Community Partners

Our community partners include health authorities, mental health and brain injury organizations, Indigenous community organizations, academic collaborators, and local wellness practitioners, all working together to support brain health through education, research, and community engagement. We are continually adding to our list. Please contact us if you think you are a fit and want to join!

🏥 Health System Partners

  • Interior Health Authority
    • Mental Health & Substance Use teams
    • Addiction services
    • Community health programs
    • EPI / early psychosis programming

🧠 Brain & Mental Health Organizations

  • Kamloops Brain Injury Association (KBIA)
    • Brain injury rehabilitation, life skills, and community support
    • 🌐 Website: https://www.kbia.ca
  • Canadian Mental Health Association – Kamloops Branch
  • Alzheimer Society of BC (Kamloops Resource Centre)
  • Foundry Kamloops
  • ASK Wellness Society
  • Interior Health – Kamloops Mental Health & Substance Use Services
    https://www.interiorhealth.ca (search: Kamloops Mental Health & Substance Use Services)
    (central access point for community mental health services in the region)
  • Here to Help (BC mental health & substance use information hub)
    https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca

🪶 Kamloops – Indigenous Community-Led Holistic Wellness & Health Programming

In Kamloops, Indigenous community-led holistic wellness programming is primarily delivered through the Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society, the Urban Aboriginal Health Centre, and regional partnerships with the First Nations Health Authority. These programs integrate mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health through culturally grounded, community-driven care.

🧠 Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society (KAFS)

Holistic wellness: mental, emotional, physical & spiritual health supports

  • 🌐 https://kafs.ca
  • Direct programs include: health services, Elders & cultural supports, addictions counselling, youth and family programming
  • Urban Indigenous health + cultural wellness hub in Kamloops

📌 Example reference: KAFS explicitly centres wellness across mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual domains in its mission and programming

🧠 Urban Aboriginal Health Centre (Kamloops)

Integrated Indigenous primary care + mental health + cultural safety

📌 Includes emphasis on PTSD, trauma, and mental health integration in Indigenous health care delivery

🧠 First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) – BC Regional Indigenous Wellness System

Indigenous-led health system supporting Kamloops region

  • 🌐 https://www.fnha.ca
  • Wellness approach includes mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical balance
  • Partners with TRU and Indigenous communities to co-develop health programming

📌 FNHA explicitly supports holistic “four pillars of wellness” approaches across BC communities

🎓 Academic / Knowledge Partners

  • UBC Okanagan
  • Psychology collaborators (e.g., lifespan development / neurodevelopment expertise)
  • Nursing collaborators (e.g., concussion, addiction, neurdiversity, community health)
  • Science collaborators (e.g., biology, gut-brain expertise)

🌱 Emerging / Event-Based Partners

  • Vision therapy clinics:
    • 🧠 Kamloops Vision Therapy Optometry (KVTO)
      • Now transitioning into Summit Eyecare Centre (as of Jan 2026), but still the same vision therapy program led by:
      • Dr. Tamsyn Sitler (O.D., FOVDRA)
      • They are the vision therapy partner/exhibitor supporting the Mind Matters event and are also presenting the:
        • April 25,2026 🕚 11:00 – Vision Therapy Spotlight Talk
  • Yoga / mindfulness / sound healing practitioners:
    • 🧘‍♀️ Andrea Brassard
      • Role at Mind Matters event: Yoga Nidra & Sound Healing
        • April 25, 2026 (11:20 talk) on Yoga Nidra
      • Background: Certified yoga instructor (RYT), counsellor, and therapist with a focus on trauma-informed and mind-body healing approaches
  • Concussion and sports medicine practitioners:
    • 🧠 Dr. Brock Jaeb (Chiropractor, Summit Chiropractic & Health)
      • Role at Mind Matters event: The Spine and the Brain
        • April 25, 2026 (10:35 talk)
      • Focus: Spine health, nervous system function, and its connection to brain health
  • Cannabis and neuropharmacology education contributors
  • Community wellness practitioners (sleep, stress, neuroplasticity-focused programs)

Thompson Rivers University (TRU) – Brain Health & Wellness Resources