Prince George, B.C. – Good news for users of the Community Counselling Centre in downtown Prince George.

A new partnership between UNBC and Northern Health has saved the low-cost counselling program from closing its doors.

In the agreement, Northern Health will fund the staffing for the clinic and UNBC will provide space for the service at its downtown campus in the BMO Building on 3rd Avenue.

The service, which has been available since 2009, offers low to no cost counselling services to any Prince George resident 13 years or older and who doesn’t meet the mandate and criteria of other community service providers.

“It’s very low cost and very low barrier,” says Aaron Bond, Director for Mental Health Addictions, Northern Interior for Northern Health. “A lot of different people from all walks of life have used the service and I imagine will continue to.”

Northern Health says the service is delivered by incorporating graduate students from UNBC’s Counselling program.

And by keeping it open, Bond hopes it continues to make a difference in peoples lives.

“We hope it will. Over 1,000 people have gone through the Counselling Centre since it opened and it’s one more program in the community for counselling,” he says.

“It was one of the big reasons we both though it was important to come up with a plan to sustain so we’re not just going year by year but something we can grow.”