New funding from PBC Foundation advances mental health services at VCC

Vancouver Community College (VCC) is pleased to announce that Pacific Blue Cross (PBC) Health Foundation is donating $45,000 over three years to support student mental health initiatives at the college.

As the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, VCC’s counselling department made a dramatic shift to providing services remotely while continuing to offer full mental health supports and career guidance to VCC students.

During this stressful and uncertain year for post-secondary students, VCC’s counsellors served 1,006 clients through 3,024 sessions and delivered 134 workshops to a total of 3,086 students. 2020 also saw a rise in crisis counselling cases such as psychological emergencies or suicidal episodes due to mental health issues, trauma from assault, family violence, or other distressing events. 

Thanks to this generous funding from PBC Health Foundation, VCC’s first efforts will be to update hardware and software for VCC’s counsellors, allowing them to shift from using personal or aged equipment to faster, more stable, networked computers.

“Our counsellors are deeply committed to helping students, and this gift from PBC Health Foundation ensures they have the resources they need to do so,” says VCC Interim Associate Vice President of Student and Enrolment Services Clayton Munro. 

So far in 2021, VCC’s counselling sessions are on track to exceed the 2020 numbers.

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Learn more about the types of counselling services available at VCC or book an appointment online.