Mission: Peer support for parents and caregivers of those with a mental health and/or addiction concern.
Goal: to provide support and advocacy for the caregiver and help raise awareness.
Who Is A Caregiver?
A caregiver is anyone who provides care for another person. This could include parents, siblings, teachers, front line workers etc.
Drop-In Support Groups
A trained peer – someone who has “lived experience” in a caregiver role facilitates a group discussion about caring for someone with a mental illness/addiction concern. Parents and caregivers are able to share their experience, find support in the community, learn skills to better care for themselves, ask for help when necessary and learn about the importance of boundaries, and develop connections with others who have similar experiences. It is a safe place to gather for shared stories, education, resources, and support.
One-on-One Peer Support
If you are a parent or caregiver who is supporting someone with a mental health/addiction concern you can speak with a trained peer to talk about your struggles, share your experience, find resources in your community and learn skills to better care for someone. One-on-one peer support is not counselling, but provides support and understanding for those who are for others.
Contact familypeer@woodbuffalo.cmha.ab.ca or call 780-743-1053, to schedule a one-on-one conversation.
Community Education
Caregiver Connections host virtual presentations, attends virtual community events and partners with community organizations to share resources, educate the public on caregiving and help increase awareness of caregiver rights. Agencies, healthcare providers and community members can schedule or attend a community presentation.
Contact familypeer@woodbuffalo.cmha.ab.ca or call 780-743-1053 for more information.
Knowledge Is Power Series
Each month through the Caregiver Connection Program, we are offering a three part Knowledge is Power Series for our community caregivers.
Addiction
The focus of this series is to raise awareness surrounding the power of addiction and discuss the mental and physical stages of addiction. Knowing this information, helps us better understand the struggles those we care for are facing.
Part 1: Thursday, March 18 from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Part 2: Thursday, March 25 from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Part 3: Thursday, April 1st from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Please register by emailing familypeer@woodbuffalo.cmha.ab.ca
Self-Harm
The focus of this series is to raise awareness and understanding of self-harm. We’ll discuss what self-harm is, why individuals engage in self-harming behaviour, who is at risk for self-harming and learn how we can offer our support. Educating ourselves is the first step towards breaking down the stigma, shame and fear that surround the topic of self-harm.
Part 1: Wednesday, April 14 from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Part 2: Wednesday, April 21 from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Part 3: Wednesday, April 28 from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Eating Disorder
The focus of this series is to raise awareness and understanding of eating disorders and discuss what eating disorders are, why and how we develop them. We’ll discuss our role as a caregiver and how we can offer supports to someone who may be living with an eating disorder.
Dates and times TBD. Please contact familypeer@woodbuffalo.cmha.ab.ca for further inquiries.
Caregiver Connections, in partnership with the Government of Alberta and Ministry of Children’s Services, who have develop the peer-to-peer family support program.
Questions? Concerns? Feedback? We’d love to hear from you! Email familypeer@woodbuffalo.cmha.ab.ca