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How Olivia overcame her greatest obstacles

2 MIN READ

When Olivia was 15, she struggled with many different things. She had self-esteem issues, disordered eating, and spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital for suicide attempts.

She struggled with anxiety and depression.

Olivia knew she needed to find support and change things in her life in order to become emotionally healthy – especially when she became pregnant with her son, Augustus.

 

So Olivia enrolled in the Youville Centre, a United Way partner agency.

It was a move that would change her life.

“Youville provided me with the counselling and support that I needed to help cope with being both a teenager and a mom.”

The Youville Centre is a fully accredited child and youth mental health centre with onsite academic partners. Youville offers mental health, trauma and addictions counselling, a licensed child development program, parenting programs, and a mentorship program so young mothers can complete their high school diplomas with access to wraparound services that help them succeed.

After almost four years of attending the Youville Centre and with the support of her counsellor Jenny Strange, Olivia has grown. She says she feels like a completely different person, and has found confidence in herself and stability.

She has grown stronger from her struggles.

"This is what quotation three will look like. This has roman hanging punctuation...kind of."

The Youville Centre is a fully accredited child and youth mental health centre with onsite academic partners. Youville offers mental health, trauma and addictions counselling, a licensed child development program, parenting programs, and a mentorship program so young mothers can complete their high school diplomas with access to wraparound services that help them succeed.

After almost four years of attending the Youville Centre and with the support of her counsellor Jenny Strange, Olivia has grown. She says she feels like a completely different person, and has found confidence in herself and stability.

She has grown stronger from her struggles.

“I may still have some obstacles to overcome, but Youville has prepared me to face them and to see these obstacles as an opportunity to learn and grow.”

In the darkest times, it’s the power of community that will light the way.

Let’s tackle our toughest social issues together. Poverty. Homelessness. Mental health. Social isolation. These challenges can feel overwhelming, but you can move the needle on all of them at once with a donation to United Way.

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