Our Values

Collaboration

We are committed to working in partnership with other community organizations to provide for the immediate needs of people living with BPD on the continuum of care. We believe in effective team work and are willing to accept feedback.

Hope

We strive to offer a sense of belonging and safety through our initiatives where folks with BPD and their loved ones can build a life worth living. We are committed to nurturing a culture of hope and believe that functional recovery is possible.

Empowerment

We aim to build respectful person-centred relationships and communicate self-determination, choice, and affirmative language. Maintaining a focus on strengths and respecting a person’s inherent worth and dignity. We affirm a belief in a person’s capacity to recover, thrive and lead a meaningful life of their own choosing, free of stigma and discrimination.

Non-Judgement

We are compassionate and sensitive in our approach based on the understanding of people with BPD, we do not turn people away, foster a validating, non-punitive environment, and we avoid labels such as manipulative, attention-seeking, dramatic. We hold participants in high regard, believe in everyone’s capabilities and that people are not intrinsically bad.

Accessibility

We advocate to reduce barriers, red tape, and waiting lists, so all people living with BPD and their loved ones can access the full range of services they need in a timely and effective manner. We recognize the significant impact of people living in rural and remote communities and we aim to address this need. We understand financial hardship can be an obstacle to accessing services and offer affordable programs to meet the needs of the BPD community.

Leadership

We are driven to create change, not only within our BPD community but systemically as a whole. We strive to take the lead on projects, tasks, and initiatives that have not been done before and fill gaps in service. People with lived experience with BPD and their loved ones inform policy and decision making as there is nothing about us without us.

Trust

We recognize that trust is created over time and through relationship building. We are dedicated to openness, honesty, and transparency between our Society and partners, donors, members, and the community at large. Many people living with BPD have been turned away from services or had traumatic experiences with the system and we understand it takes time and rapport to build and repair trust.

Balance

We look to dialectics to lead the way we interact with our community. We are not above people in a hierarchy - we are equals and recognize power balances are present. Balancing change and validation is the foundation of all the work we do.

Competence

We utilize evidence-based practices and research in our work. We embed peer support and recovery-oriented practice into all of our interactions. Dialectical Behavior Therapy informs the work we do. We understand the nature of the illness and that it is treatable. We believe in prevention, early intervention, diagnosis, and treatment for adolescents under 18. We continually engage in professional development to further our knowledge and have the ability to critically self-reflect. We are trauma-informed, culturally-sensitive, and 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusive.

Radical Genuineness

We seek to practice radical genuineness in our interactions which involves us as human and equals rather than treating an individual as a patient, disordered or broken. It means engaging in an authentic manner not taking themselves too seriously or ignoring the obvious. We do not treat our members as fragile, incompetent or like a child. If we’re being radically genuine, we use speech and communication styles to facilitate warmth, flexibility, sincerity, and respect.

Passion  

We are dedicated to the cause of reducing stigma, raising awareness, and creating more treatment for BPD. Our lives have all been touched in some way or another by BPD and believe in the endless possibilities of creating a world where people living with BPD can live a satisfying and fulfilling life.