P.E.I. LGBTQ community offered free mental health therapy

A new free therapy program for members of P.E.I.'s LGBTQcommunity is getting a lot of attention, even before any advertising campaign starts.

"We've been pleasantly surprised by the response we've gotten from the community," said Alice Curitz, founder and clinical director of Our Landing Place, which is providing the service.

"It's also shown us how dire the need is."

The province will pay for 1,000 clinical therapy hours in a pilot program that will run until the end of March. As a queer-centred therapy collective, Our Landing Place offers what it describes as affirming therapy.

"Affirming therapy is essentially when you can walk into a therapy session and not have to educate your therapist on what it means to be LGBTQ+, to not feel you have to defend certain parts of yourself," said Curitz.

Mental health care can both deal with acute problems and help open doors for people looking to move past a certain point in their lives, said Curitz, such as moving on to a new job.

Our Landing Place will offer group and individual sessions, as well as sessions for couples and families. Sessions will be offered virtually, by video conferencing or telephone.