COLD LAKE - With 1,170 people served in Cold Lake in 2022, Cold Lake Victim Services continues to be a valuable and much-used tool for those who need support following a traumatic event.
Dave Zimmerman with Cold Lake Victim Services was at the April 11 City of Cold Lake meeting, offering an update on the work being done.
“I believe our program is one of the most successful victim services units in Alberta," said Zimmerman. He credited the success to many strong community partnerships.
One thing that Zimmerman believes the Cold Lake Victim Services does very well is preparing victims for court. The unit has a great relationship with the Crown prosecutors who work out of St. Paul, and there is one Crown prosecutor living in Cold Lake and another in Bonnyville at the moment. Having person-to-person meetings has been really helpful, he noted, and there has been some really positive feedback from clients.
“There’s a huge increase of our mental health files,” said Zimmerman. Victim Services has been helping people with emergency protection orders, along with helping people with "Form 8s" which is a mental health form a parent can do if they are worried about an adult child who may have some mental health concerns, for example. Zimmerman also spoke briefly about PCHAD, which is protecting children against drugs.
This year, there have already been a lot of mental health files also, and Victim Services does work with the RPACT team out of St. Paul that includes an RCMP officer and mental health therapist.
Zimmerman has been involved with Victim Services for over 30 years, and 16 of those years have been in Cold Lake. He acknowledged that there has been talk that Victim Services will change, as per changes coming from the provincial government. He noted that while he is aware there is a redesign coming, information about exactly how that will look won't be available until after the provincial election.
As far as he knows, instead of separate units, a zone concept will be used.
"There’s going to be changes,” he said, but for now, it is "business as usual."
