History
The story of the Counselling Foundation of Canada begins with one man’s mission to
improve the lives and livelihood of young people, and its inevitable growth into an
organization that helps to promote the work and enhance the impact of community
organizations across Canada.
Frank Lawson was a Toronto businessman and stockbroker who volunteered to become
Chairman of the YMCA’s Counselling Service at the end of World War II, and he
continued to be involved with the service for more than 20 years. At the time of assuming
this position, career counselling was a relatively new idea, but Mr. Lawson was a big
proponent. In fact, between Frank Lawson and the Service’s Director, Gerald Cosgrave,
the two developed and promoted career counselling theory and programs across Canada
in a way that would influence future generations of organizational leaders.
Mr. Lawson believed counselling was a fundamental step to better identifying career paths
for young people. He believed that in understanding a person’s motivations that they
could be guided towards a suitable career for their temperament and respective interests.
He acknowledged three key facets of life in which young people required guidance: they
needed to distinguish the kind of work they could do and enjoy; secondly, many required
the necessary education or training to strengthen their abilities; and, finally, young people
often required help in dealing with negative attitudes that might otherwise hold them back
from pursuing their goals.
It was based on these guiding principles that Mr. Lawson founded the Counselling
Foundation of Canada in 1959, which he directed until his death in 1984. His son Donald
assumed the Chairmanship at this point and established a board of directors that included
both family and non-family members to help grow the Foundation and expand its
influence. What had been one man’s private foundation assumed a broader mandate and
set out to identify projects to which it could dedicate financial support.
Today, the Foundation pursues those same ideals that Frank Lawson initiated decades
ago. The organization continues to bestow grants upon those organizations determined to
have a positive impact on their communities, but especially to those that develop
programs that are models of success that other organizations can readily adopt and
expand.
Staff Leaders
Dr. Gerald Cosgrave – Director, 1959 – 1980
Elizabeth McTavish – Counselling Director, 1975 – 1995
Jean Faulds – Executive Director, 1996 – 2008
Bruce Lawson – Executive Director, 2009 – present
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