Sooke & Westshore Parent Support Group

Welcome to the Sooke & Westshore Parent Support Group! We are all members of the Westshore/ Sooke Local Action Team (LAT for short), one of 64 Local Action Teams working with the Child Youth Mental Health Substance Use (CYMHSU) Collaborative that is going on throughout the Province of BC. About the Parent Support Group: Through our local work here, we have found that Parents and Caregivers are looking for more support around everyday changes when caring for and supporting their children and youth. We as a group, are hoping we can help you find that. We will try to offer you: parent to parent support, connect parents together, provide parent support groups, pass along useful presentations and events going on in our community that can help you and your child grow, and pass along information on any other parent, child, youth support group that we know of. We will try help you navigate through the tough times, whether it be the school system, healthcare, or Child and Youth Mental Heath Systems, or direct you to the best resource for your needs. Plus, we want to hear from you, we want to know what you need, what our children and youth need and what the needs are of our community. Your voice matters! We will adhere to confidentiality and expect the same from those attending groups, or sharing information with others. Please be advised that this group is public, so anyone within can see your comments, if you have a private question please send it in a personal message. Please acknowledge that we will not tolerate any sort of abuse or negativity towards any of our members. Please be advised that we are not experts of any sort, and we do not claim to be. We can only share our experiences, knowledge, advice as a parent to parent voice. More About the Collaborative and Who We Are: “Doctors of BC and the BC government are committed to increasing timely access to support and services for child and youth mental health and substance in BC through funding of one of the largest initiatives of its kind - the Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use (CYMHSU) Collaborative.” “Seven health authorities, three ministries (Health, Children and Family Development, and Education), hundreds of physicians, and numerous community partners such as police, school districts, community agencies, Indigenous groups, and others, are now committed to this initiative. Youth and parents are embedded in each of the Local Action Teams and have assumed leadership roles in every area of the Collaborative. Such involvement of young people and families in the decisions around mental health care manifests the ‘family-first, people centered’ goals of the province.” Funding and Support of the Collaborative: “Funding and administrative support for the Collaborative is provided by the Shared Care Committee in partnership with the General Practice Services, Specialist Services and the Joint Standing Committee on Rural Issues – all are Joint Collaborative Committees of Doctors of BC (formerly the BC Medical Association) and the BC government – a structure unprecedented in Canada. The Committees are funded through the Physician Master Agreement and work closely together, but each have their own distinct mandates and initiatives to improve the patient and provider experience and efficiency of the health care system.” For more information on the Collaborative please visit the website: http://sharedcarebc.ca/initiatives/cymhsu-collaborative.