Thunder Bay’s Youth Wellness Hub held its grand opening on Friday, celebrating the beginning of a new service centre meant to support young people aged 12-25.
The hub is meant to be a one-stop shop for various free, youth-oriented services required by the city’s young people.
In one location, young people have access to mental health and counselling services, sexual health services, primary care, housing support, education and employment assistance, and recreational and social events.
Diane Walker, CEO of Children’s Centre Thunder Bay, hopes hundreds of young people in Thunder Bay will take advantage of the new hub.
Walker says young people played a key role in planning out how the hub was designed and what services were offered. “You come to realize if things aren’t led by the people that are using them… you really are often off the mark,” Walker explains.
Emmanuel Nkebemiso is one such young person who helped plan out the wellness hub. Nkebemiso is now one of the hub’s peer support workers.
Nkebemiso says it is important to bring young people into the process: “picking when this was happening or what was going to be in there – all the artwork, all the designs, all that stuff… it was integral to have youth. It needs to be a safe space for them.”
While many of the services offered at the Youth Wellness Hub have previously been available to young people in the city, they have never been universally accessible under one roof.
Walker believes having so many services available in the same place makes it more likely that youth will take advantage of different features. She says that once young people begin to feel welcome in the space, they will return for other needs.
Walker says, for example, that what can start with a young person seeking a nurse practitioner can lead to more services. “Then there is an opportunity to have a coffee or do laundry that they may need… then they can talk to somebody about their substance use or a peer worker who can guide them through the service system.”
Walker describes the system as a weaving tapestry, involving more than two dozen community partners.
The Youth Wellness Hub is open Tuesday to Saturday, and runs events daily.
