The Envision Counselling and Support Centre, with offices in several communities in the Southeast, held their Annual General Meeting on Monday.

As always, their priorities were based on their goals and objectives as an organization.

"We've worked really diligently to try and streamline our mandate so we are fitting in with the government requirements, and being able to serve the communities," stated Executive Director Christa Daku.

"There's a lot of gaps in services that we are aware of in the southeast, and we're definitely exploring that for the future."

She noted that the last year has been a bit of a challenge for them as they have had no increases in funding. However, there is some good news associated with that.

"We've also had no cuts. We've been able to maintain our programming and had the ability to add an intake position which screens all of our referrals which come in. That was really a prevalent need for us over the last year because our councilors are at capacity. We had to streamline that process in order to effectively meet the needs of the communities."

Daku revealed that gazing ahead, they are moving forward with a strategic plan.

"We will probably be looking at expansion again, depending on government funding and whatnot. That's our top priority in the next year."

They receive money through the Ministry of Social Services and the Ministry of Justice, resulting in just over 80 percent of their programs being government funded.

"The other 19 percent is made up of United Way allocations, they wholeheartedly support and have supported us for a number of years," she explained, adding that community and RM donations also assist in making up the latter sum.

"We had a surplus last year due to some invoice income support. We knowingly budgeted for a deficit, however, we effectively managed that over the year and we came in far under what we expected. That was definitely a plus. Kudos to the staff, board, and management for being able to control that deficit meet the needs of everyone involved," she expressed.

"The community's needs are always our number one priority. We have a fantastic board and a phenomenal staff that focuses on a team environment. Being able to meet the requirements of the people that we serve, we keep that at the top of our priority list."