Open Space Event Series

Community Conversations for Mental Wellness

The OPEN SPACE Event Series, brought to you by Okanagan Lifestyle and Third Space Charity, is more than a series of events, it’s a movement shaped by our local community, designed to strengthen mental wellness through honest connection.

After a full year of gatherings in 2024, it’s clear: there’s a deep and growing hunger for shared vulnerability, real conversations, and compassionate support. OPEN SPACE offers just that; a space where no façade is required. Come as you are.

The OPEN SPACE Event Series, co-hosted by Okanagan Lifestyle and Third Space Charity, is built up of tri-annually community-driven gatherings designed to support mental wellness through honest conversation, shared experience, and meaningful connection.

What began as a small series of conversations in 2024, has grown into something deeper, a space people return to when they’re craving realness, reflection, and reminder that they’re not alone.

In 2026, OPEN SPACE continues with a grounded, intentional focus on what supports us in being mentally well and ow we can better support one another as individuals and as a community.

Each gathering blends professional insight, lived experience, and collective reflection, creating a space that feels both supportive and empowering.

Expert Panels

Each OPEN SPACE event features a thoughtfully curated panel of local counsellors, mental health professionals, and community advocates. These conversations are rooted in both clinical knowledge and real human experience, offering practical tools, shared stories, and honest insight into navigating mental wellness in everyday life.

Rather than rigid presentations, panels are designed to feel approachable and conversational, meeting people where they are and offering perspectives that resonate long after the evening ends.

Anonymous Audience Engagement

OPEN SPACE is not a lecture, it’s a dialogue.

Using an anonymous engagement platform, attendees are invited to submit questions, reflections, or thoughts in real time. This creates space for deeper honesty, vulnerability, and curiosity, without pressure or expectation to speak publicly.

Whether you choose to participate anonymously, share aloud, or simply listen and absorb, your presence is enough. This is a space where every way of showing up is valid.

Community Connection

In a world full of isolated screens and surface-level conversations, OPEN SPACE brings people together in person. It’s a reminder that community care starts with being in the same room listening, learning, and supporting one another.

The Impact

All OPEN SPACE events raise funds for Third Space Charity’s pay-what-you-can counselling program, helping ensure that local young adults can access mental health support regardless of financial barriers.

To date, OPEN SPACE has welcomed over 600 guests and raised more than $82,000 to support pay-what-you-can counselling in our region. This is community care in action. Every event fuels direct support and programming through Third Space Charity.

By gathering together, we’re not only supporting our own wellbeing, we’re actively contributing to a mentally healthier Okanagan.

Events

Each gathering explores a fresh theme focused on mental wellness and human connection:

  • February 12 – Relationships (GET YOUR FREE TICKET)
  • April 16 – Theme + Tickets TBA 
  • September 24 – Theme + Tickets TBA 

Thanks to the generosity of our community partners and sponsors, OPEN SPACE is offered at NO COST to attend because access to meaningful conversation and mental wellness support should never be a barrier. We kindly ask that you still reserve a ticket in advance to help us plan the evening and honour capacity.

Beyond that, there are no expectations. Come exactly as you are. Listen, reflect, participate, or simply be present. Your presence is enough, and you belong here!