LloydMall and Lloydminster Region Health Foundation are working together to bring monthly seminars focused on bringing awareness to local resources in the community that can enhance the health of residents.
The seminars will have a wide range of topics with a variety of guests. The first session, on February 4, will be shining a light on local mental health resources with AHS Health Promotions Facilitator Lorelee Marin providing more information on Project Sunrise and the Lloydminster Mental Health Navigation Tool.
“Whenever we talk about mental illness and addiction and raise awareness we actually reduce stigma. That helps to create conversations in community and helps members recognize mental illness or mental health concerns as an important part of our overall well-being and are more likely to reach out for support.”
Marin will be providing attendees with some background behind the project and tool which came out of a community social needs assessment done several years ago. She hopes to highlight resources already in the community included in the mental health navigation tool as well as address any gaps.
“Our region has experienced an epidemic of mental health concerns including a rise of stress-related illnesses. In Alberta, one in five people have a mental health concern or addiction but in Lloydminster our community faces an average in one in three. So we needed to respond to address that concern.”
“Everybody knows someone who has been impacted by an illness and this will empower us to help share our message and increase the use and knowledge of the tool itself. It also allows practitioners to look at the tool and go this is how we can use it or we’re not a part of that and we’d like to be.”
Since the tool launched in September 2019, Marin says they’ve gotten a good amount of feedback from agencies associated with it. An evaluation of the user experience will be done in the coming months to find any improvements.
Residents interested in attending can register on the LloydMall website.