The Government of British Columbia is investing $800K support the training of community mental health workers at four BC post-secondary institutions, including Camosun College and VIU on Vancouver Island, Selkirk College in the West Kootenays, and the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology campus in Burnaby.
The funding, part of the province’s COVID-19 response, will support the training of students to work in areas such as addictions counselling and shelter support. Allowing more people to start or shift their career into the community health field, with the educational and government supports they need to succeed will, in turn, help British Columbian’s throughout the province.
The NVIT Burnaby campus has received funding for 47 seats for their program, which will be indigenous-focused. John Chenoweth, NVIT associate vice-president stated that “NVIT is pleased to be offering an Indigenous community mental health worker program alongside other post-secondary institutions in British Columbia. NVIT’s program is Indigenous-focused, providing the educational framework for providing a holistic approach for mental health and addictions services for members in British Columbia.”