Permanent home of Youth Wellness Hub opens in Windsor

The Windsor-Essex Youth Wellness Hub has officially opened its doors.

A ribbon cutting ceremony along with a grand opening celebration took place Friday morning at the 10,000 square foot hub on Eugenie Street West.

The hub is being funded annually by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and replaces the temporary home at Maryvale.

Kim Willis is the Director of Communications & Mental Health Promotion for the Canadian Mental Health Association Windsor-Essex.

She says since March 2022, the temporary site saw 607 'unique youth' use the service, visiting the location 3,055 times.

"We know this is something that youth want and they are making use of and I think as the word spreads those numbers will continue to increase," she says.    

Willis says youth and families wanted this model of service.

"They don't want to be moved from one provider to the other having to re-tell their story," says Willis.  "So when a youth comes in here, they're seen that day.  There's no wait times, there's low-barrier, you can self refer to come in and it serves ages 12 to 25."        

A room inside the Windsor-Essex Youth Wellness Hub, November 10, 2023 (Photo by AM800's Rob Hindi)

She says the hub is youth-friendly and provides mental health and addiction support services.

"Right away there could see a therapist for example," says Willis.  "They could see a nurse practitioner, someone to help with addictions and then if we're not the right stop, the other thing is we have an intake clerk that can refer them to the appropriate service."         

The hub offers mental health and addiction services for youth between the ages of 12 and 25 including primary care, employment and housing supports, as well as recreational and educational activities. 

Willis says the government is providing permanent funding of $650,000 annually.

She says they're also looking to raise $5-million.

To date, $2.3-million has been raised.