New rural counsellor Chloe Ives poses for a portrait inside the Medicine Hat Family Service office.--NEWS PHOTO ANNA SMITH
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat Family Service is bringing mental health programming and aid to where the people are, with a new rural counsellor.
Chloe Ives is a recent graduate, having completed her master’s degree in counselling psychology in December. That knowledge is something she will put to work throughout this corner of southern Alberta, as she brings her services to outlying communities.
“I’m going to be out in Redcliff, Bow Island, Foremost and Irvine right now,” said Ives. “We’re hoping to go to some other places as well as we get set up.”
As the rural counsellor, Ives will offer the same sliding-scale, low-cost counselling that Gas City residents can access out of the MHFS building, be that for individuals, couples, children or any other community members who would benefit from access to mental-health care. Lowering barriers is something Ives has been passionate about for a long time, having done her practicum providing low cost counselling over Zoom.
While the rural counsellor is new for MHFS, this is something the organization had been hoping to add to its list of options for a while, says group facilitator Krista Waddle.
“There’s a real need out there, they don’t have a lot of access to as many options,” said Waddle. “It’s important to get the support groups out there and the programs, but more importantly, it’s important to get a rural counsellor out there so they’ve got that connection. Not everybody wants to do everything on Zoom.”
Those interested in making an appointment with Ives are encouraged to call the MHFS office at 403-504-8026, or visit mhfamilyservice.com.
“I think it’s a really important thing to not only do low cost here, which we do, but then also reducing the barrier of travel for people,” said Ives.
