The Center, which has been a staple in Swift Current for numerous years, will soon be increasing in square footage to further support youth mental health in the community. 

The purchase of the adjacent building, to the south of the current location, will provide a space for individuals to receive safe, effective, and free counselling explained Nathan Wiebe, executive director of the Swift Current Community Youth Initiative. 

“Our goal with this building is to add more offices and administration to provide more counselling for our community,” he elaborated. “It's a need that we've been seeing for a long time and to have the opportunity to purchase something like that and to create a space where people can receive safe, effective and free counselling is a really neat opportunity for us.” 

The new space has been carefully thought out and will include features such as two separate waiting rooms, two private counselling rooms, and an accessible washroom. 

“We looked at it with the lens that we want people to feel comfortable coming from any situation into our building and want to feel welcomed, to feel safe, and the other aspect of that is confidentiality,” Wiebe stated. “Having the ability to put two waiting rooms in the building, really spoke volumes in a sense where those that do have that hesitation now can hopefully feel comfortable because of that, and to have a diverse counselling staff is a real opportunity as well.” 

The project to turn the newly purchased building into a counselling and administrative office called the “Cultivating Strength” capital campaign program, was announced at the Desserts 4 Hope Fundraiser that took place at The Center earlier tonight. 

“To have the opportunity to start up a capital campaign and to explain to people even more about what we're doing, it's an opportunity we don't want to pass up and we don't take it lightly either,” he explained. “Asking people to support us financially is not something we take for granted, we know it's a lot.  

“Our goal is to raise over $220,000 to be able to do this because we want this service to be a high-quality service that the community continues to look to for that service. It's a special thing and we hope that businesses and individuals can see our organization as something worthy of investing in above and beyond.” 

Wiebe added that the new addition was becoming a growing need for the community.

"We've gone from 700 to 800 visits a year and we're well over 12, 13, 14 hundred visits a year," he continued. "It's a big thing and we have to be able to look at that with our mandate to serve our community and if we have the opportunity to do that, we need to honour that. We have a very driven staff and a very driven group. I'm really confident that this is going to be a really good step forward for us."

He added that they are hoping to begin renovations in June and have the offices operational by fall. 

Budget Overview: 

Building Purchase - $170,000 

Contractor and Labour Cost - $20,000 

Materials and Supplies - $25,000 

Furnishings and Equipment - $10,000