Canadian Mental Health Association - Calgary Region

We know that reaching out for help on your mental health journey is not always easy, but CMHA Calgary is here for you. We want to help you build your strength, resiliency and hope for a meaningful life. 

As a result of COVID-19 we worked quickly to move our Peer Support, Recovery College courses, as well as our Family Support and Suicide Bereavement counselling to virtual delivery. Over the past few months, CMHA Calgary staff have been delivering online courses as an additional channel of support to the community. Please help us support all Calgarians throughout this pandemic.

We want to sincerely thank our larger community and supporters; we could not provide the services Calgary needs without you during this time.

WHAT WE OFFER

Peer Support

Peer Support service provides the opportunity for anyone – individual, family member or professional – the chance to speak with someone who has lived with the experience of mental health or substance use concern. By connecting with our peers, you can make a connection with someone who has lived with the experience, increase engagement and belonging, and move through the recovery journey to develop skills and build resiliency to stay well in the community. 

If you feel the need at all to reach out for support, please do, and leave a message – a friendly voice will phone you back!

Contact our Peer Support team: (403) 297-1402 | peer@cmha.calgary.ab.ca

Counselling Services 

CMHA Calgary offers counselling to family members or friends living and coping with a relative or significant other who is suffering from a mental health issue. We also offer suicide bereavement counselling for those individual survivors, families and couples to develop an enhanced understanding of their own grief process.

If you feel the need at all to reach out for support, please do, and leave a message – a friendly voice will phone you back!

Contact the Counselling team: (403) 297-1708 | counsellingintake@cmha.calgary.ab.ca
 Visit www.communityconnectyyc.ca, where you can book online for our Suicide Bereavement and Family Support Counselling, and other supports. 

Recovery College Classes

Recovery College classes are currently delivered online to continue group education and resiliency skill building.  At Recovery College we use an educational-based approach to help people recognize and develop their own resourcefulness and awareness in order to become experts in their own self-care, make informed choices and do the things that they want to do in life. We will inspire optimism, encourage students to consider their future opportunities, and move towards a culture of personal empowerment and feelings of hope. All of our courses are developed and delivered in partnership with our peer supporters and students who are experts by experience: they have their own personal story of a mental health or substance use concern, or are supporting a loved one. 

Contact the Recovery College team: recovery.college@cmha.calgary.ab.ca

Register for a Recovery College Class

Here’s how the donations make a difference: 

$25 donation provides a peer support session for someone looking to connect based on similar life experiences

$75 donation provides a drop-in session for up to 45 Calgarians to start their mental health journey

$150 donation covers the cost of one virtual suicide bereavement or family counselling session 

$250 donation covers continued co-development for the School of Peer Support to ensure the training remains reflective of the community needs

$500 donation enables a Peer Support Worker and Educator to co-facilitate a course for adults facing mental health concerns

Testimonials:

“These are heavy topics that are sometimes difficult to discuss, and you really opened it up to a place that kids feel comfortable and confident to be a part of these important discussions. As an educator for years, I am thankful to have you come both in person and online to give these meaningful presentations.”             

-Adapted from Teacher feedback following YouthSMART learning sessions

“Thank you so much for your excellent, informative and engaging presentations on mental health and mental illness that you gave to our community. We appreciated your facilitator’s light touch with such a delicate subject. We found your facilitator to be respectful of people’s dignity and appreciated your caution around not diagnosing our friends and family! The depth of your knowledge showed, and we gleaned so much from your training and experience.”   

-Adapted from feedback following an adult learning session

Check out their Youth Smart program HERE.