A Real User’s Guide: How Vent Over Tea Uses the Map App for Outreach, Funding, and Collaboration

For Marissa Norton, Executive Director of Vent Over Tea, the CHSSN Map App is more than a directory. It’s a planning tool, a funding ally, and a bridge to new partnerships.

Vent Over Tea offers free, one-on-one active listening sessions to people across Quebec. The organization began in Montreal but has grown rapidly, now operating province-wide with a mix of virtual and in-person supports. As the reach expanded, so did the need for smarter outreach, deeper data, and stronger collaboration.

The Map App helped with all three.

Map outreach by neighbourhood

Vent Over Tea’s mission depends on meeting people where they are, especially those who may not know their service exists. That made the Map App’s neighbourhood-level filters and demographic overlays especially useful.

Marissa and her team used the tool to:

• Explore which boroughs have high numbers of English-speaking residents, newcomers, or seniors
• Identify areas with few mental health supports listed
• Plan outreach efforts and ad campaigns based on gaps in support

“Seeing the borough boundaries laid out like that, and being able to filter services down to that level, gave us a much more focused starting point,” Marissa shared in a recent CHSSN workshop.

This data helped the team refine their Google Ad Grant strategy and target boroughs where their services were most needed but least visible.

Finding new partners through the map

Marissa also used the Map App to identify and connect with other organizations. Some were potential partners, others were part of regional roundtables or local consultation tables that she hadn’t yet joined.

She described the app as “a built-in trust filter.” Because every organization on the map has been added by invitation and reviewed through CHSSN, outreach felt more natural.

When Marissa reached out, she could reference the shared ecosystem they were part of. It turned cold emails into warm conversations.

This helped Vent Over Tea:

• Expand referral networks
• Build new regional relationships
• Join roundtables in new boroughs
• Avoid duplication and align with existing services

Using data to strengthen funding applications

With limited time and a lean team, having access to visual, verifiable data made a difference.

The Map App includes 2021 Census overlays, which Marissa used to support grant proposals and program pitches. Instead of relying on anecdotes or internal stats, she could quickly pull up demographic data about specific regions or populations and download charts to include in applications.

This has helped her team:

• Make a stronger case for why Vent Over Tea’s work is needed
• Match funder priorities with real regional needs
• Save time collecting and formatting external data

Bringing it all together

Vent Over Tea’s story is one of many. But it shows what the Map App can do when users move past the basics and start applying it to their real-world strategy.

Here’s a quick summary of how they use it:

🟢 For outreach
Targeting digital ads and outreach efforts using local demographic data

🟢 For partnerships
Identifying and connecting with trusted organizations by region or service area

🟢 For planning
Locating gaps in services and deciding where to grow next

🟢 For funding
Strengthening grant applications with region-specific data and visual overlays

Want to do the same?

If your organization is listed on the CHSSN Map App but you haven’t explored these features yet, now’s a good time.

Start by:

1. Searching your own borough and seeing who else is there
2. Filtering by service type and looking for gaps or overlaps
3. Adding demographic layers and taking screenshots for your next proposal
4. Reaching out to a neighbouring organization through their contact info

If you need a refresher or a walkthrough, the support team is here to help.

This isn’t just a tool to be used once. It’s a resource you can keep coming back to as your community, your funding, and your programs evolve.