Reports - Regional: Moose Jaw

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2010/11 Submitted By Donna Bowyer, Program Director

Once again Moose Jaw Branch has undergone change. Donna and Dave were actively involved in a number of activities within the community.

Dave Moore took the lead with regard to the Seniors Mental Health Lens. He worked with local and provincial bodies to have them incorporate this into their planning of programs for seniors. Unfortunately, we found out that there was no longer funding available for the national project, and so it was left to what we could do on our own time and resources. We continue to encourage people to use this lens, but no longer have the national connections for this project.

CMHA Moose Jaw Branch was part of a community initiative to bring an after school program to the South Hill Community. This program was funded through the Community Initiatives Fund and it ran from 2010 to February 2011. Parents found this to be a very valuable program, as we worked at teaching the children self-reliance skills. The first phase of the project was Grade 4 to 6, and the second phase was Grade 1 to 3. Unfortunately, we only had funding until the end of February. We may relook at this model in the future, but for now we are not looking at further funding.

CMHA Moose Jaw Branch continues to partner with the program for multicultural youth. This partnership includes the Multicultural Council, the Prairie South School Division, the Holy Trinity School Division, Mental Health and Addiction Services, RIC, and a number of other agencies. This program helps to transition new Canadian students that are aging out of high school or graduating into a career path that is reasonable for them. It may involve post-secondary, ABE, work or other career choices. This program continues to be very successful, although funding is constantly a concern.

The Branch also continues to work with the Asperger Parents in search of funding to provide socialization skills to young adults.

We have been very busy with presentations throughout the community. We presented in four of the high schools this year, as well as a number of elementary schools. In the high schools we did presentations on mental illness, as well as mental health issues. In the elementary schools we did the “I’m Thumbody” presentation (self-esteem for Grade 1-2) and CAPSS (Communication Skills Grade 5-6). We also had the opportunity to take this to the Public and Separate Schools in Swift Current.

CMHA Moose Jaw Branch has also seen a change in staffing. Dave Moore has moved to a new position and Gayle Feist has been hired to assist the Program Director. We have also hired Tiffany Harder to work with the Multicultural Program. We were also fortunate to have had two students from the RPN program, who each spent three weeks working out of the Moose Jaw Branch. This brings some depth to the programs, as we are able to offer more opportunities in the schools.

The “Come Together” program continues to be active. We needed to move it to a new location this year, as the cost of using the church became more than we could afford. We now hold our meetings at the Resource Centre. The group meets once a month, with two birthday meetings each year. We also have some special events such as a summer picnic, Super Bowl party, Grey Cup party, Christmas party, karaoke party and a few others. These are times we all look forward to.

The “Moose Jaw Muse”, our writing group, continues to function very independently. This is a group that is run by the participants with support from some very dedicated community volunteers. Ted Dyck continues to be the advisor to the group and his dedication and expertise are very much appreciated. In the fall they had their first retreat and the participants appreciated the opportunity and the skills they came away with. Another retreat is planned for fall 2011 and we hope to have participation from some other CMHA Branches that have writing groups.

We would also like to express our thanks to the people that look after seeing that our bingos continue. Without their support, I’m not sure we could still be taking advantage of bingos as a source of funding.

Once again, CMHA Moose Jaw Branch looks
forward to the coming year.

Reach us at:

Moose Jaw Branch
Donna Bowyer, Program Director
Room 324 - 650 Couteau Street West
Moose Jaw, SK S6H 5E6
Phone 306 692-4240, Fax 306 693-7479
e-mail cmha.mj@sasktel.net