Navigation help, from a person

The health system assumes you already know how it works. Our volunteer navigators fill that gap: not medical advice, just a knowledgeable neighbour who helps you figure out where to go and what to ask.

The navigation line is not yet live. We're honest about our zero-day status: the service opens when we have trained navigators, a coordinator, and scheduled shifts, and this page will show the real schedule. Until then, the resource map is open now, and every listing on it was chosen so you can walk in or phone directly.

Navigation is not the same as access. Deductibles, restricted networks, prior authorization, denials, and appeals can leave insured people without affordable care. Read our sourced position paper: Coverage Is Not Access.

What a navigator does

Explains referrals: what a referral means, how long waits typically run, what to do if you hear nothing.
Preps you for appointments: helps you write down your questions and history so a short appointment counts.
Finds the right door: matches your situation to the free and low-barrier services on our map.
Follows up: checks whether you got to the service you needed. That follow-through is the metric we publish.

What a navigator never does

No diagnosis, treatment recommendations, or medication advice, ever, regardless of the navigator's own professional background.
No records about your health kept: we log cases anonymously (topic, outcome, time spent) and nothing that identifies you.
No promise that navigating the process will make inaccessible care affordable, secure coverage, shorten a wait, or reverse a decision. We can help you find and ask at the right door; we cannot make that door open.
No replacement for urgent care: if a conversation reveals something urgent, navigators direct you to your own provider, a community-run clinic from our map, or CMHA Regina's peer programs (306-525-9543). Never to police-linked dispatch.

That distinction matters. A form, referral, review, or appeal is only a meaningful route to care when people can realistically use it and the care on the other side is accessible. We will record where navigation resolves a case and where the barrier remains, instead of counting an explanation or referral as success. Read the evidence and our full position.

How the service runs

Navigation runs like a warm line, borrowing from the volunteer models that actually last: scheduled shifts with a defined scope, a coordinator who owns scheduling and onboarding, and a bounded ask per volunteer, typically one three-hour shift per month. No open-ended marketplace of profiles: that model produces signups, not service.

Volunteer with us

We're building the founding volunteer roster: navigators, resource verifiers, content reviewers (licensed professionals), and one coordinator. To register interest, email us with your background, languages, and rough availability:

Email volunteer interest

Licensed professionals: you'll be asked for your registration number so we can verify standing with your college before any public-facing role. That's policy, not suspicion.