Thursday, June 11, 2015
Ottawa's free walk-in counselling clinic is now offering its services in Arabic, Somali and Chinese.
But the pickup in services hasn't been as high as expected.
Facilitators believe one of the reasons because some of the clients who would require their services are speaking out about perceived mental health issues.
Yena Bi is a counsellor who provides walk-in sessions in Chinese and told CFRA no one should be afraid to come forward.
"As human beings we are very resilient," she said. "We have a lot of strength and we try to do our best when we come up against difficult situations, but sometimes we get stuck in the way that we do things and sometimes we have difficulty finding a way out or seeing things in a different way and I'd say it's very, very common. That happens to everyone."
Bi said a lot of the clients they see live with family members and are seeking help dealing with family arguments or unrest.
She urged others to reach out if they are in need.
The Walk-in Counselling Clinic has proved to be very popular for people requiring services in English and French. In the first year of operation, they've exceeded their targets by 150 per cent.