October 25, 2022 meeting
Pearl Lorentzen
Lakeside Leader
Interagency is made up of helping groups, societies, and service providers in Slave Lake.
AHS Addictions and Mental Health
Slave Lake has an AHS Addictions and Mental Health office. It offers one-on-one mental health and addictions counselling, including walk-ins on Tuesdays from 1 to 3 p.m. It has a lending library of mental health books, and a variety of pamphlets and booklets people can have. To book an appointment, call 1-888-594-0211 for a 30 to 45 minute phone interview by a mental health professional to help refer people to the correct service. This number is manned Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Any other time, people can call 1-877-303-2642 which is the Addictions and Mental Health Helpline.
The Slave Lake office also offers mental health information sessions – some in-person or on Zoom out of the local office. Others are on Zoom for either the full AHS North Zone or province. One of the new ones is ‘AHS Speaks: Close Connections’, which is a suicide prevention workshop for community members. It takes four to five hours.
People can also pick up Naloxone kits (to counteract a drug overdose) at Slave Lake AHS Addictions and Mental Health office.
The closest in-patient substance detox and rehabilitation centre and Opioid Dependency Program are in High Prairie. Similar intensive outpatient resources are available online out of the Fort McMurray office.
Town of Slave Lake
Men’s Anger Education is November 4 to 6. There is space available. To register contact FCSS@slavelake.ca.
Roots of Empathy, Family Fun Nights, and Y.E.S (Youth Events Slave Lake) are all programs run out of the Family and Community Support Service office in Slave Lake.
The Northern Lights Aquatic Centre is open and has space in its swimming lessons. The Friday before Halloween it held a swim-in movie night.
The Multi Rec Centre is hiring. It has PD Day Camps and various drop-in physical activity programs.
The Legacy Centre is booked every weekend until Christmas.
Rupertsland Institute
Rupertsland offers education support to Métis people. Nov. 17, there is a career event for people 15 to 18 in Edmonton, some transportation costs can be covered. There is a program where Rupertsland pays local companies some of the costs for Métis apprentices. There is also post-secondary support for Métis people.
KidSport
KidSport helps people pay for the costs of their children being involved in a sport or other physical activity. So far this year, the Slave Lake branch has funded 29 athletes. During Frost Fest (February 11 to 20), KidSport is organizing a Winter Run, details are TBA.
Rotary Club of Slave Lake
The Rotary Club is starting an Interact Club, which is a youth version for people in Grade 7 to 12. Like adult rotarians, the young people do fundraising and go to conferences. They also have the option of doing a student exchange.
Slave Lake Library
November 1 and 2 the library has Day of the Dead events all day.
There are two new programs in November: Social Butterfly and Cultural Diversity. Social Butterfly is Nov. 9 and 23 from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. This includes dance, music, or puppets and is open to all ages. Cultural Diversity is for all ages. A person will bring some food and stories from their culture. It is Nov. 17 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. This will be a recurring event.
The library has other weekly and monthly events for various ages.
Northern Haven Support Society
November is Family Violence Prevention Month. The first week purple ribbons will be put up on light posts on Main St. in Slave Lake. That week NHSS Outreach information booth will be in the lobby outside of the Slave Lake Library. It will be in other locations later in the month.
November 2 from 2 to 3p.m. NHSS has a resumé workshop.
November 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. NHSS has an open house at the Legacy Centre.
Nov. 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. NHSS is offering Basic Mechanics for women. It is full, but people can register for the wait-list. To register for workshops, contact 587-516-0543 or northernhavenoutreach@hotmail.com.
NHSS runs the emergency women’s shelter in Slave Lake, teaches about ways to stop family violence, and supports women and men (and their children) living in the community escaping family violence. For support leaving an abusive relationship use the NHSS crisis line at 1-877-214-4418.
Addiction Awareness Week
November 20 to 26 is Addictions Awareness Week. High Prairie School Division wellness coaches will be doing some presentations in the schools. Sometime the week of December 6 an interactive, traveling exhibit will be coming to Slave Lake called “Addictions Don’t Discriminate.” The details are still being ironed out.
Community Futures
October 31 Community Futures and the Slave Lake and District Chamber of Commerce held Mini Monster Halloween. Around 20 Local businesses had candy for small kids to trick-or-treat during the day.
Lemonade Day participants will have hot chocolate stands as part of Moonlight Madness/Light Up Slave Lake which is Nov. 25 to 26. This includes a Christmas market and will likely include a parade on Friday night.
Children’s Resource Council
‘Baby and Me’ is the second and fourth Wednesday of the month from 10 to 11 a.m. at the MRC.
Every Tuesdays, Early Childhood Play and Learn starts at 10 a.m. at the MRC. It is for families with children under 6 years of age. CRC also offers Triple P Parenting for two age groups: teens and younger children.
A youth group for 12 to 18 year olds starts in November. It will be Tuesdays from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
Registration is required for all CRC programs. To register contact, Christine Boisvert at 587-516-6675 or c.boisvert-crc@telus.net.
Lesser Slave Lake Homeless Coalition
The Homeless Coalition is working toward having a Temporary Mat Program for people to sleep out of the cold from November to April in Slave Lake.
“This is not our permanent solution,” said Edith MacKenzie. The board has other ideas, but needs community support. There will be monthly public presentations. The first one was Oct. 25 in the evening.
For more information on the coalition contact Jacki Freamo, the executive director, at 780-843-5144 or executive.director@slhcs.ca.
Slave Lake and Area Mental Health Network (SLAM)
SLAM has started a C.A.R.E. group which meets weekly for six weeks. There are plans to start more of these small groups in January. Details are TBA.
The next SLAM meeting is Nov. 2 from 5:15 to 6:45 p.m. in the Town of Slave Lake board room. The focus is on grief. Everett Samuelson with GriefShare will do a presentation. At 6 p.m. the group will go to the Day of the Dead presentation at the library. People can just stop by or email slavelakementalhealth@gmail.com for more information.
Next meeting
The next Interagency meeting is November 29 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Town of Slave Lake office in the Sawridge Room. For information on Interagency, contact Darcy Comeau at FCSS@slavelake.ca.
