Last November, the Boards of Directors of Carizon, KW Counselling Services, and Monica Place announced that they agreed to enter into a process of exploring the benefits of becoming one agency.

There are many compelling reasons to explore this potential unification.

• Learn more about our progress and the plan to strengthen services for people in our communities.
• Ask any questions regarding our exploration of unification.
• Share your concerns and any recommendations you might have to help overcome those concerns.

By engaging with our Boards, our employees and community partners, we have developed some potential benefits of unification and have included them below. We hope that in our session, we can talk more about these and the ones that are most important to you. We also hope to hear your feedback in general about this idea and any concerns and recommendations you may have.

Please RSVP by April 18th

We have looked at the potential benefits of unification through four different lenses:

1- What could be better for those we serve and their families?

• Service excellence for individuals and families’ mental health and wellbeing.

• Continuity of care from pre-birth to adult years (being able to have access within the various stages and needs of life)

• Better experience for people with fewer transitions between service providers, with consistent support and communication throughout your journey.

• Easier way to get access to a range of services - improved intake process.

2 - What could be better for our staff, volunteers, students, leaders?

• There is great Career Pathing.

• Greater opportunity for professional development because of the skills of our unified team.

•  Internship’s rotation variety leading to career.

• Support for staff is more comprehensive due to greater infrastructure (e.g., admin, fund development, IT, Systems)

•  Greater support for each other by spreading coverage responsibilities.

• Better able to retain our staff and have less turnover, aiming for more PT and FT positions; providing greater consistency of support for the people we serve.

3 - What could be better for the system of care and our partners?

• Stronger, less complex system of care.

• Strengthen voice with local and provincial government to advocacy for the needs of the individuals and families we serve.

• Our reach and bandwidth as one is strengthened.

• Community space for other grassroot organizations is supported.

• Improve ability to innovate and partner within community – through better internal capacity.

• Community members know exactly what we offer and how to connect.