“He’s a big teddy bear that everyone wants to love and cuddle,” Heinricks says of Timber.
“Pet therapy is most effective through touch. So he wants the kids and staff to touch him, Heinricks says. “If there is a child who is struggling with anxiety, we will connect Timber with that child so they can hug and cuddle.”
Prairie Rose recruited Timber about a year ago to add an extra layer of support for all students and staff.
Many other organizations across the city are doing the same thing, looking for ways to increase support for mental wellness.
At Medicine Hat College, it’s Mental Health Awareness Week and Invisible Disabilities Week. EmJ Neigum-Witzke is the college’s mental health programmer. Neigum-Witzke wants to remind students of the various counseling services available to them.
“We have four counselors on site who offer various ranges of counseling, expertise, bereavement, bereavement, ADHD, a bunch of fantastic specialties,” says Neigum-Witzke.
More recently, the college began working with the Canadian Mental Health Association on a peer support program. Breanne Mellen is the Program Manager at CMHA Medicine Hat.
“So this program, Campus Peer Support, is a collaboration between the Canadian Mental Health Association and Medicine Hat College. It’s really cool. What we do is we take campus peers, that is, students who have experienced mental health issues, and we train them to become supports for others students who might be struggling with their own mental health,” says Mellen.
Mellen mentions that CMHA has also increased its efforts to engage elementary school children, providing them with education on mental health.
“We do a lot of generalized coping skills, emotional awareness, that sort of thing with our little ones,” Mellen says.
Mellen says one in five people in any given year will struggle with a mental health issue, which is why it’s essential that everyone is informed on the subject.
“It’s guaranteed that everyone listening to this right now knows someone or has come into contact with someone who has struggled. Even if we aren’t experiencing mental health issues ourselves, the people we love, our family, our friends, and even the larger community around us may be struggling,” says Mellen.
That’s why organizations and animals in the community strive to provide increased mental health support to Hatters each year.
For more information about Medicine Hat College’s mental wellness assistance, click here.
Emergency and mental health lines:
- Emergency: 911
- Medicine Hat Non-Emergency Line: (4063) 529 8481
- 211 Alberta (call, text or chat): 211
- Health Link: 811
- Addiction Helpline: 1 (866) 332 2322
- Alberta ONE LINE for Sexual Violence: 1 (866) 403 8000
- Bully Line: 1 (877) 352 4497
- Canadian Red Cross Society: 1 (800) 418 1111
- Child abuse reporting line: 1 (800) 387 5437
- Distress Center Crisis Line: 1 (800) 784 2433
- Kids Help Phone: 1 (800) 668 6868 (text line: 686868)
- Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society: (403) 529 1091 (toll free: 1 (800) 661 7949)
- Live chat : www.mhwss.ca
- Text line (7:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.): (587) 850 5885
- Mental Health Helpline: (877) 303 2642
- Talk About Suicide Canada: 1 (833) 456 4566 (text line: 45645)
- Helpline for victims of violence against people in care: 1 (888) 357 9939