Alberta Health Services (AHS) wants residents to put their mental health in the spotlight, by addressing four key areas.
Through a series of free workshops, Addiction and Mental Health Services staff with AHS are hoping to help locals learn a little bit more about anxiety, depression, healthy relationships, and managing difficult emotions.
“The beautiful thing about these workshops, is it’s a partnership between our mental health and addictions partners. Within that information, we add some addictions components and how depression and alcohol can be related for example,” explained Reggie Jackson, manager with the local Addiction and Mental Health Services. “We are going to provide them with that information and then helpful skills and abilities in order to be able to manage some of those pieces.”
Starting May 10, the AHS mental health information sessions will be every second Thursday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., cycling through four different topics over an eight week period.
They will be starting their sessions off focusing on depression. This workshop will provide insight on the basics of depression including symptoms and coping skills.
They’re hoping residents taking part in the anxiety information workshop will walk away with further knowledge on identifying the mental illness and dealing with symptoms through practice approaches.
The healthy relationships session will aim to improving communication skills and boundary setting, with the final topic, managing difficult emotions, helping individuals learn basic strategies around emotional awareness and healthy expression.
Unlike therapy sessions that are one-to-one, workshops promote partners, family members, and supports attendance.
“The more people are aware of what these things are, they either get what they need out of that, or they understand ‘hey, I’m actually struggling more than I realized,’” explained Jackson. “At least there we’re having these open conversations to engage people so they get a good awareness and some next steps in terms of where they need to go.”
The workshops are open to the public, and will be held in the boardroom at the Bonnyville Addictions Office located on the second floor of the Bonnyville Provincial Building.
“It’s learning. It’s recognizing and understanding. For us, it’s removing stigma as well. We want an open format that people can attend. It’s based on that environment where people can come and just learn,” Jackson stressed. “We want people to engage, learn, and understand. I think that’s a huge aspect of reducing stigma around mental health.”
AHS is asking anyone interested to register by calling 780-826-2404 or 780-826-8054 for more information.
