Mental Health Copilots: Community Therapy Fund

The Cause

Mental Health Copilots (MHC) is a non-profit, Edmonton-based organization that aims to share accessible mental health resources. MHC was founded in 2019 by 3 University of Alberta students, based on an idea gifted to them by a professor. MHC holds the core belief that all individuals deserve access to qualified mental professionals, and part of that is making it easier for people in need of mental health support to get connected with these professionals.

MHC is entirely volunteer run, with over 50 volunteers dedicated to increasing access to mental health supports across Alberta. MHC’s volunteer teams consist of Client Copilots, Community Networking, Database Management, Funding, Marketing, Technology, Social Media, and Leadership teams. MHC helps individuals with finding local support for their mental health, understanding therapy options, navigating through insurance and cost comparisons, and providing follow-up during and after therapy.

Our organization hopes to create a Community Therapy Fund to help individuals who otherwise might not be able to access mental health support with access to brief therapy. Participating in short-term counselling could provide these clients with the tools to better manage personal stressors, information to connect with further mental health supports, and more. With the support of the community and the Field Law Community Fund, our organization hopes to help connect even more Albertans with the mental health services they deserve!

Who Will it Benefit?

Our Community Therapy Fund would benefit individuals in need of mental health support that otherwise would not be able to access counselling. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the mental health of all Albertans to varying degrees and has contributed to financial instability for many. Typically, financial struggles would make it challenging for these individuals to access the mental health support they deserve. If funded, our Community Therapy Fund would allow 50 individuals to access 5 sessions of solution-focused, brief therapy provided by master’s level counselling interns. Individuals supported by this fund would come from diverse cultural backgrounds from across Alberta, and would include individuals of all gender and sexual identities.

The sessions our Community Therapy Fund would offer could provide valuable coping skills, emotional support, and other important benefits for low-income Albertans that otherwise might be unable to access counselling. This could further benefit the community surrounding these individuals given that they could potentially share strategies they found helpful with their loved ones and peers. As well, individuals participating in these sessions may feel better prepared to engage positively with their community as a whole. Furthermore, this Community Therapy Fund would provide master’s level counselling student-interns with valuable counselling experience as they pursue their education in counselling psychology.