![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ISSOFBC__0046-scaled.jpg\")
\t\t<\/p>\nThis Mental Health Awareness Week, ISSofBC is recognizing the importance of connection, belonging, and community in supporting mental wellbeing \u2014 especially for newcomers, refugees, and asylum seekers rebuilding their lives in Canada.<\/p>\n
The settlement journey can bring enormous emotional challenges, including trauma, isolation, uncertainty, language barriers, financial stress, and separation from loved ones. At the same time, many frontline settlement and counseling staff also face significant emotional pressure as they support clients through complex, often deeply difficult experiences every day.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Trauma-informed support from our teams<\/p>\n
At ISSofBC, we are proud of the compassionate, trauma-informed support our teams provide through programs including:<\/p>\n
\u25aa\ufe0f BC SAFE HAVEN<\/a> \u2014 supporting refugee claimants and asylum seekers with settlement services, legal navigation, housing and employment support, English language services, and referrals to mental health and trauma counseling. This week, we encourage everyone to: Explore mental health and wellbeing resources here: Thank you to the incredible staff who support newcomers and refugees every day, including Bahar Taheri, Mona Hassannia, Shae Viswanathan, Mahi Khalaf, Jennifer York, Shafiq Hakimi, Ajlin Mehmedi, Zari Moradi, Kathy Sherrell, and Chaplain Duku.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This Mental Health Awareness Week, ISSofBC is recognizing the importance of connection, belonging, and community in supporting mental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,16216,16217,16218,4471,16219,16220,16221,16222,16223,896,16224],"class_list":["post-37461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-come-together-canada","tag-community-connections","tag-issofbc","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-awareness-week","tag-mental-health-matters","tag-mental-health-support","tag-newcomers-in-british-columbia","tag-newcomers-to-canada","tag-refugees","tag-settlement-support"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u25aa\ufe0f Moving Ahead Program (MAP)<\/a> \u2014 providing confidential, specialized support for newcomer individuals, youth, and families facing complex barriers such as trauma, family challenges, social isolation, housing instability, and mental health concerns.
\u25aa\ufe0f VAST <\/a>(Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture) \u2014 offering counseling and support for refugees and newcomers affected by trauma, torture, violence, and displacement.
\u25aa\ufe0f BC Refugee Hub<\/a> \u2014 connecting refugee claimants, sponsors, service providers, and communities with trusted resources, information, and support networks across British Columbia.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udc99 Be kind
\ud83d\udc99 Listen without judgment
\ud83d\udc99 Check in on one another
\ud83d\udc99 Build stronger connections in our communities.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udd39 BC Refugee Hub<\/a>
\ud83d\udd39 VAST<\/a>
\ud83d\udd39 Mental & emotional wellness resources<\/a><\/p>\n