Availability

Our focus is on handling stress, illness, and day to day struggles at all hours of the day to help prevent situations from escalating. This will not only benefit users of Guelph Cares but also people that need to get in to see a counselor by freeing up their already busy schedule.

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Personal

Our chat will connect you to a volunteer mentor here at Guelph who has had similar experiences to you if you choose to share. Local peers are much more likely to be able to understand the specific difficulties in their own community. They are also more likely to be knowledgeable about what other services are available to help. Pairing with a volunteer with similar experiences will establish a deeper connection between peers.

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Anonymity

We understand that privacy is a major concern to the community. With our chat users are able to remain anonymous or can choose to share their username depending on their own comfort level. Seeing someone face to face may be difficult for some people so this provides an accessible alternative.

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Our Mentors:

Joe S Baletta

"The most important thing in a person’s recovery process is to know that someone cares for you, someone outside yourself, and that you can care for yourself and that you can love yourself and get over those demons that haunt us all, that drive us crazy. You have to get up with some love in your heart and you have to be able to know that you can do something that you love."

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Oryx Cohen

"Meeting so many people who have fought through an oppressive mental health system, who have been forcibly electroshocked and drugged, who have been treated as less than human--and who are now leading accomplished and fulfilling lives as authors, directors of organizations, social activists, etc., has been inspiring and empowering. I just hope that eventually the general public will hear our stories and take them as their own."

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Victoria D Gaines

"I didn't get better because of anything that the clinicians did for me. I got better because I surrounded myself by people who showed that they cared about me who got me laughing again."

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