Community Actions for Health & Wellbeing
As we all know, mental health is an important aspect of our overall well-being. Over the past few years, Manning and its surrounding area have experienced an increasing trend in suicide and suicidal ideation as well as more people seeking mental health resources. But, due to the area’s physical location, sufficient resources, programs and infrastructure are often not readily available.
Born from these issues, and the increasing mental health crisis due to COVID, Community Actions for Health and Well-Being (CAHWB) was created to inspire a community culture that supports people in making healthy choices for their physical and mental well-being.
To do this, CAHWB aims to create:
connections to the organizations, resources and information people need,
connections to others who are dealing with similar situations,
and connections to the greater community around them.
Since its creation in 2020, CAHWB has made some great connections! The first was the “Shout Out” campaign where videos from well-known athletes and musicians (including Edmonton Oilers Captain Connor McDavid) were created specifically for Manning and circulated to raise community spirit.
The video messages were shown at schools and through social media. They were a catalyst in strengthening a feeling of connection in the community again.
CAHWB has also been successful in creating connections through community events. These have included an annual road hockey tournament, a suicide awareness walk, Mental Health Awareness Week and other events where both mental and physical health are in the forefront.
The Road Hockey Tournament allows kids ages 4-18 to have a fun day of ball hockey with their peers. The tournament doubled its attendees in the second year and CAHWB is gearing up for another great tournament in 2023.
The use of social media has been vital to getting communities back on track—especially in COVID times.
CAHWB promotes campaigns for Pink Shirt Day, Movember and many others to encourage people to come together in a virtual space and share resources and photos.
Social media and surveys will also help CAHWB learn what the community needs are in order to advocate for those needs.
A connected community is a healthy community. Feeling like a part of something is great for our mental health, which is also good for our physical health.
CAHWB is working toward a community that is healthy, strong and connected.
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