It’s been a difficult couple of months holding back on this announcement, but I’m excited to announce that we will be expanding to South Surrey and White Rock in January 2018! We have wanted to get into Surrey for a while to bring our services closer to home for some of our clients, and we have found a great space in the Morgan Crossing neighbourhood. For those of you wondering, yes, it’s right next to the shopping centre some of you love!
One of the challenges in expanding is that our goal is not simply to expand and build a brand. If we were a retail shop, expansion may come down to different goals and principles, but we’re not – we’re an integrated health clinic and our goal has always been to embed ourselves in the community, find out what the needs are, and try our best to meet those needs. So, our expansion needs to be intentional, meaningful, and to model after our growth in South Delta. We’ve been searching for the right location to allow us to do this, and I believe we’ve found a great space that will allow us to do exactly what we hope to do again – that is, get to know the community of White Rock and South Surrey, find out what the needs are, and bring those services that the community is asking for.
Thus, we are starting small. We’ve found a great space that our colleague, Dr. Jeff Morley has graciously allowed us to come into. It’s one large room that will allow us to provide individual, couples, and family counselling, neurofeedback, registered dietitian services, as well as bring our Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) group program to the area. Over the next year, I’ll be spending a great deal of time, along with my wife, Meg Neufeld, getting to know the community better and connecting with key partners to figure out the best way to serve the needs of the community.
Now, we have a bit of a head start. I had the privilege of working with White Rock Mental Health at Peace Arch Hospital for a number of years and have been able to build relationships with many of the agencies in the area. Scott McNeil, our associate, worked there as well as did Share Forde, who provides Dialectical Behaviour Therapy with us. There are some great resources already in the area, and we hope that, like in South Delta, our services will help to fill some of the gaps and that we’ll be able to work collaboratively with the community agencies that are already serving in the area.
Who is going to work in the new office, you might wonder? Well, that’s a great question. We’re kind of taking the same approach as we did in South Delta, that is, jumping off the proverbial cliff. I’ll be in the office there on Thursdays, and likely spending much of my Fridays in the community networking. We are working on hiring staff for the office, but as many of you know, we are very careful with who we bring on because we don’t want to simply hire a bunch of staff, we want to hire the right staff. So, we are building as we go. We have one staff hired, some of our South Delta staff will be working there as well, and we’ll be adding more soon. Stay tuned for more announcements on that front!
All this to say, we’re excited to be entering another community that is near and dear to our hearts. We look forward to bringing the same heartfelt, evidence-based, collaborative community care to South Surrey and White Rock that we’ve been providing in South Delta since 2015. We’d love your help! If you’ve benefitted from our services and know people out that way, please help us spread the word! We’re working on revamping our website and updating things, but in the meantime, here’s a google map of our new location, and the address:
208 – 2630 Croydon Drive Surrey, BC V3Z 6T3
Phone number and fax numbers, emails, and everything else remain the same!
We look forward to serving the community in White Rock and South Surrey as we grow out there, and if you are a service provider in the area and would like to connect with us, please give me a call or contact us; and if you know of one we should connect with, please let me know!
DELTA, British Columbia,May 2, 2017— OnApril 8th, 2017, the Rare Finds YVR: Feast for the Senses event took place.$111,000was raised in support of the Rare Disease Foundation in its mission to help Canadians living with rare diseases.Andrew and Meg Neufeld, co-owners of the award-winning health agency,Alongside You, were in attendance.
“Life is full of challenges. Help me understand mine.” – Max
As Andrew and Meg stared at this quote during the gala, it made them ponder the question: How well do we, as Canadians, understand the needs of this crowd that has often been overlooked by the public?
Meg grew up with an identical twin sister with a rare form of dwarfism and profound hearing loss. From an early age, they knew they were rare: 1 of 7 in the world at the time. Through their journey as a family, their father co-founded the Rare Disease Foundation with friends and colleagues and set out to change the course of research and treatment for rare diseases
Throughout their professional lives, Meg and Andrew have been intimately involved in supporting families, many of whom struggle with health conditions, including rare diseases. As pleased as they are to be able to provide support to individuals and families through the health disciplines at Alongside You, they know that the work of the Rare Disease Foundation has the potential to change health outcomes for individuals with rare diseases, and greatly relieve stresses on their families by identifying rare conditions and developing treatments — a chance to impact the individuals and families much earlier on in life and be proactive against many of the stresses these families face.
This is why supporting the Rare Disease Foundation is so important to them — because their awareness of the impact isn’t just professional, it’s family.
In order to participate in the mission of furthering Rare Disease awareness, Alongside You was involved with the Rare Finds Gala in several profound ways. They have donated gift baskets of art supplies and classes at their studio — a safe and comfortable environment for anyone of any age, diagnosis, or ability to experiment with different art mediums. They have also donated a BirkmanAssessment and coaching session package through Immerse Consulting, a subsidiary of Alongside You.
But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Alongside You is also a proud provider of a$3,500Microgrant to the Rare Disease Foundation. The microgrant program provides a small amount of funding($3,500)that must accomplish a specific research goal and directly improve patient care.
“The grant will go to researchers eager to solve problems for today’s patients in just 4 weeks’ time,” according to the Rare Disease Foundation.
This is why Alongside You, as a local business, believes that any small- to medium-sized businesses can make an immediate impact on finding cures for rare diseases. They sincerely hope that their story would encourage fellow small business owners to take action, and provide microgrants to support the wonderful things the Rare Disease Foundation is doing for millions of Canadians affected by rare disorders.
About Rare Disease Foundation
Founded in 2008, the Rare Disease Foundation is a registered charitable organization supporting rare disease research internationally, with a majority of that research taking place inCanada.
Their Vision and Mission is to revolutionize rare disease care through the creation of communities of patients, caregivers, healthcare providers, researchers and supporters working together to transform the lives of those living with rare disease.
About Alongside You
Alongside You is an award-winning, integrated health agency in the heart ofLadner, BC, and they serve a wide range of clientele inLadner,Delta,Vancouver,Richmond,Surrey,Langleyand surrounding areas. They provide accessible health care to anyone in their communities, because people matter.
If you would like more information about what Alongside You is doing in the community, please contactAndrew Neufeldat 604.283.7827 ext. 701,Meg Neufeldat ext. 703, or email them atinfo@alongsideyou.ca.
Furthering our mission to provide excellence in healthcare in Metro Vancouver
Delta, B.C., December 9, 2016: Alongside You is extremely grateful to be recognized by the Delta Chamber of Commerce and Kwantlen Polytechnic University with the Rising Star of the Year award. The Rising Star of the Year is an annual award given to a Delta-based business that has shown significant operational success and growth potential.
Everyone at Alongside You are excited about the award because it validates their business model, and their impact on the community. Co-Founders Andrew Neufeld and Meg Neufeld set out to run an ethical, professional service that filled gaps in the public system and met the needs of the community, and did not discriminate on diagnosis, ability, or financial status.
Alongside You is special because it is not just a business, it is a mission.
Their mission is to provide excellence in healthcare, meet the financial needs of their clients in a compassionate way, and provide a work environment that allows their staff to thrive. Their staff buy into the vision – and this is the reason it works. For Alongside You to provide the care for people that they do, their staff make personal sacrifices alongside them.
What further sets Alongside You apart, is that they have a fund set up called the Step Forward Fund that further subsidizes services for their clients who need some extra help. Alongside You runs events and all proceeds from these events go into the fund. They also have generous members of the community who see the work they are doing and get on board, donating time, and money to help the cause. Everyone at Alongside You is blown away by the community’s involvement in their work as they do not receive any tax benefits for their donations as they are not a non-profit. Everyone at Alongside You pours their heart and soul into the community, and the community has responded and helped them achieve their goal: to do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reasons because it is the right thing to do.
“Our hearts are to reach out to the community, find those that are not being reached by the public or other services and find a way to serve them and meet their needs. Professional, ethical, and effective health care takes not only a commitment on the part of the business owners, but also their staff as well as a community that embraces the services provided. This is our mission at Alongside You, and this has been our experience in our community. We are grateful to be a part of our local community and look forward to many more years of transformational leadership in health care in the Greater Vancouver area.” – Andrew Neufeld, Co-Founder of Alongside You
Jane Philpott, the current Minister of Health in Canada, once stated that innovation would be the key to problems in Canada’s healthcare system. Alongside You believes that by utilizing innovative programs like the Step Forward Fund and establishing the kind of community partnerships they have, health agencies across the Lower Mainland can better serve clients of all backgrounds and people with all kind of needs more effectively and efficiently, filling a gap that needs much attention.
If you would like more information about what Alongside You is doing in the community, please contact Andrew Neufeld at 604.283.7827 ext. 701, Meg Neufeld at ext. 703 or email them at info@alongsideyou.ca.
About Alongside you: Alongside You is an integrated health agency in Ladner. We offer counselling experience that is compassionate and constructive, professional and personable. Our goal is to help you move forward towards a healthy, fulfilling life. Alongside You is recognized by the Delta Chamber of Commerce and Kwantlen Polytechnic University with the Rising Star of the Year award in 2016.
