Skip to content

New counsellor service for kids in Houston

Free service for families in Houston
8314082_web1_170906-HTO-counsellor-for-kids_1
Houston Health Centre entrance and location of drop in clinic on Thursdays from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

TC Bray, Child and Youth Mental Health Clinician for Child and Youth Mental Health within the Ministry Children and Family Developments (MCFD), a Houston resident and a former graduate of Silverthorne Elementary School and Houston Secondary School, has returned to his home town after 23 years to use his knowledge and experience as a resident to help struggling children and youth in Houston through counselling.

Bray explained that MCFD in the last few years have started a program called Child Youth Mental Health, and have extended their services from Smithers, B.C. to Houston, where he now acts as the full time counsellor offering services to children between the ages of five to 19.

“My role in the Child Youth Mental Health therapy, is focused and responsible for children and youth with clinical health levels of mental concern,” said Bray. “So what that means is the higher level of disruptive behaviours in someone’s life, whether it be depression, anxiety, OCD, etc.” If someone does not meet that clinical cut off, we’ll help find them other services that might be more appropriate.”

The service is free for families to access and is funded by the provincial government through MCFD.

Bray said one of the things that has been of concern for Houston is that there was no full time clinician in the community for residents to access the did not have a full time Houston clinician. “It was usually something that shared responsibility that would oversee both Smithers and Houston. However with the start of my position, I’m based out of Houston, my home office in Service BC. So it’s nice to see that MCFD is making this a priority as opposed to tag along service, especially in a era where Houston sees more services being cut more often than not.”

Currently Bray is at full capacity counselling 13 clients regularly, with another 10 on the wait list.

When asked if this demand will open up a position for MCFD to hire an additional counsellor, Bray said, “There is a Smithers clinician coming in one day a week to alleviate the back log. I think there would be enough work for a part time clinician, in addition to myself, as to whether that will happen soon in the future I can not say, but it is nice to see that I am getting the support needed.”

When asked about the importance and value of this service, Bray said, “In the last five years or so, I have seen a big shift in the awareness of mental health concerns and becoming more accepted to understand that we have mental health issues in the way that we have physical health issues.”

He added that mental health and physical health go hand in hand.

“If you are not healthy mentally, you can be unhealthy physically. They can affect one another and that is something that we are just starting to realize, as well as the type of behaviours we can do to keep us healthy” said Bray. “We are not born as mentally healthy people. We have to do things to keep ourselves that way in the way that we would keep ourselves fit or physically healthy.”

One tip Bray suggested to help cope and alleviate the struggles with mental health issues is to spend time outside.

“A recently psychological trend to prevent and manage mental health issues is to be outside,” he said. “A British study that took place in a prison reported that placing a photo of nature in the rooms of cellmates decreased depression by 14 per cent in the first month.”

Bray talked about the many different forms of activities and places in Houston that one can get access to nature and bring a little more ease to their struggle.

“Being that I’ve grown up here, I understand the community and that is something I know I can drawn on to help the children and youth here,” said Bray.

For families interested in accessing this service, contact TC Bray at 250-877-1448 to make an appointment between the hours of 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. Alternatively children and youth can get a referral from school teachers or drop in at the Houston Health Centre on Thursdays between 12:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m., no appointment necessary.