In our clothing room we are in need of gently used or new shoes at the moment. With the constantly changing weather it is important individuals have warm and dry shoes. Please drop off donations any time at our client entry door at 203 15 Ave SE. Thank you!
We were thrilled to have Dwight Dorey, National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples come to Alpha House and speak to some of our detox and housing clients. The conversation ranged from life on reserves, to Urban Aboriginals and the issues they face experiencing homelessness. One client shared the concern around the increase in Crystal Meth use among the younger Urban Aboriginals. Congress of Aboriginal Peoples advocate for the interests of Aboriginal Peoples living off-reserve since 1971 for Status and Non-Status, Metis and Southern Inuit of Labrador. Check out the Calgary Herald article to learn about his talk he gave while in Calgary.
We had our 6th Annual Alpha House Housing Christmas Party this week for all our housing clients. It was great to have over 150 people attend the Turkey dinner and see the community that has been created. Thank you to those who helped with gifts for all the guests.
Thanks to our friends from Cummins Western Canada who decorated Alpha House for the Season on Dec 6th!
We got a great invite to come speak at the 70th Social Media Breakfast today and decided to take the opportunity to promote that the DOAP Team could really use a new van. So we came up with the hashtag #wheels4doap to try to push the message out to as many people as possible. Make sure you join us on twitter @alphahouseyyc.
We were pleased to be able to connect with CBC Calgary and share about our Encampment Team, our housing program and share a common story in terms of how housing really benefits people experiencing homelessness. Duane was certainly kind enough to share his story.
The RESOLVE Campaign will help Alpha House raise funds for affordable housing for vulnerable females. You can be a part of this initiative that will change the face of Calgary’s street. We plan to build a new apartment building for up to 30 women who have experienced addiction and long-term or frequent homelessness. Learn more here.
We’re marking National Addictions Awareness Week (November 16-22) with our annual open house and retrospective of 10 years of the DOAP Team. It is important to talk and normalize addictions since it affects individuals, families and communities. Learn more about NAAWCanada and check out their tool kit. The hashtag for National Addictions Awareness Week is #NAAWCanada in English and #SNSTCanada in French.
She’s been battling her addiction to narcotics for the last three years but isn’t ready to seek treatment, fearing she’ll lose her kids.
A.M. — who requested to have her name withheld — is among many women in Calgary who are addicted to prescription drugs, but are too afraid to seek help and too busy for three-month group therapy sessions, according to Melissa Molloy, who’s with program development at the Recovery Acres Society’s 1835 house.
As a result, the clinic plans to roll out the Women’s Co-occuring Disorder Outpatient Program to treat women who suffer from mental illness and substance abuse.
The program will be the first of its kind in the city, where both psychology and substance abuse specialists will be readily available to patients, said Dr. John Streukens, who helped the society develop its two-week intensive treatment program.