Dragonfly Centre having a positive impact one year after opening

Oct 27, 2019 | 2:39 PM

It has been a successful first year of helping kids deal with trauma at the Dragonfly Centre in Red Deer.

Operated by The Outreach Centre, the facility opened in September 2018 to much delight because it meant there was one more avenue for aiding youth through often very troubling times.

Program manager Ruby Stones says the play therapy program has seen 53 children, and the Youth Boundaries program for teens aged 14-17 has had 24 go through. The Kid Power program has helped an additional 49 families and 74 children.

“Most of these children are coming from homes where their has been domestic violence, so they have witnessed physical violence as well as emotional, sexual, financial and verbal abuse,” Stones says.

“We are seeing children become much more healthy, more confident and become able to overcome the effects of some of the trauma they have experienced so they can go on to be healthy youths and adults.”

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Reviews from parents and guardians are also overwhelmingly positive, she notes.

“In year two, we’ll be looking to expand our services, and hopefully see more youth and children go through the programs,” Stones says, which is a matter of awareness that the program exists. “We’d like the world to be free of domestic violence, however it is out there, so we would like to be able to provide the assistance to people who are experiencing it.”

The Kid Power and Youth Boundaries programs will continue to run five times annually, as opposed to the four times they ran prior to the Dragonfly Centre opening.

The centre continues to operate with provincial funding, which executive director Barb Barber notes there hasn’t been any word on regarding cuts following the provincial budget’s release last week.

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Dragonfly Centre having a positive impact one year after opening

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