Maryvale To Use Donation To Hire Therapist

Written by: Teresinha Medeiros

August 26th, 2019

A Windsor organization that works with youth dealing with mental health issues is getting help to reduce its wait list.

In Honour of the Ones We Love presented a $50,000 donation to Maryvale Monday morning.

The money was raised during a golf tournament in July at Essex Golf and County Club.

The funding will be used to hire a new therapist to work with 40 to 50 kids this year and to help reduce its 10-month long waiting list.

"If you let them sit for six months, they start to think that is truly who they are," says Maryvale Execute Director Connie Martin.  "They forget what they were before, they lose hope, the family starts to think that's what they are in for, and frankly in the case with all of us, physical or mental issues, when you are most hurting is when you are most open to help."

Martin says children's mental health is not considered an essential service in Ontario and therefore, it doesn't get annualized increases in funding but the demand continues to grow because people are becoming more comfortable getting help.

"We get a lot of high school students, we get a lot of kids with tremendous talent that have hit the wall and they can be so depressed that they are suicidal," she says.  "There are a lot more suicide attempts than you would ever imagine."

Maryvale helps around 1,000  kids a year between the ages of 12 and 18 dealing with mental health issues.

Courtesy of: AM800