Drayton Valley included in $2M study of youth in boom-bust oil towns
The town of Drayton Valley will be one of three communities that will be part of a new study looking at how producing oil and gas affects the mental health and well-being of young people.
The five-year study will take into account the resiliency of young people and the systems they interact with, spread over three separate case studies.
Included with Drayton Valley are Cambridge Bay, Nunavut as well as Secunda, South Africa. Researchers will be learning about the biological and psychological resilience of young people, families, communities and even the resilience of environmental systems.
The $2 million study will be headed by Dalhousie University researcher Michael Ungar, who says Drayton Valley was partially chosen because of its innovation and forward thinking plans.