June 27, 2023
Les Vonkeman, on behalf of the Honouring Traditions and Reconciliation Society, lights the fire at a Fireside Connection event hosted in collaboration with Alberta Health Services, the City of Lethbridge and Lethbridge’s Family Centre. Photo by Kelly Morris.
Story & photo by Kelly Morris
LETHBRIDGE — Building trust takes consistency, honesty and transparency. By showing up monthly for vulnerable populations — along with building a welcoming fire where all can gather for conversations and community engagement — Alberta Health Services’ (AHS) staff are forging meaningful connections to remove barriers and open more doors for healthcare and support services.
With the backing of community partners and the Honouring Traditions and Reconciliation Society, Fireside Connections have been taking place monthly in Galt Gardens since last fall, with representatives from AHS — including recreation therapists, addiction counselors, mental health therapists, peer support workers and addiction and recovery workers — on hand to share resources and make immediate connections to healthcare services when asked.
“We've got a little momentum because we've been doing it for a little while now,” says Courtney Peckford, an addictions counselor with the Addiction and Mental Health Outreach community team.
“We know that folks are going to be drawn to the fire, drawn to the group of people who are around to support. And that gives us an opportunity to find out what people need, and how can we help them get that.”
Thanks to the AHS Indigenous Continuum of Addiction and Mental Wellness Grant, the Addiction and Mental Health Outreach Team — in collaboration with the Honouring Traditions and Reconciliation Society — is continuing to make an impact through Fireside Connections and other community outreach events.
“We’re excited to offer a program called Medicine Within,” says Heidi Davis, an outreach recreation therapist with AHS. “We're looking at art and medicine gatherings, ceremony, different teachings with elders, engaging all kinds of facilitators and trying to reach people that are on their recovery journey, considering their recovery journey or through their treatment — and just finding that way of strengthening this spirit.”
Consulting with Elders and the AHS Indigenous Wellness Core, Medicine Within will be created and produced through an Indigenous-advised lens.
“We're so blessed to be able to have that, to be able to guide us and consult on patient care, to help us know how to facilitate our work in a more culturally sensitive way,” adds Davis.
During outreach events, community partners come together to create a welcoming and comforting space for connection, community and healing.
As the fire burst to life at a recent Fireside Connection, Les Vonkeman, with the Honouring Traditions and Reconciliation Society, shared why they’ve partnered with AHS on these events.
“Making connections gives the less-fortunate people who don’t have a voice, possibly the encouragement to have a voice, to make connections, to seek to be better… to move from survival mode into a thriving life. That’s our ultimate goal.”
Samantha First Charger, manager of the AHS’ Indigenous Wellness Core, emphasizes the connections made at these events.
“Both the non-Indigenous and the Indigenous population can be isolated. So with food, with drinks, with storytelling, we build trust and there's a connection,” says First Charger.
“People want to gather. They want to they hear the music and they're intrigued. They're interested. They're curious. And then they're meeting new people, and exposed to new ideas, and to different healthcare professionals.”
By introducing healthcare services in a casual and comfortable setting, physical or mental roadblocks to accessing care can be overcome.
“People who have been looking for certain services, whether mental health or addiction-related, we can get on our phones and make those connections right here in the moment versus trying to find people or wait for them to find the right door to go through,” says Peckford. “This is the right door, right here in the park.”
Outreach events take place throughout the community and are open to all of Lethbridge.
“I just encourage community members and all of the people in our community that might need support or just want a place to come and be with others that care about them to come on down to these events at Galt Gardens that we try to hold on a monthly basis,” says Peckford.
Vonkeman adds: “I know everybody can’t make it, but it would be nice to eventually have support from the whole community, to be able to do this kind of work and support our vulnerable people.”
