Our Vision

To create a vibrant welcoming place where consumer/survivors come first and to provide the support that builds their confidence, inspires their creativity, recognizes their potential and engages them in positive, long-lasting change.

Our Mission

We work collaboratively with consumer/survivors and families to improve lives through information, networking, self-help, mutual support, and partnership.

All programs and services, including volunteer-delivered programs, are delivered by people who identify as having direct personal experience of mental health extremes and/or homelessness and/or people who identify as psychiatric consumer/survivors as part of our peer support philosophy.

- We work from a recovery perspective, as opposed to a bio-medical or psychosocial paradigm.

- We believe that people know best at all times what they need in order to facilitate their own recovery and wellness

- We believe that people can recover and achieve their goals if given access to the necessary power and resources.

- We believe that people must have the opportunity to heal and recover from oppression and trauma in order to facilitate mental health recovery

- We believe that services must be designed and delivered with dignity and with respect for diversity in race, ethnicity, culture, gender, age, ability, religion, and sexual orientation.

- We believe that traditional healing practices based on one’s culture(s) and community are essential to recovery

- We believe that we are custodians of the earth and must take every action and non-action necessary to protect and heal the environment. For that reason, the Krasman Centre boycotts the bottled water. industry, uses environmentally-friendly products, consumes only fair-trade and organic coffee, and other health-sustaining practices.

- We believe in a harm reduction approach to substance use, sex trade involvement, crimes of poverty, and other realities of doing trauma-informed support work.

- We do not believe in banning people permanently from our services. If we are committed to recovery, then we must also be committed to people in recovery.

- We believe in delivering hassle-free services in order to increase access and equity in service delivery. No records or files are kept for service use, and all services are available to people with anonymity if they wish. There is no intake process, which often inhibits people from accessing supports and services. We acknowledge that many people who are in the mental health or homelessness service system are mistrustful of helping services and will take every reasonable action to build trust with people who are preparing themselves to access services.