About US
Bridging With Support aims to subsidize the cost of mental health service support to the LGBTQQ2+ community, Indigenous populations, and people of colour residing within the PEC, Quinte, Hastings, and Lennox/Addington areas.
Those who reach out to Bridging With Support will be able to request financial support in order to access individual counselling services. In future, as our funding increases, we hope to provide access to financial support for couple’s and family therapy.
Bridging With Support was founded by Adam Terpstra, of Prince Edward County, Stephanie Jones of Toronto, and Lili Asghari of Toronto in 2021 with the goal of improving access to mental health services within Adam's home region of PEC and surrounding areas.
OUR Executive Director
Rachel Warner
Executive Director
Rachel was born and raised in Stouffville, Ontario, and moved to Toronto in 2017 after completing her studies at the University of Waterloo. Rachel worked in tech for five years before pursuing a career in psychotherapy. She studied Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy at Wilfrid Laurier University and now works as a Registered Psychotherapist at Church Wellesley Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Rachel began practicing psychotherapy as a Student Clinician with Bridging With Support where she saw first-hand the positive impact affordable counselling had on clients who faced financial barriers to accessing mental health care. She is committed to continuing to help the LGBTQQ2+ community, Indigenous populations, and people of colour access mental health supports. Please consider donating to support this mission!
OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Adam Terpstra
President and Director
Adam Terpstra was born and raised in Prince Edward County and lived briefly in Belleville before moving to Western Canada (i.e., Calgary, Victoria, and Dawson City) from 2002 through 2013, during which time he completed his undergraduate degrees in psychology and secondary education, before returning to the County in 2013 and moving to Toronto in 2015 where he completed a master's degree in counselling and psychotherapy. Since 2016, Adam has been working as a Registered Psychotherapist and Registered Social Worker in his Toronto (www.cwcp.ca) and Picton (www.peccp.ca) counselling and psychotherapy offices.
Coming out as gay in grade 11, Adam is acutely aware of the difficulties members of the LGBTQQ2+ community face both within their immediate family, geographic community, and broader networks of academics, education, and social support. He has also witnessed the vast and varied challenges, discrimination, obstacles, and outright violence Indigenous populations and people of colour experience across Eastern, Central, and Western Canada.
Due to his lived experience and the ever-growing discrimination and violence LGBTQQ2+ community, Indigenous populations, and people of colour continue to face, Adam decided to promote change in a way he could: By seeking to increase access to mental health services and secondary assessments for Canada's most vulnerable populations.
Want to support Adam on this pursuit of change? Click here to make your financial donation today.
Stephanie Jones
Director
Being born and raised in rural Ontario, Stephanie moved to Toronto in 1976 to attend post secondary education at Ryerson and has worked in the Church-Wellesley corridor since the late 1980s. Over the past 30 years, she has witnessed a variety of changes, both positive and negative, while aware of one issue remaining the same: Minority populations continue to experience significant financial barriers to accessing mental health support.
Be part of the change by helping Stephanie build a bridge with support for LGBTQQ2+ community, Indigenous populations, and people of colour to increase access to mental health services. Click here today to strengthen the support. Thank you for caring!
Lili Asghari
Director
Lili Asghari moved to Toronto from Liverpool, England in 2015 to attend Ryerson University where she graduated from the Fashion Design program in 2020.
Experiencing living in two different parts of the world definitely makes the lack of mental health support for LGBTQQ2+ community, Indigenous populations, and people of colour in Canada more noticeable. Even with the short amount of time Lili has lived in Toronto thus far, the challenges these groups face are evident.
BWS seeks to close the gap between the mental health support that minorities get and the one they actually need. The goal will always be to make mental health services more accessible to those who need it the most.
Land Acknowledgement
Bridging With Support operates across Turtle Island, the land we now know as Canada.
We recognize that Indigenous communities experience higher rates of mental health issues and we strive to offer mental health services that are culturally informed and mindful of the specific issues impacting Indigenous communities. We strive to increase accessibility to mental health services through our collaborative work with NIHB / IRS RHSP and our federal charity Bridging With Support.
We acknowledge that many past and current counselling practices have been impacted, influenced, and shaped by colonialism. Through continuing education and supervision from Indigenous leaders in our field, we hope to continue our healing contributions to Indigenous populations of Canada.