In 2015, after waiting months for an appointment with a campus mental health counsellor and growing increasingly frustrated over the lack of other accessible resources, McGill psychology students Sarah Fennessey and Chloe Chow decided to create a service for those who are struggling and just want to talk to a real person.
The idea of Vent Over Tea is to provide a casual, confidential and non-judgmental outlet for members of the Montreal community who simply want to talk to someone outside their family or social circle.
In 2016, Chloe and Sarah competed in the McGill Dobson Cup and VOT won first place in Social Entrepreneurship. The prize was $10,000 CAD, which allowed Sarah and Chloe to fund outreach and engagement programs. Nimra joined as a co-founder in 2017 after playing a pivotal role in helping VOT take the steps to go from an award winning idea to a full-fledged non-profit.