Now Open: The New Home of Stella’s Place
Considering how sweet it felt to finally open our doors, it makes perfect sense that our new home at Stella’s Place is an old candy factory. Our new facility has been over five years in the making, and we are very proud to now be able to welcome our community back.
Located at 54 Wolseley Street near Queen and Bathurst, our new space is the first of its kind in Toronto. It provides us with a permanent home for our community, while also increasing our potential to serve young adults across the city.
The opening of this space comes at a critical time, as the need for young adult mental health services has soared through the pandemic. According to a recent survey of young adults aged 18-24, more than 30 percent feel they need professional mental health help, but cannot access services, while 27 percent have recently experienced suicidal thoughts and feelings.
The number of young adults seeking help for mental health and addiction at Stella’s Place has continued to increase in recent years. Our new permanent home, designed with and for young people, will serve as a vital healing hub for so many.
With the help of our community and partners, our space will allow us to more than double the number of participants we can serve with life-changing programs.
A group of people participating in a DBT skills session with Clinician Claire. Photo by Daniel Fast.
Stella’s Place in the News
This past winter, we invited members of the press to join us for what was the first of many opening events planned in this new space.
After hosting a press briefing and a ceremonial ribbon cutting, media and attendees were invited to tour the space and speak to members of the Stella’s Place community about our work. You can check out some of the coverage from this day below.
Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Michael Tibollo, was also in attendance on the day. On the opening of the new and expanded Stella’s Place, he said:
As we continue to build the continuum of care here in Ontario, community partners like Stella’s Place providing low-barrier services are critical. This new location welcoming young people ages 16 to 29 for in-person services in addition to their online offerings will continue to be a place where the community connects to the care they need when they need it.
Reintroducing In-Person Programs
Now that the new facility is officially open, we’ve resumed in-person services at Stella’s Place. Programs that transitioned online through the pandemic have been reintroduced, including registered individual and group counselling, drop-in counselling, peer support groups and our signature drop-in cafe.
Former participant and Youth Advisor Kat Romero says, “The former home of Stella’s Place played a significant role for me during a transitional time in my life. It was my safe place, a place I could go for a hot drink or a snack, and most importantly, a place where I could access support on my own terms. I became a part of a strong community of young adults like myself that still support each other to this day.”
“The new facility feels very comforting and welcoming, and I know it will provide space for hope and recovery to so many young people in our city.”
Staff and youth advisors partake in a craft activity in the new cafe. Photo by Daniel Fast.
We will continue to offer online services, ensuring participants can access diverse models of care to suit their needs. Services that remain available online are drop-in counselling and arts programming. Young adults can also access BeanBagChat, a quickly-accessible chat-based app that connects users to counsellors and resources to support their mental health needs.
Full details of our programs can be found here.
A quiet corner in the new cafe. Photo by Daniel Fast.
A Beacon of Hope & A Commitment to Young Adults
It has been a long road to get to this point, and we are so happy to be able to open our doors again at a time when mental health supports are so desperately needed.
We need more safe places like Stella’s to tackle the mental health crisis with community, compassion, and care. We also have a collective responsibility at every level to urgently address the lack of decent work and affordability in our City, that add to the immense strain on Torontonians, particularly young people.
At the height of a mental health crisis in our province, we know that this new space and the work that happens within will be transformative to the lives of young adults. We hope it will serve as a beacon of hope to those struggling with mental health challenges, and a bold commitment to the notion that we can and should do better for young adults.
If you’re interested in learning more or accessing our programs at Stella’s Place, visit our Program page.
If you’re interested in finding out more and supporting Stella’s Place, get in touch with us at development@stellasplace.ca
