Our Story

We’re PLEA, an accredited, charitable community services organization that has operated throughout BC for more than 40 years. We deliver residential and non-residential services to children, youth, adults and families facing significant challenges in their lives. We continually adapt our programs to suit each individual’s diverse strengths, needs and circumstances. As a result, we have a strong reputation for helping those we serve to overcome the challenges they face and lead fulfilling lives.

What started as an entrepreneurial passion to change the path of youth who were already interacting with the justice system, has become a full spectrum of social services designed to support participants to avoid, overcome and recover from the most complex of circumstances. Our work now spans child welfare, addictions, health, justice and community living systems. With each new program, service and facility, our team has continued to do what they do best – meet participants where they are at. They use creative solutions to engage and build relationships, support participants to ‘see what’s possible’, and encourage them to take the necessary steps to get there. We have become adept at learning and staying curious. We do this through training, but also by learning about the lives and experiences of those we care for. This creative front-line work is supported by rigor behind the scenes; we have modernized technology, structures, governance, processes, and policies, all of which are founded in evidence-based best practice.

On our team are more than 240 employees, 170 family caregivers, 100 respite workers and 220 volunteers. The number of lives we directly touch every year is counted in the tens of thousands.