White Rock / South Surrey

DIVERSEcity offers the following programs for children and youth:
First Steps Early Years Refugee Settlement Program:
This program has been designed to serve both newly arrived refugee children ages birth to five and their caregivers. The project is jointly managed by DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society, Options Community Services and Umoja Operation Compassion Society. The project serves families from two sites: a “First Steps” Centre at DIVERSEcity and a “Hand in Hand” site at Umoja. This project works to minimize the impact of trauma and the refugee experience on the growth and development of the children and their caregivers; shorten the pathway of integration and provide information on parenting in the Canadian context; help clients to navigate Canadian systems, health and wellness; and support the children to engage in such ways that prepare them for success in kindergarten and beyond. In order to be eligible for the First Steps Program, the client must be a Government Assisted Refugee, Privately Sponsored Refugee, or Convention Refugee.
Services provided at First Steps:

Multicultural Outreach Programs:
Multicultural early childhood education outreach workers are available to support immigrant and refugee families with children aged 0 – 6 years old in connecting with the relevant, child-focused community resources. These include family resource programs, local recreation centres, local libraries, Strong Start programs, food banks, ESL programs, settlement programs, public health outlets and more
.

DIVERSEyouth:
A fun youth group, meeting place, leadership development program all rolled into one for youths between the ages of 13–24.

RISE Youth Program:
The RISE Youth Program assists youth newcomers, who often experience complex and multiple challenges in settling into their new community. RISE helps newcomer youth use their strengths and resources to increase their capacity to cope with issues and barriers and to increase their skills and knowledge to independently settle and integrate.

PEACE Program:
This program offers services to the mainstream population as well as immigrants and refugees living in Delta and Surrey and provides counselling in either the child’s first language or English. Through individual and group counselling, the program works with children who have witnessed abuse or experienced trauma in their country of origin.

Child & Youth Mental Health Counselling:
This program provides professional counselling services to children and youth from immigrant and refugee families experiencing mental health issues and who live in Surrey or Delta. Depression, anxiety, suicidality, PTSD, ADHD, and psychosis are among the issues that are dealt with in individual, family, and group therapy. Outreach and education programs reach out to the community to raise awareness of mental health as it pertains to children and youth, with such topics as: warning signs and symptoms, early detection, dispelling myths, dealing with shame, the client’s and his/her family’s rights to access medical and counselling services. Services are offered in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Korean and Mandarin, as well as English.

Child & Youth Empowerment Camp (CYEC):
The primary objective of the camp is to offer group counselling in a safe, supportive environment. Many of the children have experienced migration-related trauma or acculturation stress, have experienced or witnessed abuse, or have a mental health diagnosis. The participants can share their experiences, identify and talk about their feelings, improve their self-esteem, enhance communication and conflict resolution skills, and realize that they are not alone. The CYEC is facilitated by counsellors from the following programs: Stopping the Violence, Children Who Witness Abuse, Child & Youth Mental Health, Substance Use Counselling, and Family Counselling.

Healthy Self, Healthy Families Program:
The Healthy Self, Healthy Families (HSHF) Program offers emotional support, information and tools to newcomer youth who experience multiple barriers to settlement, helping them to maintain healthy lifestyles and relationships. It can assist them to deal with complexities including changing family dynamics, addictive and behavioral issues, sexual health and mental wellbeing.