The Snowflake House Respite Foundation has found a new home, which they say will help them put on more activities for the people and families receiving their support.
Snowflake House will be taking up a new office at 5704 50th Avenue. The Foundation says they plan to turn the space in a Learning Centre so that they can put on workshops for the community.
Executive Director Shelly Wieringa says the new space will allow them to enhance their programs in a comfortable environment for users.
“We will have a 19-foot by 34-foot classroom, and so we’ll be able to set it up. Right now, the only place we’re able to have classes where we are is right in the middle of where everything is, so there was no privacy for those classes.”
The organization already has two programs in the works for next month, one being Nine Essential Life Skills, which teaches people about self-love, resilience, having a personal value system and being true to yourself.
The other is a seven-week program called Unstuck: Life After Trauma, which is designed to help victims of childhood abuse and trauma understand what they went through, the biology of stress and triggers and exploring personal safety plans and coping mechanisms.
Wieringa, who also went through abuse growing up, says she will be telling her story of moving from survivor to thriver.
“I think it’s so important that victims know that they’re not alone, that everything their responding and every way they’re responding is normal, and I just feel that if I can stand in front of them, and I can talk about the stuff I’ve been through in my survival process, it makes it easier for people to forgive themselves for some of the mistakes they’ve made, and how to change and accept, then.”
Before moving in, Snowflake House also recently received a large donation from Lloydminster Hyundai manager Ryan Kotlarchuk, bought a great deal of sports equipment for them. Wieringa says this will be good for the centre because they’ve never been able to offer sports activities before, and they now have the room and equipment to do it.
Snowflake House will look to have their new grand opening on September 1st, 2020.