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Group behind Sources Langley Food Bank offers enhanced mental health help

Extra stresses and burdens of the global pandemic are spotlighted on World Mental Health Day Oct. 10
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SourcesBC started offering extra mental health services in April in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and is accepting donations to the fund that helps pay for the programs. (SourcesBC)

SourcesBC, the organization that runs the Sources Langley Food Bank, is offering mental health services to help those impacted by the global pandemic.

To coincide with the recent World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10, the White-Rock based organization sent out notice to let the communities that it serves that it has a variety of services intended to help with people’s mental health.

“It’s been 30 years since the first World Mental Health Day and we’ve seen a lot of positive changes since then but, with a devastating pandemic, many people are suffering through loss, in all its various forms, that may take years to recover from,” said Sources CEO David Young.

In addition to the food bank that serves Langley, South Surrey and White Rock, Sources has mental health counselling, the Mental Wellness Resource and Referral Line, and a rent bank for those in jeopardy of losing their home.

“As a social wellness agency, in April 2020, we recognized the increased need for mental health services and immediately launched our Comfort and Care During COVID-19 response fund so that we could provide hope and help,” he said.

Young noted that the demand for services will only increase as the pandemic continues.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), close to one billion people live with a mental disorder while three million people die every year from the harmful use of alcohol and one person dies every 40 seconds by suicide.

And, now, billions of people around the world have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WHO has called on countries to invest more in mental health resources. The WHO notes that countries spend, on average, only two per cent of their health budgets on mental health. Despite some increases in recent years, international development assistance for mental health has never exceeded one per cent of all development assistance for health, even though, for every $1 invested in scaled-up treatment for common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety, there is a return of $5 in improved health and productivity.

Sources is accepting donations for its Comfort and Care During COVID-19 response fund.

Sources Community Resources Society is an internationally accredited, community-based non-profit organization that has been providing help in White Rock, Surrey, Delta, Langley, Prince George, Parksville and beyond for more than 40 years. The Sources Langley Food Bank is accredited by Food Banks BC, and is a different organization than the Langley Food Bank.

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Heather Colpitts

About the Author: Heather Colpitts

Since starting in the news industry in 1992, my passion for sharing stories has taken me around Western Canada.
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