care program and a mobile crisis response team, led by persons with lived/living experience and mental health professionals, who are able to de-escalate crises and develop community care plans with persons experiencing crisis. The CLCR team can be reached at 250-818-2454. The Team's current hours are Monday-Friday, 7:30am-12:30am and Saturday and Sunday from 2pm-9pm. These hours are subject to change.