WhAT WE DO
Funded Counselling Sessions
As of January 2024, DPCC has funded 221 sessions.
Initially, when Dorset Pier Mental Health opened, sessions were advertised and people could sign up for 10 free sessions.
Now, sessions are still offered to current clients. Our psychotherapists are able to pick clients who do not have financial means to pay for their sessions to bridge them through their goals in therapy.
If further funding is secured, we will offer sessions again to the public.
Awareness Events & Creative Initiatives
Although mental health can be improved through therapy sessions, it can also take place in other avenues.
DPCC believes that this can be through various events in the community that are creative and raise awareness about mental health.
Below, is a list of events over the years that we have engaged in to achieve our goal.
2024
Snack & Chat Series
Through the months of January to May, we ran 6 free, monthly information sessions about various Mental Health Topics!
These were an hour long with “bite sized” amounts of information provided!
Community collaboration: Sleeping Giant Brewery fundraiser
Sleeping Giant Brewery fundraised money through their Craft Cares campaign. We are so grateful for their support!
Distress tolerance group
We ran a 6 week group for free on Distress Tolerance based on DBT! This included mindfulness skills, distress tolerance skills and radical acceptance skills as well as a “coping kit” starter kit.
2023
Thunder VR
Tomlin Restaurant
Touch Unwired
Trekking Paws
Vipond Inc
Wilen Art and Supply
Community collaboration: CorrectionAL services family day
Staff attended the Family Day Event to raise awareness for mental health and brought Harlow to help give people some snuggles and show off her tricks! This event raised awareness for operation stress health injuries.
Money was also raised for DPCC by officers being dunked at the
”Dunk a Sergeant” station!
Winter Mental Health Day
DPCC Hosted a Community Mental Health Event at West Thunder Community Center.
We thought we’d start off 2023 with a day highlighting many important aspects of mental health! This day is centered around 5 pillars that we believe are important to mental health; Artistic expression, Be kind to yourself, Movement, Mindfulness & Talking and Sharing.
Taking care of mental health takes many different forms for everyone. We wanted to give a variety of activities for all to try to sample what works best!
Artistic Expression: Being creative is a fantastic way to take care of your mental health! You do not have to be an expert to be artistic and creative! We had an art station full of various activities to let the creativity flow!
Be kind to yourself: You live in your head 24/7, 365. We sure hope that it is a nice place to be, but we also understand that it is impossible to do all the time. The more we show kindness to ourselves, the easier it can be over time. We had a sweet treats (Sunshine Sweets), some pizza (Eat Local Pizza), and beverages!
Movement: It is no surprise that moving your body is important for your mental health, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a chore or something you dislike. Movement can change depending on the needs of your body! It’s okay to make movement fun! Bust a move, play a game, whatever gets your body moving! We had a bouncy castle, hop scotch, and some dog tricks with Harlow!
Mindfulness: Mindfulness is so important to one’s mental health. Many people may get discouraged as they think they can only be mindful if they are meditating or doing yoga, but mindfulness is actually just taking your brain off autopilot and focusing on the here and now! We had a station to learn about using your 5 senses and take home mindfulness kits!
Talking & Sharing: Talking about your feelings is so important. Many people think that it’ll be better to push their feelings down. This may feel okay in the moment, but over time, feelings build up and may lead to unhealthy coping.
We encouraged folks to take today as a chance to write on our secrets wall and share some of their feelings! This was completely anonymous
Community collaboration: Sleeping Giant Brewery fundraiser
Sleeping Giant Brewery fundraised money through their Craft Cares campaign. We are so grateful for their support!
Community collaboration: Fundraiser with Studio 449
Studio 449 Fundraised money for DPCC. Staff attended the tattoo studio for the day and brought mental health resources on site.
Me Fest: Self-Care is not selfish event
We participated in Sociable’s event promoting self-care! This event was a collaboration between Goods and Co market, Thunder Bay Naturopath Clinic, Downtown Fitness, and Sociable Solutions. Our part of the event focused on teaching about self-care in mental health. We taught folks about mindfulness and gave them self-care starter kits! These included journals with pre-written prompts on them, flower bulbs with the affirmation “Growing is healing” on them, and other sensory items to help introduce self-care.
FALL Mental Health Day
DPCC Co-Hosted a Community Mental Health Event at the Cascades with Lakehead Regional Conservation Authority (LRCA). We continued our theme of “the 5 Pillars” but modified it with our collaboration with the LRCA.
Artistic Expression: Being creative is a fantastic way to take care of your mental health! You do not have to be an expert to be artistic and creative! We had an art station full of various activities to let the creativity flow! We made bookmarks out of stamps with leaves and other fun activities!
Be kind to yourself: You live in your head 24/7, 365. We sure hope that it is a nice place to be, but we also understand that it is impossible to do all the time. The more we show kindness to ourselves, the easier it can be over time. We had a sweet treats (Sunshine Sweets), some pizza (Eat Local Pizza), and beverages!
Movement: Staff at LRCA lead a hike on the newly paved trail at the Cascades! They taught people how to gently move their body. There was also a yoga station set up to move your body!
Mindfulness: Mindfulness is so important to one’s mental health. Many people may get discouraged as they think they can only be mindful if they are meditating or doing yoga, but mindfulness is actually just taking your brain off autopilot and focusing on the here and now! We had a station to learn about using your 5 senses and take home mindfulness kits! Additionally, the LRCA taught people about nature journalling and how be in the moment in nature.
Talking & Sharing: Talking about your feelings is so important. Many people think that it’ll be better to push their feelings down. This may feel okay in the moment, but over time, feelings build up and may lead to unhealthy coping.
We encouraged folks to take today as a chance to write on our secrets wall and share some of their feelings! This was completely anonymous
NEw year’s Eve:
Masquerade ball
DPCC Hosted a Fundraiser Masquerade Ball on New Year’s Eve! This event was to raise money for the funded counselling sessions. It was hosted at the Victoria Inn with a Masquerade theme! We were so happy to have 130 attendees to support our case. Attendees who supported the ball were given a 3 course meal followed by dancing, a 360-photo booth and silent auction! The main prize of the silent auction was two tickets to see Taylor Swift!
Thank you to all who donated to make this event a success:
Beauty by Morgan
Boy Roland
Carlitos
The Cheese Encounter
Delta Hotels
Erika Wade Photography
Goods & Co
Gracie Myers
Harbourview Optometry Center
Heartbeat Hot Sauce
Hill City Comics
Humbled Hound
iOptic
Madhouse
Mascarin Collision Center
Pieology
Pizza Hut
Portobello Home
Prezio Electric Ltd.
Sail Superior
Salon 10
Soft Sell Computers
Tag Creative Strategy
2022
Pride BBQ
DPCC Hosted a Pride Barbeque for the community in Collaboration with Mushkiki. We gave away free food & beverages, information on resources in the community, information and supplies for safe sex. We hosted fun activities such as face painting, side walk chalk drawing, and a pride themed photo booth
Community collaboration: Tattoo raffle
Local artist Josh Hill (@jhill_artboi) from Black Sheep Tattoo (formerly Studio 449) reached out to us and hosted a raffle to raise funds for counselling sessions! We are so grateful for his support
Cookie Giveaway
As you may have noticed in previous mental health events, we believe in “treating yo’ self!” We give away 100 cookies from Uncommon Baked Goodes as a surprise!
Community collaboration: CorrectionAL services family day
Staff attended the Family Day Event to raise awareness for mental health and brought Harlow to help give people some snuggles and show off her tricks! This event raised awareness for operation stress health injuries.
2021
T-Shirt Fundraiser
T-shirts were designed by local artists, Vanessa Presenger & Ryan Pooman to raise funds for counselling sessions.
Mental Health Week
The DPMH team provided a free week of activities surrounding 5 pillars of mental health. They did so in collaboration with other local organizations. Sociable, 807 Safe Space, Anada Studios, EverBead, DIY Studio, Creative Company, Wayfinder, Thicc Cookie Co. and Rose and Crantz coffee contributed to supporting this week.
The five pillars of mental health are: Talking and Sharing, Mindfulness, Artistic Expression, Movement & Treat yourself!
Talking and Sharing: The stress and anxiety that can arise when we suffer in silence can be overwhelming. Sharing our struggles with those around us can help us feel connected as well as let others know that they are not alone. With support from Sociable and 807 Safe Space we displayed the secrets at the Spirit Garden.
Mindfulness: Practicing mindfulness has been shown to improve your mental health. Taking moments of peace, self reflection and concentration increase self awareness and overall mental health through a number of practices. Anada studios put on a full day of free yoga glasses at Vickers Park, and Everbead donated beading kits for folks to pick up.
Artistic Expression: Artist outlets have been found to be extremely beneficial on a persons mental health, sometimes they are even more helpful than talk therapy itself. Allowing various methods of art expression to be used as a healing mechanism is another goal of our Mental Health is Health week. We offered free take home art kits through the Creative Company and free time time slots at that DIY Studio (now The Hive).
Movement: Outdoors, physical activity and fresh air is another pillar that has been shown to improve a persons mental health. Here in NWO we are very lucky to have a wide selection of outdoor activities right in our own backyard! Wayfinder set up a bunch of outdoor activities at Boulevard Lake and Fresh Air donated some supplies for participant's to win!
Treat your self: Taking time to sit back and enjoy the little things is what gives that extra cherry on top of self care. With collaboration from Thicc Cookie Co. and Rose and Crantz we handed out free treats until we ran out!
Christmas Stocking & meal giveaway
DPCC engaged in two events to support those struggling during the holiday season.
Stocking giveaway: DPCC provided FREE stockings for the first 20 kids who are signed up by a guardian!
Christmas Dinner in a box: DPCC provided 10 free Christmas dinners in a box! Each box had a turkey, potatoes, bag of carrots, box of stuffing, cranberry sauce, a turkey pan, gravy pack and baking!
