Citizens’ Counselling Centre will be the latest local non-profit organization to a get a much-needed makeover by the community renovation group HeroWork.
“We were delighted to get the news,” said Citizens’ executive director Brenda Wilson. “It was 25 years ago that we moved into this building and there are some things that really need to be done. It’s tired. It smells musty.”
Citizens’ Counselling owns the building at 941 Kings Rd., which also houses the B.C. Schizophrenia Society. Together they provide mental-health services to a spectrum of people in Victoria, namely those who cannot afford therapy.
Citizens’ offers peer counselling and training, and charges on a sliding scale. It sees about 1,200 clients a year and has more than 100 volunteers. Many doctors and psychiatrists refer patients to the centre, but it has struggled financially since Island Health cut a major contract five years ago, Wilson said.
“We’ve barely been able to stay in the black let alone renovate our building,” she said. “Our clientele is growing but there are only so many we can put on wait-lists.”
Wilson said a makeover will make the space more functional, boost the morale of clients, volunteers and staff, and bring attention to the centre’s services.
“I know it can only help,” she said. “What is so fantastic about HeroWork is that they are volunteer-driven and so are we.”
The $150,000 renovation will include updates to electrical, plumbing and flooring, painting, replacing four bathrooms and installing kitchenettes. Wilson said the dishes have been washed in the bathroom sinks for years because there isn’t a kitchen.
Weven charities applied to HeroWork for a makeover.
“They were the right size and the right story, and the project engaged all the trades,” said Paul Latour, founder and executive director of HeroWork Program Society, of Citizens’ Counselling.
“What they do is a solution rather than a Band-Aid for mental health in the community. They have a huge impact.”
The renovation will take place over three weekends in May and June. As in HeroWork’s previous projects, dozens of tradespeople, businesses and volunteers are expected to help out.
“It’s important for us to do smaller renovations as well, not just massive complicated projects,” he said, noting the ultimate goal is to work out a system that can be applied to a range of community renovations and taken across the country.
“The business model is to create a turn-key approach. To simplify a model and take it elsewhere,” he said.
HeroWork’s previous community renovations include a major overhaul of an aging Victoria apartment building that was donated to help homeless youth through the Threshold Housing organization. The $350,000 renovation was done by a small army of volunteers and tradespeople over three weekends and culminated in a block-party reveal last September.
In 2013, HeroWork gave the Mustard Seed food bank and community centre a $300,000 makeover with the help of hundreds of volunteers. It was Latour’s first big renovation project, after raising funds and manpower to makeover housing for needy families and a garden project.
