Julia Harrison understands that healing is rarely a linear path. Sometimes, the most potent medicine isn’t a prescription or a clinical intervention—it is a shared cup of coffee, a competitive hand of cards or a simple walk through a local park.
As the program manager of Volunteer Victoria’s Mental Health Visiting and Activity Program, Harrison is in the business of building bridges. She connects those navigating the often-isolating journey of mental health and substance-use recovery back to the vibrant pulse of their community.
“Working here, seeing the difference our organization makes confirms that we are all better off when we can work with and lift up each other,” says Harrison.
“I love being a part of that—seeing the small moments that add up to big differences in people’s lives—including my own.”
A Commitment to Specialized Care
Harrison’s approach to her work is grounded in a deep academic and professional understanding of the complexities of the human mind. Having joined Volunteer Victoria in January of 2022, she brought with her a formidable educational background from the University of Victoria. With a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Psychology and a Master of Science (MSc) in Dual Diagnosis, she possesses a specialized lens for the intersection of mental health and substance use.
“It’s an area that is vitally important to an individual’s and ultimately a society’s success but can be easy to overlook or to assume that it is an area people have to navigate privately—on their own,” she says.
Even as she manages a vital community program, she keeps her eyes on the horizon. She remains fiercely committed to continuing her education, with plans to pursue a PhD in 2026. This drive ensures that the programs she oversees are not just compassionate but informed by the latest research and best practices in the field.
More Than Just a Visit
The Mental Health Visiting and Activity Program is a cornerstone of Volunteer Victoria’s mission. It operates on a simple yet profound premise: matching community volunteers with individuals currently on a mental health or substance-use journey. Many of these clients reside within Island Health’s Mental Health and Substance Use residential services, environments that, while necessary for clinical care, can sometimes feel disconnected from the outside world.
“Volunteers provide companionship and social connection with an aim to reduce isolation and help individuals in our communities feel more connected,” says Harrison.
“Volunteers are central to this program because they provide something that clinical services often can’t: consistent, human connection in everyday life.”
Under Harrison’s leadership, the program emphasizes the ordinary things in life. A volunteer’s day might include attending community events to re-acclimatize clients to social settings, going out for coffee to practice conversation and connection, and playing card games or visiting on a regular basis to build trust.
“Regular visits from a consistent volunteer creates a relaxed, equal relationship with less pressure or stigma, and space for participants to be themselves,” says Harrison.
“Our program focuses heavily on trust and a sense of being valued.”
The Art of the Match
One of the most critical roles is matching the volunteer and the resident. Matches are carefully curated according to compatibility, shared interests, locations and time availability.
“We focus on volunteers meeting clients where they are in their lives and journeys,” says Harrison.
This intentionality benefits the volunteers as much as the residents. For those looking to give back, the program offers a unique vantage point.
“As a volunteer, this is an excellent opportunity to develop an understanding of mental illness and to support someone to achieve their recovery goals,” adds Harrison.
Harrison’s work is about shifting the narrative from patient back to person. Through the Mental Health Visiting and Activity Program, she is proving every day that community integration is not just a goal for the end of recovery—it is a vital part of the recovery process.
With Harrison’s help, Volunteer Victoria is weaving a stronger, more empathetic social fabric—one coffee date and card game at a time.
In 2023 and 2024, Harrison worked on a project supported by an Island Health grant that has helped Victoria-area youth deal with anxiety about climate change and inspired them to learn about local efforts that are making a difference.
“The Eco-Anxiety Project was born out of a recognition that today’s youth were consistently being inundated with distressing information about climate change and environmental crises, often without adequate emotional support or tools to process these realities,” says Harrison.
“There was a consistent storytelling within our youth programming that led us to believe that youth were being told that the climate crisis was their responsibility to fix, and this narrative was contributing to rising feelings of anxiety, helplessness and uncertainty about the future.”
The initiative, called Eco-Anxious Stories and Next Steps, received $50,000 in funding from Island Health’s Resilience and Safety Grant program.
In partnering with the Capital Regional District, University of Victoria and Eco-Anxious Stories, Volunteer Victoria set out to name the feelings associated with climate change, removing their power and replacing those feelings with real-life action and understanding. Through a series of workshops, field trips and storytelling, the project provided a toolkit to youth to navigate this heavy topic.
“We didn’t want to focus on the negatives (of climate change),” says Harrison. “We wanted to say, ‘Okay, we’ve recognized that and we’ve done the research. Now who can we bring in to teach these youth how to harness the positive emotions surrounding it, and what can we use to tell their stories in a more positive way?’”
While this project is complete, Volunteer Victoria has applied for other grants in the hope of continuing to support young people who are dealing with eco-anxiety and eager for climate action.
“It has been truly incredible and encouraging to watch youth harness their eco-anxiety and turn it into something productive, to turn it into a storytelling tool that is positive and isn’t overshadowed by dread and doom,” says Harrison.
“I’m particularly proud of this project allowing youth to talk about their anxieties surrounding the status of our environment without feeling as though their generation is ‘in charge’ of making these changes and ‘changing the outcome.’”
Learn more at ecoanxious.ca.
