Local news delivered daily to your email inbox. Subscribe for FREE to the rdnewsNOW newsletter.

Caregiver Connections Drop-In Support Group kicks off in Red Deer next week

Sep 9, 2017 | 7:00 AM

A province-wide initiative kicks off in Red Deer next week aimed at addressing needs identified by Alberta Human Services, specifically Child and Family Services.

“[It is meant] to provide some support to families, parents, or primary caregivers of youth and children who are involved in the mental health system or have been identified as having some mental health concerns,” said Trish McAllister-Hall, Executive Director with Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Central Alberta.

McAllister-Hall said the end goal is to ensure people feel less disconnected or alone in some of their challenges, and that they feel connected and supported as part of their community.

“We know that whether it’s your own mental illness or dealing with a family member is can be a really isolating experience.”

The drop-in support group provides peer support to families and caregivers who may just need to connect with another family to see how they are coping or what strategies they are utilizing in their own homes.

“It’s also just to have a safe space to come to talk about what is going on for their child and their concerns and get some support for that.”

McAllister-Hall said that when family members get support for their situation and what their worries and concerns are that it helps the person living with mental illness immensely.

The timing of the initiative is perfect, as World Suicide Awareness Day falls on September 10th.

“If we look upstream at what some of the preventative things are that can be done, we know research bears out that anything that provides support, connection, breaks down isolation, and allows people to talk about their worries, concerns, talk about thoughts of suicide in a safe place that that provides a measure of prevention.”

Thrilled was an understatement according to McAllister-Hall describing the elation when the province announced the investment to this project.

“It’s so important that families and individuals are getting that support. We talk a lot about mental illness and we have this perception that we automatically need to take people to hospital when they’re not well or when somebody is in crisis.”

She added that it is known that those people then come back out into the community.

“The more we can resource our families and community members and really empower people with their own mental health within their own circles of care, the more we are strengthening our own community and making it a safer place to live with a mental illness and safer from suicide.”

While the Caregiver Connections Drop-in Support Group is meant for youth or children and their families or caregivers, McAllister-Hall said it’s crucial that people know they can contact the CMHA for other needs.

“Just call our staff and chat with them and if it’s not a fit we want to know about that too so we can keep those statistics. We want to offer support and referrals to those folks and hear if the need is out there in the community so we can go back to funders and say maybe it needs to be expanded upon.”

The Caregiver Connections Drop-In Support group meets four times a month. Morning groups meet every 2nd and 4th Tuesday from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. starting September 12. Evening groups meet every 1st and 3rd Tuesday from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. starting on September 19. The meetings take place at the CMHA Learning Annex, First Red Deer Place (ATB Building) at 4911 – 51 Street Suite 404.