Three local mental health providers unify to become Camino Wellbeing + Mental Health

A ceremony was held on Charles Street in Kitchener on Wednesday morning to celebrate the creation of Camino Wellbeing + Mental Health.

Carizon Family and Community Services, KW Counselling Services, and Monica Place unified to form the new organization.

Tracy Elop was the CEO at Carizon and is now the CEO of Camino. She explained why the decision was made to bring the providers together.

“We intend to expand our services, that’s a really important element,” she said. “Resources are scarce, and so the better we can use our resources, the better able we will be to serve.”

Camino has 8 locations across the region as well as over 250 employees.

“When you come into one of our Camino locations, we will provide a personalized experience for you that reflects your unique circumstances, and allows us to recommend programs and services,” Elop said.

The gathering brought together many different members of the community including Neha Lalany who held many roles with Carizon and now is a youth program facilitator at Camino.

“I was able to be a part of these spaces whether it be attending programs at the community centre or being within the pathways program,” she said. “It really helped me to be a part of these communities, make friends and really develop those personal skills. I’m always looking for ways in which I can give back to my community.”

Programs that existed within the three former organizations will continue to run for the time being. The unification process took around a year and a half, and Elop said that plenty of planning went into ensuring the service would serve the community as needed.

“We’ve very intentionally engaged everyone in the community. Our employees, community partners, donors, the people we serve to make sure that in coming together we can have a greater impact. And, we’ve communicated with people all along the way.”

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