On Wednesday, November 6th, a group of 55 community members gathered to present Smithers as a destination for a new Foundry location. Foundry is a BC-based mental health organization with an aim to serve British Columbians between the ages of 12 and 24 years old.
Mark De Hoog, a trauma counsellor and mental health activist learned that the Foundry was planning to build 12 new locations across the province. He applied on behalf of four community social groups but that application was denied in March 2024. That spurred a youth-led advisory committee to help lead the charge to create a Foundry Smithers. Members from Foundry were in attendance and claimed to have “never seen this kind of a turnout for interest.”
Lucia (youth committee) told CICK that while there is not a Smithers location, that Foundry has an app that offers so much help for her “We’re hoping that the more people who use the [Virtual Foundry] app, the more likely we are to get [a location], and the more people are helped.”
