Chris Friesen and Immigrant Services Society of B.C.

mental health programs: Vancouver refugee centre 'first of its kind in the world' Chris Friesen of the Immigrant Services Society of B.C. said the Welcome Centre has mental health programs, and in future it will also have a primary health care clinic. "In this facility we have brought everything that a new immigrant or refugee would require for their first few months in this country," Chris Friesen of ISS of B.C. told On the Coast story producer Vivian Luk, according to CBC. The finishing touches are still being put on parts of the building, and Friesen said that eventually the centre will also have a primary health care clinic and a range of programs specifically for youth, children and women. The facility, which was built by the Immigrant Services Society of B.C., offers English language classes, employment and settlement programs, a mental-health program and more. The centre has residential units with 138 beds for government-sponsored refugees and while each residential unit has a number, it also features a word such as "perseverance." "We've also been very intentional about capturing an emotion or a feeling that an immigrant or a refugee would experience as part of their migration to Canada, and we've named each of the residential units after this," Friesen said. The $24.5 million facility is located near the Commercial-Broadway Sky Train station and the first family expected to arrive by June 12. A view inside one of the suites available for government-assisted refugees in the Welcome Centre. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.