You can now visit a walk-in clinic for mental wellness 5 days a week in Windsor
'There's been a dramatic increase so the accessibility for people is very, very important'
The number of wellness counselling sessions at Family Services Windsor-Essex (FSWE) went up by 25 per cent last year, sparking an increase in service hours to five days a week at their Windsor location.
Walk-in counselling clinics first started in 2010, operating one day a week, but quickly morphed into different programs offered at locations across Windsor-Essex to accommodate demand.
"People do not have to struggle alone, they have access to support and programming here five days a week," said Beth Anne Ternovan, a manager at FSWE.
Ternovan said the additional programming will hopefully have people leaving an emergency room or psychiatric ward feeling supported.
"They come, they make use of the programming that's available here," Ternovan said, outlining how the additional services help people transition when they leave.
Programming helps people with anxiety, depression
In the fiscal year of 2018-2019 there were more than 10,000 counselling sessions in Windsor-Essex — an increase from the 8,000 sessions the year before.
"There's been a dramatic increase, so the accessibility for people is very, very important," said Ternovan.
Ternovan believes that the increase demand comes from increased efforts to reduce stigma and an increase in the number of people dealing with mental health issues.
"People have a little bit more courage to pick up the phone and call," said Ternovan.
The programming offered at FSWE is built on the most in-demand issues, which Ternovan said includes programming for people dealing with anxiety, depression, anger issues and communication issues.
"It's a tool-kit based program, so people are leaving with real concrete coping methods in-order to deal with those particular areas in their life."