Vancouver Island Counselling Centre for Immigrants and Refugees Association
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Mission Statement
To provide specialized counselling and training services to: Assist refugees and immigrants who suffer from the effects of trauma and torture to the extent that their daily living is compromised. Train professional counsellors in the treatment of trauma and torture and provide ongoing training and support to VICCIR interpreters. Educate, train and counsel sponsorship groups, teachers, school board personnel, public health workers, first responders, and the general public to address and resolve vicarious trauma they experience and to assist them to better meet the unique needs of migrants to Canada.
About This Cause
VICCIR provides counselling and mental health services to promote the well-being of refugees and immigrants, assist them on their healing journey and with their integration into our multicultural communities. In addition to providing services directly to immigrants and refugees, VICCIR also offers training and consultation to settlement workers, community counsellors, teachers, interpreters, private sponsorship groups and others working with immigrants and refugees. VICCIR offers ongoing counselling to refugees and immigrants of all ages and genders, to individuals, couples and whole families. We remove the barriers that so often prevent our clients from receiving the mental health support they need. We provide counselling in their mother tongue, if required, and fees are on a sliding scale, with no one being turned away because they cannot afford to pay for counselling. There are no limitations or restrictions according to age, immigration status or length of time in Canada. Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, VICCIR has moved the majority of its services online in order to be able to continue to offer mental health support during these challenging times. By quickly pivoting to online counselling, all of our current clients were able to continue to access mental health support and we were able to meet the growing demand that resulted because of the pandemic. We are continuing to offer most of our services online and will transition back to in person counselling as required and with all the appropriate safety protocols in place. VICCIR is the only provider of psychological assistance to immigrants and refugees on Vancouver Island who suffer from the effects of trauma to the extent that daily living is compromised. Any immigrant or refugee who is able to access our centre is eligible for service from an experienced registered clinical counsellor who has received additional training in intercultural trauma treatment. VICCIR offers counselling to individuals, couples, children and youth and also works intergenerationally with whole families. VICCIR has a roster of trained interpreters who speak more than six languages and are available when the client does not speak English. The same interpreter stays with the client(s) and counsellor throughout the treatment. Regular individual and group supervision is provided to all counsellors and interpreters by VICCIR’s Director of Services, Adrienne Carter, who has more than fifteen years of service in intercultural contexts as a psychotherapist, trainer and supervisor. VICCIR offers the following different therapeutic modalities: individual and group counselling; Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT); various forms of talking therapy including exposure therapy for trauma processing; Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR); Somatic therapies; Art/Play Therapy and other forms of expressive therapies. In 2017, VICCIR offered 658 counselling sessions to 90 clients. By mid-October 2018, the number of clients is already more than double that of 2018, at over 200. In 2017, 70% of clients completed their therapy, having shown considerable improvement and both clinician and client believed that they were better able to manage their lives and the original symptoms that brought them to VICCIR in the first place. In 2018 VICCIR introduced an assessment-based evaluation system based on the work of the Center for Victims of Torture which, together with the research projects being carried out by the University of Victoria, will enable more accurate measurement of therapeutic outcomes.