Annual Report 2021

Despite the lack of in-person interaction, CCC continued to have a strong and supportive community presence in 2021. In a year of unpredictability, we knew we needed to be a solid support and resource for our community, sharing our knowledge and helping to build the resiliency we all needed to get through our common challenges.

Here are some of the ways we showed up for our community in 2021:

• Calgary Counselling Centre is a member of The Emergency Wellness Response Team (EWRT) which is a formal collaborative of organizations that work with the City of Calgary to provide psychosocial wellness to support individuals impacted by an emergency or disaster. COVID-19 presented a new opportunity for EWRT to work together as a community to respond to new and increased demands for services across the City of Calgary.
• We became members of Gateway Partner Portal, a new collaboration among organizations to better serve and support newcomers who choose to make Alberta their new home. Gateway is a fast and efficient centralized referral service.
• CCC began working with several committees including: the City’s Expanding Community Capacity Subgroup, Alberta Health Services’ Virtual Care Group, and Post-Pandemic Steering Committee. Through these committees, we helped with the creation of a COVID plan to work more collaboratively among mental health providers including Alberta Health Services and others working in mental health to streamline referral and transitioning services for people struggling with mental health and addiction challenges.
• In February, we provided a 3-hour workshop to 199 Calgary Board of Education participants entitled “Anxiety, I Am Not Playing Your Game”, aimed at assisting teachers develop ways to help their students overcome anxiety and manage the challenges of daily living.
• During our 15th annual National Depression Screening Day (NDSD) initiative which took place from October 4 to 10, 2021, we encouraged our community to check in with their mental health and take small, manageable steps to feel better. During this week, CCC offered a free, anonymous, online questionnaire for anyone to check-in with their mental health. The online tool developed by the Harvard Department of Psychiatry and adopted by Calgary Counselling Centre, screens for symptoms of depression. Referrals and resources are provided at the end of the questionnaire. In 2021, 10,248 people worldwide took the test with 6,295 participants from Calgary. More information about this initiative can be found in the 2021 NDSD summary report.