History Page

Lidkea, Stob, Venema and Associates Family Counselling Services was formed in 1979 as the first private practice counselling service in the Niagara Region. For the past twenty-nine years we have been committed to providing quality professional counselling to the residents and families of Niagara as well as the surrounding area.

Bill Lidkea and John Stob were the first partners/directors and Tom Venema joined them in 1981. All three partners were social workers with many years of experience as well as Masters Degrees in Social Work. Bill Lidkea provided counselling services on a semi retired basis for many years and retired in 2004.

In 1981, Lidkea, Stob, Venema & Associates began working closely with local employers and pioneered the first workplace employee assistance program in Niagara. We currently have E.A.P. contracts with many employers in Niagara from industry, education, business, service and manufacturing sectors.

As demand for our counselling services grew primarily from “word of mouth” referrals and our Employee Assistance Programs, we increased our staffing which enabled us to continue to provide quality professional counselling in a timely fashion. We hired, as associates, counsellors with masters degree, minimum of 5 years experience and those who shared our vision for quality, professional counselling services. Currently we have 10 counselling associates and 1 full time counselor employee.

As demand for counselling services increased over the 29 years we also increased the choice for our clients by offering counselling at several different branch locations throughout Niagara including Beamsville, Welland, Niagara Falls, Ridgeway as well as two locations in St. Catharines. Our main office is located at 126 Niagara Street in St. Catharines.

For the last ten years we have also focused on health and wellness promotion for our workplace Employee Assistance Program as well as for the community at large. Our emphasis is on prevention, education and awareness of home/work life issues. We focus on balance and personal and workplace wellbeing. Please see Health and Wellness section.

Many of our staff are accomplished professional speakers and presenters. Their education and training combined with their many years of professional and personal experience make them an excellent resource for a broad range of groups and audiences.

We are able to tailor presentations to meet the specific needs of your group/audience.

In summary we offer a wide range of services. We remain committed to quality and confidential counselling that is primarily face to face. On an exception basis we will do telephone and/or email counselling appointments

We are very proud of the fact we are a local agency serving local residents.