Just over a year ago, Eden East Mental Wellness Centre moved to its new location and it was a huge success. 

Eden East moved to Stonebridge Wellness Centre in Steinbach, and during this past year, they have developed and expanded their mental health services. 

They are able to do more counseling work than they were able to at their old location, as well as work on expanding their programs. 

They offer therapy with Recovery of Hope – Counselling, as well as psychiatry consultation services for adults. 

Eden East has also partnered with Southern Health for community mental health treatment and case management services. And have employment services through the Segue Career Options Program for people struggling to find employment. 

They are especially excited about the Wellness Library, which is a library of resources for practitioners and the public providing information on mental health and addictions. 

CEO of Eden East, Brad Unger, notes that one of their goals is to reduce barriers that surround access to mental health services. 

“If one of the ways we can help reduce barriers is creating a hub and centralizing some of these services, we hope that helps make things more accessible to folks and simplifies the process.” 

The Wellness Library is something that makes these services that Eden has to offer more accessible. 

"We have this great Wellness Library. We got some shelves that are full of great resources. It’s a public service that's available for folks to come and check out some of those resources.”  

Unger says it’s been a great year, and their new space has helped accommodate them. 

"We still feel the impacts coming through our last couple years of the pandemic, but we've been slowly growing, and building, and returning services back to a more open and accessible state.” 

They are now at a place where they are able to provide all of these services that they have dreamed of having in this new space. 

He notes the new building also has a nice space for workshops or group events.  

"We're feeling great about being up and running how we had envisioned that space to look like.” 

They hope their facility can be a service to Steinbach and surrounding communities. 

“A place to refer and get help. We still do a bunch of things that are virtual or online, but at least this can be an access point that we hope helps connect people to resources they could benefit from.” 

Unger says there is a wide variety of reasons people will come for counseling. 

"Individual, couple counseling, family counseling, addictions, anxiety, depression, grief, loss.”  

They count on the support of the Bethesda Foundation and Eden Foundation to help provide the services that they offer. 

“The Bethesda Foundation has been key in providing some major granting for us to open up this space and to keep it functioning,” he says. “We have Eden Foundation, that's a channel through which the Steinbach community members are demonstrating their support for mental health services in southern Manitoba.” 

Bethesda Foundation provided over $250,000 of funding to support the creation of this centre. 

“We are grateful for Bethesda Foundation for their role in supporting and initiating that space.”  

Eden East also wants to acknowledge Jaryn Friesen who was recently named Eden’s 2022 Mental Health Champion. Jaryn’s mental health story can be found here. 

The general public is welcome to visit the Eden East Mental Wellness Centre Mondays-Thursdays from 9 am to 4 pm. 

Unger encourages you to visit their Wellness Library to explore the resources that may help provide greater learning and awareness of issues related to mental health. 

To learn more about all they have to offer, visit edenhealthcare.ca. 

Non-urgent mental health services are available through Recovery of Hope Counselling at 1-866-493-6202.

For the crisis helpline call 1-888-617-7715.

 

with files from Adi Loewen