LEARNING BETTER TOGETHER
Community Education Service celebrates 15 years of educating parents, professionals on health issues
Joanne Gimson was at a routine vaccination appointment when a leaflet in the clinic caught her attention.
It promoted an upcoming talk on how to parent children with attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity — free of charge.
“My son had just been assessed with ADD,” says Gimson, who attended the session. “I learned there are four different types of ADD. I got to learn management strategies ... it was amazing.”
Since that first presentation eight years ago, the mother of four has become a regular at Community Education Service sessions.
“As a parent, it’s my responsibility to continue to educate myself to be the best parent I can be and CES helps me do that,” says Gimson.
A program within Alberta Health Services, CES enters its 15th year in providing Albertans access to free, topical, evidencebased information sessions and resource materials to address child, youth and family health and mental health needs. Topics cover everything from baby massage and healthy sleep habits to allergies, diabetes, domestic violence, eating disorders and brain development, with the highest demand for information on anxiety and depression.
For CES manager Van McGeein, it’s all about early intervention and prevention.
“The thinking is if we can help educate the public about the fundamentals of good mental health then they are in a better position to look after their own mental health and that of their children,” says McGeein.
Lindsay Hope-Ross adds that the focus on parenting plays a big role.
“That’s part of what we’re trying to do is to bolster parents so that they can work with their kids and not have them go down this continuum where things can get progressively worse,” says Hope-Ross, CES supervisor and a registered psychologist for 18 years.
Since its inception, CES has pro- vided about 2,000 talks to more than 80,000 parents, caregivers, educators and health professionals across central and southern Alberta.
In partnership with many community agencies and organizations such as Hull Services, Calgary Police Service, Calgary Public Library, the school boards, Sinneave Family Foundation, Juno House and more recently the Palix Foundation, the “small but mighty team” runs the show with a cast of front line experts who volunteer their time to the cause of education and health promotion for children and families.
For Dr. Peter Nieman, “it’s a way to pay it forward.”
“It truly gives me pleasure to give hope to people and help them not to be in a place of fear or worry,” says Nieman.
The longtime pediatrician, author, and Calgary Herald columnist has given a number of talks over the past four years ranging from childhood obesity and the role of supplements to the effects of screen time on behaviour.
“I think the value of (CES) is that it starts conversations that otherwise don’t start,” says Nieman who enters his 30th year in pediatrics. “It creates community. Parents who go to a lecture don’t feel alone. There are others who are on the same path. It’s also a place that provides information for families that is credible.”
Eric Perrault is also a big fan of CES. The expert on resiliency in boys and the boy brain has been a regular presenter since the early days of program.
“They really are a community education service,” says Perrault, assistant principal at Alternative High School and an educator for 30 years. “It’s more grassroots, more informal.”
He says the service makes a huge difference in small ways.
“If you’re flying from Vancouver to Tokyo and the flight’s out by two per cent from the start, you’ll end up in Antarctica,” says Perrault. “So a small shift has great impact ... If we reframe how we think about kids off the start, just a little bit, we can keep way more kids out of specialized programs.”
In a session in September, Alberta philanthropist Nancy Mannix of the Palix Foundation is presenting current research on how early childhood trauma impacts brain development.
“I am introducing the ‘ brain story,’ which is a synthesis of what we know from research and science about early brain and child development in a story format, a narrative,” explains Mannix. “This story can help shift and deepen understanding about brain development and close the gap between what we know from science and what we do in policy and practice. CES is an excellent way to virtually share the brain story with this goal in mind.”
It’s subject matter like this that keeps Tara Balicki coming back. She has been attending CES sessions for personal and professional development over the past 10 years.
“I’m an advocate of self-help,” says Balicki, a single mother of a child with special needs. “I think education is key to understanding anything.”
She finds the timely topics address issues she deals with as a special education assistant in a junior high school.
Sarah Williams believes it’s very important — important enough to make the trip from Red Deer to Calgary 50 times in the last two years to attend CES sessions.
“A lot of the sessions apply to me and give me the insight I might not otherwise have,” says the K-8 schoolteacher. “The fact that it’s free has a huge impact on me. If I had to pay for 50 sessions, I’d be broke. It encourages me that much more to keep going so I can educate myself in a whole variety of ways.
“Having these free resources to help people out ... especially in a recession ... it’s absolutely invaluable.”
Unfortunately, she says, it’s a bit of a hidden gem.
McGeein is also surprised by the number of people who aren’t aware of CES but hopes the recent implementation of webinars will help reach more parents across the province.
“We certainly work hard at promotion not that we have a big promotion budget, but we’re active in terms of making sure people are aware of this through community associations, social media, doctors’ offices and our distribution list, "says McGeein.
If we can help educate the public about the fundamentals of good mental health then they are in a better position to look after their own mental health.