NICCCS - Better at Home

The North Island Crisis & Counselling Centre began in 1981 as the Port Hardy Crisis Intervention Society. The Society was formed almost entirely as the result efforts of Gillian Rippingale and Sally How. Both women recognized a crying need for counselling and support services in the community. They worked together to lobby for funding while at the same time, providing many of these services themselves on a volunteer basis. In 1981 the S.A.F.E. Family Project (Stop Abuse in the Family Environment) was begun, along with a 24-hour crisis line. It became evident that battered women needed a safe place to go and in 1983, M.S.S.H. contracted the society to provide a Safe Home program on a per diem basis. In 1985 the society received funding from the Secretary of State and a Canada Works Program to hire a coordinator and staff for a variety of programs. The Society continued to grow, accepting new programs from different ministries, branching out to preventative services along with direct crisis intervention. Over the years the focus of the Society has shifted slightly and both our name and constitution has reflected these changes. In 1986 the name was changed to the North Island Crisis Centre. This was in recognition of the fact that our perspective in lobbying for services is regional and that wherever possible, we provide direct services to the neighbouring communities. In 1989, both our constitution and name changed to reflect the changing focus of the society from crisis intervention to prevention.

The North Island Crisis and Counselling Centre Society is a community-based, not-for-profit charitable organization, registered under the Societies act in the Province of British Columbia and a charitable organization registered under the federal Charities Act of Canada. We offer a broad range of counselling and support services in the Mount Waddington Regional District and central coast. Our programs are delivered in diverse ways to best suit the needs of those we serve, and in a variety of locations. These services are professional, prompt, confidential and are, mostly, provided free of charge. The North Island Better at Home provides seniors and elders with assistance with simple, day-to-day, non-medical tasks so they can live independently. Better at Home is just one of the 25 programs offered by NICCCS