A woman seated on a dock by Okanagan lake

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Taegan Penner is an individual whose life has been a crusade of caring: She wants to help people. That desire influenced her to become a registered nurse and eventually enter the field of mental health. While working as a nurse in the Central Okanagan, Taegan found that more options were needed for individuals in Vernon seeking mental health assistance outside of existing mental health agencies.

Now Offering New Mental Health Care Options

Her insight eventually led Taegan to seek a solution to that challenge. Taegan envisioned a way of offering personalized mental health services — or life care plans — but in less conventional ways. Essentially, she saw the benefit of establishing and building therapeutic recovery through recreation. Fast-forward to today, and Taegan's concept has taken shape. Her new company in Vernon is called From the Ashes, and as the name implies, Taegan is helping clients forge a way forward starting from the ground up.

Taegan Penner

Image Credit: From The Ashes Mental Health

From the Ashes Mental Health Services is a registered nurse-run practice that provides mental health support to clients in Vernon, Lumby, and Armstrong. Her approach to care is highly personalized; Taegan offers what many people were seeking: an adaptable care plan. Taegan's technique is still traditional: she approaches mental health through a trauma-informed lens. She adheres to proven care methods — but is open to how and where that happens.

Using Recreation To Assist Healing

Taegan says that putting her client's well-being first means being adaptable to where support happens. "I firmly believe in the importance of establishing therapeutic rapport through recreation," Taegan says.

"This provides the ability to incorporate many different activities into a client's treatment plan." In other words, no single method of care and no pigeon-holing of treatment methods. Taegan says the treatment plans can still be in-office or virtual. It just means other options are available, too. Hiking, painting, equine therapy, and even kayaking are all viable options for building care plans.

"I welcome individual's ideas on what environment will suit them," Taegan says. "Collaboration is key. If a client knows a way forward that will benefit their progress, that is a starting point."

Communing with animals can be very therapeutic, Taegan believes, and so she loves incorporating animals into client-care plans. Working with animals often returns a sense of balance for people, a level of compassion and caring that is important to re-establishing a healthy balance.

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People From All Walks of Life

So what is the demographic of her client base? "My clients come from all walks of life," Taegan tells me. "From the Ashes offers mental health services to young adults and all ages beyond." Certain needs may require adding in specialist care providers (for child or trauma therapy), so Taegan will assist in helping those individuals access the particular services they need. Otherwise, she is there for anyone who needs help managing the challenges of life.

Private benefit plans typically do not cover Taegan's services (except Veterans Services). Still, Taegan has a solution for that, too. The rates at From the Ashes Mental Health Services exist on a sliding scale. With a no-cost consultation, Taegan works one-on-one with clients to establish a matching care plan. "I want to help people get the services they need," Taegan reiterates. "If adjusting my rates is needed, I am willing to do that."

Taegan continues to work in Kelowna emergency services as a mental health nurse but this new practice with From the Ashes allows her to open the spectrum of support she can offer. Having From the Ashes allows Taegan to find non-typical ways to help. It enables her clients to find more ways to restore balance in everyday life. Sometimes, her clients seek a more long-term support system to get there; others just need short-term help in moving forward. Taegan encourages anyone to call and consult with her in order to find the support they need.

Getting in Touch:
From the Ashes Mental Health Services is based in Vernon and is a unique service for clients from Kelowna to Salmon Arm. To learn more, call Taegan at 250-575-1361 or visit her website.

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