New Name: G.V. Counselling & Education Society for Families

After about 4 years of serving the multicultural group of Farsi speaking community in Greater Vancouver, our organization is moving into new paths.

Our new mission is to be inclusive of all nationalities in Canada, and to extend our services to a wider population. Therefore, we plan to expand our services to both English and Farsi speaking communities.

Although we would still focus on Iranian / Persian / Farsi-Speaking Communities as our main clientele group, still we would like to share our expertise with anyone who could benefit from our services.

This includes all our one to one counselling programs and psycho-educational programs such as Parenting classes, Youth Support groups and other educational/self-improvement series in English.

To support our new vision, we have also decided to change the name of the society from Iranian Educators Society for Families to G.V. COUNSELLING AND EDUCATION SOCIETY FOR FAMILIES.

The new name is in effect since November 16, 2012. We will therefore proudly introduce: G.V. COUNSELLING AND EDUCATION SOCIETY FOR FAMILIES.

Who are We?
The first registered nonprofits society in the province of British Columbia that is established to provide clinical counselling, psycho-educational and support programs to all and the Persian-speaking communities.

This Society benefits from a group of specialists in areas of clinical counselling, social work, career counselling, and settlement support.

Our Mission:
• To educate and empower Persian-Speaking families and individuals from our larger communities in overcoming challenges stemming from immigration in order to integrate and participate in the Canadian society.

It is important to emphasize that our society is taking distance to get involved in any politic, any religion, or any partisan work. We respect all human being and all communities with any belief system they might have.

Our Philosophy:

We value the humanistic school of thought as a holistic way for connecting to another person.  Relationship is one main aspect for all social interactions that is the foundation for existence and survival.

•    We believe that healthy relationships, strong boundaries, and respect for human life are main elements for enhancing human life and its conditions.  In our clinical and support work we consider the need for a therapeutic relationship as a basic element of developing empathy and safety.

•    We realize that a healthy relationship and respect for person’s integrity are basic keys for change.

•    We work for building relationships based on trust and connection that enhance education, learning opportunities, and development of new ideas toward change.

•    We recognize the fact that as an immigrant community we Iranian and all Farsi-speaking individuals / families share many ideas while we are divided across cultures, beliefs, values, and life styles.

•    We acknowledge that hardship and challenges experienced by many families in our Iranian – Canadian communities are result of the deteriorating human factors back in our home country.  As the social conditions for a dignified life back home in Iran or in the region are not improving, we observe many distressed families who are all on run from the injustice and the disrespect for human life.

•    We emphasize and bear in mind how numerous socio-political factors back home worsen our physical, psychological, spiritual, and mental health while we are living our immigrant lives here in Canada or elsewhere.

•    We like to base our interactions and work with our community on personal choices, respect for diversity and inclusiveness.

•    We see human being capable of making his or her own decisions while being equipped with the answer for own struggles.
•    We as clinical counsellors, social workers, and support workers will try to understand the socially and culturally embedded constructs that define mental health issues within our communities.

•    We share this stressful experience that being immigrant and newcomer often means losing identity and therefore a search for identity at times can become destructive.  When it concerns our younger generation, they need extra time and support in overcoming the felt identity crisis that immigration may cause. Therefore we relate many neurotic behaviors to the feeling of inferiority and compensation seeking in that matter.

•    We offer our educational programs while mental health problems are highly stigmatized and disregarded in our Farsi-speaking / Persian communities.  Many individuals and families complain about low mood, depression, and loss of enjoyment for life activities in their first years of settlement in our Iranian – Canadian communities.

•    We appreciate a new look at the layers  of pain due to unresolved trauma in the past, a baggage that people carry with them while migrating.  This new look requires a cultural understanding of the human conditions.

•    We identify how the domestic abuse and domestic violence debilitate women and children’s mental health while migration and adjustment are challenging enough.

•    We consider the interactions between cognition, affects, and behaviour while we significantly appreciate the understanding of culture, gender roles, and family of origin, race, and heritage on our total being.  Having a holistic approach is about examining the ways in which one individual is impacted by the implicit and explicit reality of life.

•    We value individual’s autonomy, integrity, and life goals.

•    We intend to operate as a bridge between service providers and a community that are highly multicultural.
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Our Society involves:

-Many educators from mental health field who represent our ideas about a Society for education, integration and community building.

-Services that are unique based on a holistic approach to culture and life styles.  Programs are designed to serve needs of a growing immigrant population from Iran, Afghanistan, and other countries where Farsi/ Persian are the shared language.

-Our clinical staff that is a multidisciplinary team, belong to various schools of thoughts.  Our therapists use attachment theory, cognitive behaviour therapy, person-centered therapy approach, the Adlerian individual’s psychology, solution focused therapy, and the emotional-focused therapy in large, still the core for our therapy work is the client itself and his / her needs. We value therapeutic relationship to be the main aspect of our work toward healing.

-Installation and maintenance of hope is one huge aspect of our educational program.  Creating positive experiences of new learning can lead to positive outcomes.  The power of hope even as a placebo has shown too important into direct physiological effect of the brain. Finding similarity of experiences and connection to other group members creates hope. Hope is a flexible concept, a feeling of comfort for dignity, for connection with others, or for minimum physical discomfort.

We believe strongly that our Programs and Groups will:

Help preventing and reducing mental health in a community that keeps mental health mostly secret.
Build a healthier community by offering parental training programs in Farsi.
Prevent and reduce juvenile crime when we offer our community many parenting tools in dealing teenagers.

Offer parents a chance to examine their family dynamics in a healthy and therapeutic atmosphere.
Help individuals and families change their inconsistencies and ambiguities steaming from cultural values and beliefs.

For all the above mentioned reasons:  We would like to offer our community a much needed clinical attention to family problems that will help increasing family bonds while more likely preventing delinquency, violence, domestic abuse, relational problems, substance abuse, and crime.

Therefore we are here to serve our communities.
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In Making A Difference

Iranian Educators society for families believes in gradual change, step-by step improvement, community building and making a difference by helping one family at the time.

It is certainly our goal that by offering educational programs we would promote health and overall well being of our communities.

Our society is established to open up a forum for change of behaviors, increased individual responsibility, and improved access to mental health and support services.

Raising public awareness about mental health and challenges of migration are part of our overall goal in Making A Difference.

Our Staff and Board of Directors welcome feedback.

Objectives of our psycho-educational programs are:
• to learn a healthy relationships and communication with children
• to use a more effective interpersonal relationships and communication Skills with others
• to have a healthier Self-esteem and confidence
• to gain awareness for / about community resources
• to find a sense of belonging and adjustment
• to integrate easier into the larger Canadian community.
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Our Society CONSTITUTION