By Devan Mighton
Break out your early 20’s wardrobe and start practicing your Charleston—Noah’s House is bringing back the Jazz Age with the 2nd Annual Roaring 20’s Charity Gala at St. Clair College’s Centre for the Arts’ Skyline Ballroom on Saturday, May. 6.
In honour of Noah Jay Butcher-Hagell, who lost his battle with mental illness, Noah’s House was founded in 2018 as a stopgap, filling holes in mental health support for individuals aged 11-25 in a non-clinical setting. In May 2020, the not-for-profit, opened their first physical location, known as the Noah’s House Youth Centre, located at 2343 Pillette Rd., in Windsor.
Butcher-Hagell passed away on March 27, 2017 at only 18 years-of-age. With his passing, his friends and family rallied around his death – in an effort to help kids like Noah receive the support they need and deserve.
“Noah’s House is a mental health foundation that provides free mental health services and free one-on-one counselling to youth ages 11-25,” explains Noah’s House public relations manager Ty Lawrence. “We have daily programs such as, art night, Dungeons and Dragons, movie night (popcorn included), karaoke night, Bro Code for Guys, and Self-Love Club for Girls. We partnered with Starbucks, so if someone comes in hungry or thirsty we can provide Starbucks sandwiches, snacks, and water for free.”
At their facility, Noah’s House has a 3-in-1 pool, air hockey, and ping pong table, a Nintendo WII, PlayStation 4, an XBox, Netflix, Crave, Disney+, and a variety of books, games, and puzzles for their visitors. Activities are a youth-led experience where Peer Mentors support their fellow youth.
Peer Mentors are specially trained through Peer Mentor Training and QPR Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper training to ensure that they can handle crisis situations. QPR, which is an acronym for Question, Persuade, Refer, is a program created by the QPR Institute “to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help.” According to the United States Surgeon General’s National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (2001), “a gatekeeper is someone in a position to recognize a crisis and the warning signs that someone may be contemplating suicide.”
Since their inception, Noah’s House has been improving their facility to create a safe space for at-risk youth in our community.
“We have recently finished building a soundproof counselling room in our youth centre,” says Lawrence. “Noah’s House is a safe and inclusive environment with zero judgment for everyone and has zero cost to come to our centre.”
Noah’s House’s mission is to empower and inspire individuals to break free from the chains of mental health, with the vision of a safe, inclusive, non-clinical treatment centre, where no one is turned away, all while helping fill the gap in mental and emotional health support.
Events like May 6’s Roaring 20’s Charity Gala help keep Noah’s House running.
“We are a community funded charity and rely on sponsorships along with
donations from community partners like yourselves, to help keep our
services free-of-charge to the youth in Windsor and Essex County,” states Lawrence.
Tickets for the Roaring 20’s Charity Gala are at a cost of $150 per person, with tables of 10. Attire for the event is 1920’s or formal and doors open at 5:30 p.m. at the Skyline Ballroom, at SCC’s Centre for the Arts, located at 201 Riverside Dr. W in Windsor.
“The funds will go directly into our youth centre to help not only keep our services free of charge but to develop and implement new and existing programs, so we are inclusive to all,” explains Lawrence. “Noah’s House has helped over 350 youth since opening in March 2020, and are working to reach 500 by the end of this year.”
Noah’s House Youth Centre is located at 2343 Pillette Rd. in Windsor and can be reached by phone at (519) 250-9096 and by email at info@noahshouse.ca. More information on Noah’s House and the Roaring 20s Charity Gala can be found at www.NoahsHouse.ca.
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