There’s a lot of excitement around here at Alongside You! Anyone who knows us well knows that we’re always looking to fill gaps, improve services, and find more ways to help our community. This is why we’re expanding! Here’s a taste of what’s been going on, and what to expect in the coming months!
Brand New Yoga Studio
Surprise! We’re almost finished building our new yoga studio (the trim is being put in as I write this). Why are we building a dedicated yoga studio you might ask? Aren’t there enough around already? Well, in short – no, there aren’t enough, and they aren’t like ours is going to be. We’re providing a different service here at Alongside You, and we need a space that reflects that. We focus primarily on yoga therapy and trauma sensitive yoga here in our clinic, and our studio will be set up as an ideal environment for these highly personal, individual sessions with our lovely Brenna Jacobson. As great as our art studio and private offices are, they aren’t ideal for this kind of work so we’re creating what is needed to serve our clients better.
What about yoga classes you might ask? Well, we’re going to have those too. But they’re going to be different. We’ll be focusing on small class sizes, because we hear time and time again that the size of classes is overwhelming for people. We’re going to focus on specific topics and build customized yoga programs to suit. I’m not going to let the cat out of the bag completely, but we’re going to start with kids, prenatal yoga, and Hatha Yoga 101 for Beginners. Coming down the pipe are things like yoga for anxiety, chronic pain, and much more. But one thing at a time! Stay tuned to our website and social media for all the details!
We also wanted to bring the outdoors into the studio. So, as always, we’re working with the fabulous Tyler Garnham, and we’ve found an image local to South Delta that will be installed in our studio, filling up the entire north wall. This will give us, and our clients a feeling of space, and connection to our local surroundings even while inside. I can’t wait, it’s going to be amazing!
Occupational Therapy
We love our OT, Kristin Beare, but she’s busy tending to her own kid right now. Our yoga studio is going to do a little bit of double duty and be a space for our OT to work with clients. The larger space will give much more freedom for mobility-related concerns, sensory work, and so much more! We’re also building customized storage into the new wing so that we have more tools at our fingertips. She’ll be back later on this year, and I can’t wait to see what she does with the new space with her clients. Stay tuned!
Clinical Office
Ok, this isn’t super exciting to you maybe, but it’s exciting to me. We’re building a new office that is set up more ideally for neurofeedback for clients, and for our Neurofeedback guru, Jonathan Wieser. Our other offices have worked fine, but this is going to be better. It will also be used by other counsellors, which gives us more available office space and flexible times for clinicians so that we can be more available to you as we expand! Growth is good, and we’re growing our hours to serve you better!
Group Therapy
So, the studio is also going to be used for group therapy. We already run a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) group, but we’re expanding our group therapy offerings. Between our art studio where we do our DBT, and the new group room in the yoga studio I’m pretty sure we’re going to have the coolest group therapy spaces around. Why is this important? Because I hear all the time how much our clients appreciate being in creative, beautiful spaces while they’re in our care. It makes a difference! I can’t yet reveal the new groups we’re going to be running, but we’ll be using the new space for our Adult DBT Group, Youth & Family DBT Group, and soon enough, some others!
This is awesome, so when do we get to see the new spaces and use them?
You’re not going to have to wait long! We’re opening March 1st, and our individual yoga clients will get to use the space right away, as will our neurofeedback and counselling clients. Stay tuned, because we’re opening things up throughout March for Kids Yoga over Spring Break, and following that up with Prenatal Yoga and Hatha Yoga 101 for Beginnings toward the end of March and into April.
I hope you’re excited because we are! We can’t wait to show you the new spaces, and more importantly, be even better equipped to serve you well. South Delta is our home, and we’re growing thanks to your help! Whether you’re in Ladner, Tsawwassen, North Delta, or beyond, please come check out our new digs and see what we have to offer. We’d love to meet you!
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