Better together
Not
alone
Nobody should have to white-knuckle their way through mental health alone.
The gap We’re closing
Almost everyone you know has a story about trying to get mental health support. Some finally found help. Some gave up. Some are still waiting.
What most people don’t see is that the hardest part isn’t always the system itself — it’s what happens before you even get there.
That’s the pre-therapy literacy gap: not knowing where to start, what you’re looking for, or how to tell if a service is safe or right for you.
What Happens Inside
Inside the group, people share their stories, map their strengths, learn what different therapy models are really built on, and figure out what they need from a therapist. They take real steps toward care — together.
What We Build
That’s why we built Let’s Talk Access.
We are putting three pieces together:
- Podcast → so anyone can learn
- 16-Week Group → so people don’t do this alone
- Access Guide → episode by episode breakdown
Why It Matters
When a room fills with stories, something rare happens: people feel seen by each other. One voice makes the next braver. That energy becomes the guiding force of the podcast, stitched with expert voices and a narrator. Each episode drops with a free Access Guide so the learning doesn’t end when the group does.
Why we're here
Closing the Gap Before Care Begins.
Almost everyone has brushed up against the same barriers: the waitlists that stretch too long, the cost that feels out of reach, the confusion of not knowing which door to knock on first.
People end up exhausted before they even get to care.
That’s the gap we’re closing.
Our Mission
Literacy before therapy – So people know where to begin and what to look for.
Choice before crisis – So decisions come from clarity, not desperation.
Community before isolation – Because healing is easier when we figure it out together.
Our vision
A Canada where people can name what they need, spot what’s right for them, and move toward support without shame or guesswork.
A place where stories and lived experience sit alongside professional expertise, and our voices matter.
Our why
In BC, psychotherapy regulation is changing what access looks like.
Across the country, wait times and costs keep rising.
We believe this is a turning point — either the gap widens, or we close it together.
How we Started
We started small in 2022 with a three-part podcast funded by TELUS Storyhive. Season 1 followed three people in real time as they tried to find care. By the end, every single participant — and every one of us on the leadership team — was in therapy for the first time.
That showed us the model works: when you pair practical tools with lived storytelling, invisible barriers start to crack.
Grassroots for free.
Anyone, anywhere, can use the model to build their own version.
Licensing for scale.
Big organizations can license it — but only if they partner with grassroots groups to deliver it.
Light tech, deep human.
Oral storytelling — one of the oldest technologies we have — sits at the heart, putting choice and power back in people’s hands.
Where We’re Going
Innovation with lineage
We didn’t make this up out of thin air. Let’s Talk Access stands on a framework that took four years of cross-disciplinary work in the late ’60s to build — one of the first in Canada designed to cross cultures and bridge individual choice with collective responsibility.
That foundation has carried through decades. We’re not just repeating it — we’ve adapted it, layering in innovations from today’s fields so it speaks to this era and the realities people are facing now. Trauma-aware. Grassroots-ready. Resilience-based. Built with the understanding that ruptures will happen, and real safety comes from having — and honouring — a process for repair.
What matters most is this: our model comes from deep roots and hard-won lessons, tested in tough places, carried by people with heavy histories. And it still works.
Root with care.
This work is carried by more than a leadership team — it’s held up by a community.
People have offered hours of work, legal guidance, art spaces, counselling resources, and steady encouragement.
Backed By Community
Built together
Key partners are already at our side:
Fernwood Community Arts Association
Giving us a physical hub and standing with us in the truth that oral knowledge-making and storytelling are art.
Moving Forward Family Services
Supporting us with counselling connections for those ready to step into care now.
Third Space Recovery Clinic
Literacy for movement, Third Space amplifies community reach through shared values, resources, and a commitment to education for lasting health.
TELUS Storyhive
Planting the seed that became Season 1, and seeding the forest we’re growing into Season 2.
This isn’t charity. It’s reciprocity.
Every door opened, every skill shared, every resource offered makes the work stronger — and proves we’re building something that belongs to all of us.