The Grand Parade is a family-friendly fundraiser walk that helps support local charities who provide essential care and service for aging Canadians. Team up, walk, and fundraise with us on Saturday, September 21, 2024!
note: this route is actually 3.25 km. Loop once for a shorter route, and twice for longer route
9.1 million Canadians will experience a mental illness or substance use disorder during their lifetime. In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental illness. By the age of 40, that number is 1 in 2. According to Mental Health Research Canada, more than 1 in 2 people (52%) struggling with their mental health are not getting the help they need.
Through the unique service delivery model of his agency, Gary Thandi has been able to create a mode of accessible low-barrier counselling services for people residing in communities across Canada who may otherwise be unable to afford and/or benefit from mental health and counselling services.
“I’ve been doing this for a while and have continued to see massive gaps in services. Frankly at times I felt like a mouse in a wheel, working hard but not getting anywhere in terms of making an impact on the lives of the clients I worked with. I say often that people care, but systems don’t, and we need to ensure we are centering on people’s needs – not on system needs.
Desmond Tutu famously said, ‘There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they're falling in,’ – unfortunately our systems were never really set up to be proactive. Most are set up to be reactive, and unfortunately when it comes to mental health, that means a lot of harm and trauma takes place before someone is able to access support – and even then the support is mostly based on a medical model – patch them up, and move them on – that can work for physical health ailments, but it doesn’t work for mental health.
Gary envisioned a more responsive way to support our communities and thus started Moving Forward. I was emboldened by the evidence that called for such changes, but it was a lot of work to begin with – to convince others that systemic change is possible. Now the proof is in the how great an impact we have already had and continue to have.
Moving Forward Family Services provides low barrier counselling and support services to residents in BC and across Canada. The organization’s vision is 'A world without sorrow' and their mandate is to provide counselling to anyone who needs it, as well as partner with as many agencies as possible to overcome silos within the social service, criminal justice and education sectors.
In less than 10 years, Moving Forward has become one of the busiest non-profit counselling services in Canada, with about 150 supervised interns across the country, 20 clinical supervisors to support them, and 150 alumni who valued the agency's mission and offer sliding scale support for anyone who cannot afford traditional costs for therapy, but who would benefit from working with more experienced therapists or social workers.
“We are not funded by the government sectors responsible for publicly funded counselling - though do receive support from some level of local, provincial and federal governments, for which we are grateful – despite having provided tens of thousands of hours of counselling to clients referred by these sectors. While I will continue to advocate for a more equitable system, I also appreciate being able to operate outside the traditional bureaucracies and silos inherent in those systems. Much of our support comes from our diverse communities.
When I started, I had no funds: so, I had to be creative in terms of keeping costs low. I developed a lean operation which minimized costs, allowing us to direct as much of whatever funds we have towards direct services. We do also ask clients to pay, even just a nominal few, if they are able to do so - though no one will be turned away based on their financial circumstances. Any fees collected go right back into our direct services.
The support from the community is integral: donations have allowed us to continue to expand, allowing us to offer services to anyone across the country. As a registered charity, we can issue tax receipts for donations.”
Last year, Moving Forward Family Services, a registered non-profit and registered charity, provided 22,000 counselling and support sessions, in over 30 languages, throughout BC, and even across Canada. 14,500 were free sessions and the remaining 7,500 sessions were low-cost sessions ($5-$7 per session on average). These services are provided remotely and in-person in Surrey. Many of the clients supported by Moving Forward are older adults struggling with depression, anxiety, caregiver stress, substance use, isolation. In addition to counselling, Moving Forward provides seniors support, with telephone or virtual calls made 1-2 times per week.
The TGP Team Participant & Donor Services
Toll Free 1.877.743.3413 / Phone 519.603.2250
Email surreynewton@thegrandparade.org