{"id":153413,"date":"2025-09-22T16:20:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T16:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/153413\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T16:20:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T16:20:18","slug":"moving-forward-counselling-a-grassroots-model-reshaping-mental-health-care-in-surrey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/153413\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving Forward Counselling: A grassroots model reshaping mental health care in Surrey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mental health has never been discussed more openly than it is today, yet access to care remains a challenge. In Surrey, Moving Forward Family Services<\/a> is quietly doing the work many assume belongs to large government systems \u2013 and in many cases, reaching as many people as they do.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people think because we\u2019re a nonprofit, we must be publicly funded,\u201d says Gary Thandi, Executive Director of Moving Forward Counselling. \u201cWe receive no funding from the government sectors that are primarily responsible for publicly-funded counselling, , yet we\u2019re supporting thousands of people \u2013 often the very same people the public system can\u2019t keep up with.\u201d<\/p>\n

That independence is what makes Moving Forward so unique \u2013 not just in Surrey, but across Canada and even internationally. Without the restrictions of government funding, the organization operates as a true grassroots service. \u201cThere\u2019s no wrong door,\u201d Thandi explains. \u201cIf someone comes to us wanting counselling, we will support them. They don\u2019t have to fit a rigid set of criteria or wait a year for an intake call.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of focusing solely on crisis response, Moving Forward embraces early intervention and prevention, aiming to meet people before they reach breaking points. \u201cToo often, the public system waits until significant harm has already been done. We want to flip that approach,\u201d Thandi says.<\/p>\n

The organization also takes a holistic view of mental health, recognizing its ripple effects on families and communities. Traditional systems tend to silo individuals into different programs \u2013 for individual issues \u2013 though mental health and substance use often impacts families and communities, and cuts across sectors like health, education, and criminal justice. Moving Forward offers a more integrated and family-centred model, with counselling available in over 30 languages, flexible evening and weekend hours, and access to complementary individual psycho-educational support and group programs alongside one-on-one therapy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

here<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Beyond its general counselling services, Moving Forward has also launched innovative initiatives such as:<\/p>\n


\n\tThe Veteran Wellness Program<\/a>, funded by Veterans Affairs, which helps veterans and their families navigate trauma and reintegrate into civilian life.
\n\tThe LIFT Program<\/a>, supported by Women and Gender Equality Canada, designed to remove barriers for women of colour seeking leadership opportunities in small to medium-sized organization
\n\tPsycho-educational one-to-one support on topics such as life skills, healthy relationships, mindfulness, parenting, substance use management, self-esteem, seniors support and more <\/p>\n

\u201cThese programs reflect what communities themselves have been asking for,\u201d says Thandi. \u201cWe don\u2019t dictate how support should look \u2013 we listen, and then we build services around those needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Thandi, the passion lies in applying evidence to practice. \u201cFor decades, we\u2019ve known prevention matters. We\u2019ve known mental health services should be flexible, culturally responsiveholistic, integrated with other services to offer a continuum of care, and accessible. . At Moving Forward, alongside other like-minded grassroots agencies, we\u2019re actually doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s quick to add that no single agency can tackle mental health alone. \u201cThis work cuts across education, health and social services. We need like-minded organizations to collaborate rather than compete. That\u2019s how we build a truly integrated system of care.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Surrey and beyond, Moving Forward Counselling is proving that with innovation, collaboration and a commitment to low-barrier access, meaningful change in mental health care is possible.<\/p>\n

Looking for support? Call 877-485-5025 or email [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. Moving Forward offers accessible, culturally responsive counselling \u2013 get started today and take the first step toward healing and growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mental health has never been discussed more openly than it is today, yet access to care remains a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[102,1906,6623,70385,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-153413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth","11":"tag-people-and-societyimpress-branded-content","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}