Grand opening of Elyra Counselling in Maple Ridge<\/p>\n
Published 11:45 am Tuesday, May 5, 2026<\/p>\n
A grand opening was held at the location of a new counselling service being offered by Cythera Anti-Violence Society in Maple Ridge.<\/p>\n
Elyra Counselling provides personalized, trauma-informed therapy for women and those who identify as female, like trans and non-binary individuals, in a safe, inclusive, and compassionate environment \u2013 at a reduced rate.<\/p>\n
The program will provide support for a wide range of experiences, including trauma, stress, anxiety, relationship challenges, and life transitions, and is rooted in Cythera\u2019s longstanding commitment to supporting individuals impacted by gender-based violence.<\/p>\n
Guests toured the new facility on Thursday, April 30, where staff showed off the four cozy counselling rooms, a group space, and a children\u2019s play space.<\/p>\n
Program manager Nichole Olsen explained that historically clinical services had always been embedded amongst the society\u2019s provincially funded programs \u2013 but it was not a sustainable model anymore.<\/p>\n
Elyra Counselling is offering sessions for $100 with a clinical counsellor, and only $50 with an internship student \u2013 the same session with a clinical counsellor at a private clinic would cost around $165, said Olsen.<\/p>\n
And, the money from the fees stay within the organization, it stays within the community, and goes towards funding other services, explained Olsen.<\/p>\n
About 27 clients have already booked appointments with one counsellor and an internship student.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as we started advertising a little bit, we noticed an uptick in the initially consultations being booked,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely the need is there,\u201d said Olsen, adding they are also seeing clients through the Crime Victims Assistance Program.<\/p>\n
City of Maple Ridge Coun. Jenny Tan was at the grand opening and thanked Olsen for all the organization does for the community. Tan pointed out that even though economically times are tough, people still need support in the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, when people don\u2019t get support, everything else crumbles,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Olsen would like to, one day, see it bustling in the halls of the new space, and for the service to get to a place where they are so busy they can reduce the fees even more or even have people pay what they can afford to pay.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut because we don\u2019t have core funding for this program, we are reliant on getting ourselves there,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n
Cythera is an anti-violence society that supports adults, youth, and families impacted by gender-based violence and abuse.<\/p>\n
Since 1984, Cythera has been offering anti-violence care, housing, and advocacy to the Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, and Katzie First Nation communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Grand opening of Elyra Counselling in Maple Ridge Published 11:45 am Tuesday, May 5, 2026 A grand opening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[163,85,46,200541,522,523],"class_list":["post-426974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-lower-mainland","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}