Two health-related initiatives in Crossfield will contribute to improving residents’ physical and mental well-being this year.
Crossfield was selected to take part in the Canadian Mental Health Association’s (CMHA) Rural Mental Health Project (RMHP) and the Alberta Healthy Communities Initiative (AHCI).
“Basically, both projects are about moving from what’s wrong to what’s strong – what assets we have, what strengths we have in community members and what we can utilize moving forward,” said Christina Sackett, co-animator for Crossfield’s RMHP and a long-time resident of the town.
According to ruralmentalhealth.ca, the RMHP aims to address the barriers residents of small towns, rural and Indigenous communities in Alberta face with regards to accessing mental health services, education and resources. In order to tackle this issue, Alberta Health is supplying $1.6 million to CMHA over three years to develop a mental health network in 150 rural communities and to create “community mental health road maps and action plans.”
“The project aims to build the capacity of rural communities to consider their communities’ wellness, mental health and mental illness,” the website stated. “By coming together, grassroots coalitions can support community well-being activities that reflect on the assets, values and priorities of the community.”
Sackett said the RMHP will be a boon to Crossfield, as the town currently lacks sufficient mental health-related programs and resources.
“There’s not a lot here, especially for acute cases,” said Sackett, who added her son’s mental health struggles while a teenager led to her wanting to get involved with mental health advocacy.
“Basically, what we’d be looking at in a town of our size is what we can do as citizens, community members and local organizations to improve the health of our community, because we obviously don’t have mental health services and programs here. We need to figure out what we can do on our side to help fill that gap.”
To help carry out the initiative, Sackett said she means to form a team of 10 to 15 Crossfield residents who would make a point of surveying and engaging other groups in the community about the town's mental health needs.
“We really want a diverse voice,” she said. “We want to hear from all the different groups in town – everyone from elementary school kids to seniors, from hockey players to the chamber of commerce, from business owners to families.”
Concurrent to the RMHP, Crossfield will also be taking part in AHCI. Run by Alberta Health Services (AHS), the initiative is focused on encouraging individuals to improve certain health behaviours, such as being more active, avoiding tobacco use and eating a healthier diet.
“It’s about making the healthy choice the easy choice,” Sackett said, adding AHS Health Promotion Facilitator Teree Hokanson will be the lead for that project in Crossfield.
Due to the similarities between AHCI and RMHP, Sackett said she and Hokanson will team up to deliver them simultaneously.
“We decided they’re very similar projects, other than [AHCI’s] main focus is physical health while ours is mental health,” she said. “We decided it would be best to run the projects together so as not to confuse people and to duplicate what we’re doing, because the two fit together very nicely.”
Crossfield residents can learn more about the two health-related initiatives at a virtual public forum, which will be held via Zoom Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. Sackett said she and Hokanson will lead the webinar, which will delve into the two projects’ scopes as well as how residents can get involved.
“There will be community discussion and involvement at the end, with whoever attends, to get some feedback, thoughts and get people thinking,” Sackett said. “Our goal out of that evening would be to let the community know what we’re working on and to find interest in joining the team we’ll be putting together.”
Sackett added participants will have to email [email protected] or [email protected] to acquire the link for the Zoom meeting.
Scott Strasser, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @scottstrasser19
