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Our Services
The primary focus of CMHA Moose Jaw, is peer support.
What is Peer Support?
“Peer support is a supportive relationship between people who have a lived experience in common. This support provides both an emotional and social support to others. The commonality may not be in relation to a specific challenge or illness, but rather to the struggle and emotional pain that can accompany the feeling of loss and/or hopelessness due to a mental illness.
We recognize that each person is unique in their experience and path towards recovery. According to Toward Recovery and Well-Being, A Framework for a Mental Health Strategy for Canada, peer support is deep rooted the idea that hope is the starting point from which a journey of recovery must begin. Peer support workers can inspire hope and demonstrate the possibility of recovery. They are valued for their genuineness because they can relate to the challenge and have found their way to recovery. Recovery does not necessarily mean “cure”, but focuses on people recovering a quality of life in their community while striving to look for their strengths and achieve wellness that includes their relationships, their involvement within community, their general wellbeing and a sense of empowerment. It also focuses on health and recovery rather than illness and disability.
Peer support can be provided in both group and one-to-one relationships, and can take place in community groups, clinical settings, and workplaces. This range of accessibility is important since living with a mental health problem or illness, or living with a loved one who has a mental health challenge, influences a person’s day-to-day interactions in their communities, clinics, workplaces and more.
The person who is seeking support is considered a “peer,” not only because of challenges related to mental health, but also due to a past or current connection with the community, clinical setting or workplace.
Regardless of its setting, peer support is considered to have value, either on its own or as a complement to clinical care. For some, peer support may bring all aspects of a person’s journey towards recovery into view. The peer support relationship may be the first step that an individual takes towards recovery, or it may be introduced years into a person’s journey towards wellness. The specifics of a peer support relationship will be a unique experience for each individual”.
Broadly speaking, our peer support programming falls into one of three categories:
One-on-one
Someone who has a goal can meet one-on-one with a peer supporter.
Telephone check-in
This is for isolated people, or people who otherwise can not come to programs, but are seeking support.
Group peer support
Within the group support category, we have several different programs.
Come Together Groups- Through each month, different activities are planned. These activities may change periodically, but typically include: Coffee Groups; Games; Craft/Art; Walks; Creative Writers Group.
OSI (Occupational Stress Injury) Support Group – Varies depending on time of year. Please contact us directly for more information.
For more information about any of the programming offered by CMHA Moose Jaw, please do not hesitate to contact us.
We are pleased to announce we have a new partnership and are working alongside that Peer Support Canada. Recognizing CMHA as a strong national partner with the infrastructure, resources and reach to truly make peer support grow, the Board of Directors of Peer Support Canada has transferred operations to CMHA.
Education
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)
ASIST is a two-day interactive workshop in suicide first-aid. ASIST teaches participants to recognize when someone may be at risk of suicide and work with them to create a plan that will support their immediate safety. Although ASIST is widely used by healthcare providers, participants don’t need any formal training to attend the workshop – ASIST can be learned and used by anyone.
For more information, visit:
https://www.livingworks.net/programs/asist/
The Art of Friendship
In 8 weekly, 90 minute sessions, participants will build skills related to: making new friends, how to deal with conflict, handling responsibility and commitment, managing personal boundaries, values and trust. This course is particularly helpful for people who want to improve their quality of life by learning and practicing the skills needed to develop and keep healthy friendships through peer support and a focus on recovery.
CAPSS (Communications and Problem Solving Skills)
Designed for children in Grade 5, this class helps students learn that they have more than five emotions – with mad and angry being two of them. We talk about how to problem solve and impart that emotions such as anger, are normal. How we react to our emotions, is the element that we have control over.
Grief and Loss
We don’t do a very good job of dealing with the losses we have throughout our life. As a result of unresolved losses, we often get stuck looking backwards at the loss, wishing we could somehow change it; or we start looking forward to try to control the future to make sure it never happens again. This can lead to depression and/or anxiety. This workshop will help you learn to identify when we have had a loss, and how to resolve it.
This is course consists of eight, weekly, ninety minute sessions.
I’m Thumbody
Directed at Grade 2 students, this self esteem program helps students learn that they can be unique, and still be the same as their friends. While not everyone will be good at, or enjoy the same things, we are all good at something. All activities, whether it is sports, music, looking after pets or family members, or anything else, they are all important.
Living Life to the Full
Want to know how to feel happier, more confident and worry less right now? Would you like to learn new ways of dealing with what life throws at you? Living Life to the Full offers you enjoyable and interactive courses that will help you understand your feelings, thoughts and behaviors, and what to do about them.
In 8 fun, friendly 90-minute sessions, Living Life to the Full helps people make a difference in their lives. Each session is moderated by a trained facilitator and includes a booklet, handouts, exercises and discussions.
This course is intended for people with mild to moderate depression and/or anxiety.
Mental Health First Aid
Mental Health First Aid is a two day training course designed to give members of the public the skills to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis. The evidence behind the program demonstrates that it builds mental health literacy,
decreases stigmatizing attitudes, and helps individuals identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness.
Canadian statistics show that one in five Canadians will experience a mental health problem this year. MHFA is an interactive workshop that teaches participants to recognize the signs that a person may be developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis and how to provide initial help and guide the person to appropriate professional resources.
What do Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training participants learn?
The MHFA course does not teach people how to be therapists. It does teach people how to:
- recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health problems;
- provide initial help ; and
- guide a person toward appropriate professional help.
Just as CPR training helps a layperson with no clinical training assist an individual following a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid training helps a layperson assist someone experiencing a mental health crisis, such as suicidal behaviour.
In both situations, the goal is to help support an individual until appropriate professional help is identified. Individuals with Mental Health First Aid certification learn a single action plan that includes assessing risk, respectfully listening to and supporting the individual in crisis, and identifying appropriate professional help and other supports that can be applied in many situations.
Participants are also introduced to risk factors and warning signs for mental health problems. These build their understanding of the impact of illness on individuals and families and allow them to learn about evidence-supported treatment and self-help strategies.
For more information, visit:
http://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.ca
Prairies to Peaks Peer Support Training
Prairies to Peaks Consulting Inc.’s Peer Support Training Course is aligned with Peer Support Accreditation and Certification (Canada) [PSAC], endorsed by Canadian Mental Health Association Calgary (CMHA) and has also been used and recommended by agencies in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Course completion is dependent on successfully passing the course exam.
safeTALK
This 3.5 hour workshop alerts one to warning signs indicating risk of suicide. The workshop emphasizes the importance of recognizing the signs, communicating with the person at risk and getting help or resources for the person at risk.
Download/view information sheet
Straight Talk: Preventing Suicide in Youth
This half-day workshop discusses strategies to strengthen the protective factors of youth at risk of suicide. Straight Talk encompasses the developmental, cognitive, and emotional differences found within this age group. Intervention strategies are explored relevant to the age group range through teaching stories and case studies.
suicideTALK
Ranging from 90 minutes to a half a day, suicideTALK invites all participants—regardless of prior training or experience—to become more aware of suicide prevention opportunities in their community.
Tattered Teddies
Suicidal behaviour in children age 12 or younger is a subject of growing concern for those who work with children. Suicidal thoughts and attempts in children have sometimes been overlooked, denied or ignored. Tattered Teddies is an interactive half-day workshop which examines warning signs in a child and explores intervention strategies through stories and case studies.
For more information about any of the educational programs we offer, including dates, availability and fees, please contact us.