Message from CEO/COO Settlement Services

www.pchs4u.com
facebook.com/pchs4u
Message from CEO/COO
Developing a Community Hub is not a new concept.
Many years ago, this concept led to the formation of
“two distinct hubs in Brampton and Mississauga called
“Community Doors”. Recently United Way of Peel
Region has championed this concept and is looking to
develop, in partnership with the community and its
agencies, five “community hubs” in Caledon, Brampton
and Mississauga.
PCHS is the lead agency (providing support so that the
concept becomes a reality) for collaborating with the
partners and agencies to develop a “Community Hub” in
Brampton Springdale area. There seems to be a lot of
interest in developing a community Hub in Brampton
Springdale area. The Springdale boundaries are defined
as Mayfield, Airport Road, Bovaird and Heart Lake
Road.
Community Hubs share elements with “neighbourhood
centres” currently in existence across Canada. The idea
behind the creation of hubs is to bring services to the
communities they are intended to serve. A community
hub also encapsulates the idea of working outside service
silos and improving program coordination. Increasingly,
both funders and community groups are initiating hubs in
the Region of Peel neighbourhoods.
We think, the development of community hubs offers
three levels of benefits:
1. For service providers, economies of scale can be
achieved through shared “back office” duties. Funders
also benefit from co-location of service providers.
2. For residents, services are more accessible and a
broader range of service needs can be met. Additionally,
as neutral public spaces, community hubs strengthen
social networks within local communities.
3. The key to the concept of community hubs is the
service collaboration amongst partners.
-Baldev Mutta & Amandeep Kaur
**************************************
Settlement Services
Notice – Changes to the definition of a dependent
child FOR SPONSORSHIP
June 23, 2014 — Effective August 1, 2014, the
definition of a dependent child is changing for
Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC’s)
immigration programs.
The age at which a child will be considered a dependent
is being reduced, from under 22 to under 19.
The exception for full-time students is also being
removed. Children of applicants who are 19 or over but
are financially dependent on their parents and are
enrolled in full-time studies will no longer be eligible to
be processed as dependent children.
In all cases, a child will continue to be considered a
dependent, regardless of age, if they have depended on
their parents for financial support because of a mental or
physical condition.
Reducing the age for dependents to under 19 in the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR)
will bring the IRPR in line with provincial definitions of
“age of majority,” which is currently evenly split
between 18 and 19 across provinces and territories.
Young adults will be able to apply to come to Canada on
their own merits, as foreign students or through various
economic programs.
All permanent resident applications in CIC inventories
before August 1, 2014 will continue to benefit from the
pre-amendment definition of dependent child.
Transitional measures will allow certain applicants under
multi-step permanent resident immigration programs
who are already in the immigration process at the time
these regulations come into force on August 1, 2014, but
who have not yet submitted their application for
permanent residence, to have their applications
completed based on the previous definition of dependent
child.
Girgla talked about the various types of depression and
its symptoms, causes and treatments options. Also,
briefly described the Canadian law and how the hospital
system works towards the patients of mental health.
MC Rakhi Mutta invited the audience one by one on the
stage to ask questions to Dr. Girgla, who answered all the
queries in a very effective manner. The whole discussion
was very informative indeed.
For more information please call PCHS settlement
counsellors at Brampton and Malton locations
905- 677-0889
*****************************************
Prashant's parents also shared their grief with everyone
while urging them to be very careful with their family
members and friends and keep a close watch if they
showed any signs of depression and seek help
immediately.
1st Annual Mental Health Forum
On Sunday, August 24, 2014 at Chandni Banquet Hall,
Punjabi Community Health Services hosted their First
annual Mental Health Forum in the loving memory of a
young man Prashant Tiwari who committed suicide on
June 26, 2014 in the psychiatric ward of Brampton Civic
Hospital.
PCHS organized this Mental Health forum to provide a
platform to the community where the Causes, symptoms,
treatments and preventions options for depression could
be discussed openly.
Mental health is scarcely discussed in our society and is
considered as a STIGMA, though prevalent in the society
for ages. PCHS has taken a big step to remove this
stigma from the peoples mind and is encouraging to
discuss it openly if anyone is suffering from any kind of
mental illnesses, because if counselling and help are
provided at an early stage; it is possible to prevent what
happened
to
Prashant.
Psychiatrist Dr. Satpal Girgla was the guest speaker. Dr.
Prashant's younger brother and his friends presented a
skit to demonstrate depression and it's symptoms in a
dramatic way. Their effort was successful to get the
message to the audience. This was incredible that
Prashant's brother and friends gathered so much courage
to have prepared such a skit on a topic that took
Prashant's
life
recently.
A short movie Edge (Kinara) directed by Gurcharan
Singh was also premiered on the same day in an effort to
bring out the message about 'Prevention of Depression' to
families. The movie was all about how generation gap,
parental disputes and lack of understanding the feelings
of teenagers, put them under stress and gradually they
start isolating themselves from everyone and indulge in
wrong
choices.
This is a great initiative taken by PCHS. If more and
more families come forward to discuss about mental
illnesses of their loved ones who are suffering and seek
help at an early stage, rather than hiding it just because
their family's reputation would be at stake, there is no
doubt that one day depression would be treated like any
other physical ailment and another precious life could be
saved
from
getting
lost!!
At the end CEO Baldev Mutta thanked their partner
organizations Hindi Times for supporting the PCHS on a
good cause.
-Jaishree Gupta
**********************************************
Baldev Mutta: CEO of Punjabi Community Health Services will be speaking
at this Conference
Central Opening Doors is an annual HIV conference that offers
participants from Simcoe County, the regions of Peel and York the
opportunity to strengthen and update their
HIV-related knowledge and skills.
This year’s theme is an opportunity to consider strengthening linkages between the health,
social service sectors, and faith communities and leaders in order to more effectively address
the HIV epidemic and other health and social issues.
The conference will also focus on increasing participants’ understanding of health and social
issues affecting trans individuals and will provide updates on a range of HIV-related topics
including testing, treatment and new perspectives on HIV disclosure.
For more information or to register go to
www.openingdoorsconference.ca
This annual conference is hosted by The AIDS Committee of Simcoe County, The Peel HIV AIDS Network, and AIDS Committee of York
Region
in
partnership
with
LOFT
Crosslinks
Street
Outreach
and
Services
Network,
and
360°kids.

Download Report