Connect Counselling & Therapy Society operates using a social enterprise model that allows us to provide professional, trauma-informed counselling while expanding access to care across the Central Okanagan.

As a registered charity, we combine fee-for-service counselling, public funding, and community support to ensure individuals, children, and families can access counselling services regardless of financial circumstance.

What We Mean by a Social Enterprise Model

Our model is built on a simple but powerful idea: access to mental health care should not depend solely on personal income or crisis eligibility.

Through our social enterprise approach, revenue generated from fee-for-service counselling is reinvested directly into the organization to help fund free and low-cost counselling programs, reduce waitlists, and strengthen community-based mental health services.

This model allows Connect to remain sustainable, accountable, and responsive to evolving community needs—while maintaining high clinical standards and professional care across all services.

How Funding Flows

Our counselling services are delivered through three interconnected pathways. Each plays a vital role in expanding access to care and strengthening community wellbeing.

• Fee-for-Service Counselling

  Clients who access fee-for-service counselling receive professional, flexible care from registered counsellors. Revenue from these sessions helps subsidize free and low-cost services across the organization.

   

• Free & Funded Counselling Programs

  Provincial funding, grants, and charitable support allow Connect to deliver counselling at no cost through programs such as Stop the Violence, Child, Youth & Family Counselling, and Adult Short-Term Mental Health Counselling.

   

• Low-Cost & Group Programs

  Reduced-fee counselling and group programs offer additional pathways into care, helping reduce financial barriers while also supporting individuals who choose group-based or community-oriented support as part of their healing.

Why This Model Matters

Mental health needs rarely fit neatly into one category. Many individuals fall between eligibility criteria, funding caps, or preferred ways of accessing care.

Our social enterprise model helps bridge these gaps by offering multiple entry points to counselling—without stigma, pressure, or compromise in quality.

• Clients maintain dignity and choice in how they access counselling

   

• Fee-for-service clients contribute to broader community access simply by attending counselling

   

• Donations and partnerships are leveraged efficiently alongside earned revenue

   

• Programs remain sustainable, accountable, and responsive over time

Accountability, Sustainability, and Impact

Because our model blends earned revenue with public funding and charitable support, Connect is able to reduce reliance on any single funding source while maintaining transparency and accountability.

Every paid counselling session, donation, and partnership helps strengthen the overall system—supporting prevention, early intervention, and long-term healing within the community.

This integrated approach allows us to respond to real needs, invest in skilled professionals, and ensure that counselling remains accessible to those who might otherwise go without.

Supporting Access to Care

Whether you are seeking counselling, considering donating, or exploring partnership opportunities, your involvement helps make accessible mental health care possible across the Central Okanagan.

We invite you to learn more about how support flows through our organization and contributes to lasting community impact.

• How Counselling at Connect Works

   

• Ways to Support Access to Care