Foundry BC Network Gathering
Keynote: ‘When Relationship is the Prescription’
(closed event)
Foundry represents a powerful response to a call from youth across British Columbia—a call not only for accessible, barrier-free services, but for connection, belonging, and a sense of community. While young people may arrive at Foundry seeking support for specific challenges, beneath these concerns often lies something deeper: an unmet need for connection.
Each youth who walks through Foundry’s doors arrives as an individual, yet each is shaped by a complex web of relationships that have influenced who they are today. Many are navigating a growing relational gap—experiencing disconnection from family, community, and a deeper sense of belonging. At a time when mental health conditions are on the rise, it is increasingly clear that relationship and community are not secondary supports—they are foundational to well-being.
This keynote invites practitioners, leaders, and service providers to shift their lens: to recognize when the relationship itself is the most essential and effective response. While clinical interventions play an important role, they cannot replace the conditions that young people need in order to feel safe, seen, and held in a relationship. Supporting youth today requires the capacity to recognize and respond to the relational gaps that often underlie presenting issues.
Drawing on her work as a member of the Squamish Úxwumixw and founder of Gathering Our Medicine, Dr. Denise Findlay will share how this relational, intercultural, family- and community-centred framework is being taken up within Foundry contexts to fill the relational void many youths experience. This approach supports service delivery that is inclusive, cross-culturally safe, and developmentally and trauma-informed—while focusing on strengthening relationships between youth, service providers, families, and community.
Through story, reflection, and practice-informed insight, participants will be invited to consider how relational approaches can transform the way we understand and respond to youth well-being. This keynote offers both a reframing and a call to action: to recognize, celebrate and prioritize relationships as the foundation of care, and to intentionally cultivate the conditions in which young people can truly thrive—while supporting those who walk alongside them to make a profound and lasting difference.