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July 2020, Spruce Grove What’s Happening! The Spruce Grove GSA Society respectfully acknowledges that we are situated in Treaty 6 territory, traditional lands of First Nations and Métis people. What’s Happening! Thank You! How do you thank so many people for helping keep a dream alive? Our entire world has gone through so many changes and our kids have stuck with the GSA, helping out at meetings, planting a garden, picking up garbage around Spruce Grove, and making history by participating in Spruce Grove’s very first Car Pride Parade!!! To our board members, our families, our friends, our community. You have reached out and volunteered, offered to help, fundraised with bottle drives, and you have allowed us to survive! All of this even during a difficult health situation, we rallied together! Thank you! This is exactly what a community GSA is!! We came together as a community. Thank you sincerely. Our regular GSA meeting place has temporarily moved due to the outbreak of Covid 19. We are currently meeting in the green spaces and park locations of Spruce Grove. We are working hard to try and find safe ways for everyone to connect while maintaining all levels of health and safety standards, and ensuring we maintain physical distancing guidelines. We have been advised by St. Andrew’s United Church that the earliest date of reopening their location for use would be the week of September 14th Tentatively, our GSA meetings will be able to be held again in the large meeting hall of St. Andrew’s United Church for September 25th or October 9th! I will be including the PDF letter from St. Andrew’s United Church in our email and on our website so you can follow along with their opening procedures. We always have our liability insurance up to date, and we have a formulated plan in place for our re-entry into the church for the fall for the safety of our GSA youth and all of the other folks who use St. Andrew’s United Church! Here is the link where you can find the most updated information on Alberta’s relaunch strategy and guidelines - https://www.alberta.ca/guidance-documents.aspx#toc-7 Pop up GSAs! We are discontinuing Pop up GSAs and going back to our REGULAR HOURS! We will be open the 2nd and 4th Friday of each month but our location may still change. Our meeting’s will be mostly in Spruce Grove and information will be posted on our website and our social media sites! We will also still continue to meet with youth and adults on a one on one basis and we will continue to hold special events and extra Pop Up’s in addition to our regular GSAs! Everyone including the Adults in our GSA will need to ensure we are healthy! We absolutely still have to do physical distancing & hand sanitizing. Events & Activities! TYE-DYE T-SHIRTS As I mentioned, we will be going back to our REGULAR 2nd and 4th Friday of the Month meeting times, 7-9 pm! To finish off the July let’s do a SUMMER, TYE-DYE SHIRT!!! GSA kids, please email or connect with me through social media what your size of t-shirt is before July 11th this way I have one for you for July 24th! If you would prefer to bring your own shirt that is fine as well! (Please make sure it is a white clean shirt) Let’s make July as COLOURFUL as June! Meet the Tri-Region Bunch! Find out more about the youth workers in the Parkland Area, and what they’re up to this summer! Connect to all of our websites and social media pages through this one handy site! We will also provide you with resources, support, education, fun, games, it’s all up to you! https://parklandcc.ca/community-resources/ Cultural Campfires - Multicultural Heritage Centre 5411-51street Stony Plain AB https://multicentre.org (also available via zoom) July 9, 16, 23, 30 August 6, 13, 27, 30 (via zoom) The campfires run every Thursday starting at 6p.m. and are for the whole family. These events will be in person outdoors at the Multicultural Heritage Centre Physical distancing will be in effect. We recommend masks. Do you live in Alberta? Do you identify as a trans or non-binary youth between ages 14-25? Help guide future policies supports, and services in the province by participating in an interview about your experiences. Participate in person, video chat, or phone. One time, approximately 1-2 hours. To find our more or participate, connect with Dr Kristopher Wells or Dr Teresa Hardy. hardyt22@macewan.ca 780-497-5296 Skipping Stone Check out the AMAZING fun things for teens, young people, and adults. Our Groups. Connection. Community. Support. All our groups are carefully aligned to the needs of our clients. They are facilitated by community members who share lived experiences with participants and are also professionally supported by our counseling team. All groups are online via Zoom! Looking for when your group meets next? Check the calendar for the most updated times and events! Website: https://www.skippingstone.ca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skippingstoneca/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skippingstoneca/ Stony Plain Youth Centre The Stony Plain Youth Centre has gone VIRTUAL! They have created a virtual space where youth are invited to engage in activities and have fun. A schedule is posted each week featuring a variety of opportunities for youth to get involved. Connect with them for activities, prizes and fun! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spyouthcentre/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/spyouthcentre?igshid=16ivlhwry0oml website: https://www.stonyplain.com/en/live/youth-centre.aspx?_mid_=733 email: spyc@shaw.ca phone: 780 968 3846 Taking Care of You Rainbow Masks! We received a donation of 28 custom made reusable cloth Rainbow masks! These are made locally here in Spruce Grove! This is the same fabulous person who made the cloth masks that I have been wearing and washing constantly, and now she is keeping our GSA kids safe as well! These cloth masks are available for our GSA kids if they would like one. They are reversible, so one side is Rainbow, and the other side is plain dark blue. The kids can choose which side they would like to wear. *Please wash in cold water and hang to dry Thank you to My Favourite Blankie for the Donation! We are desperately searching for more Rainbow material so we can have more masks made to actually sell to folks! http://myfavoriteblankie.ca I am slowly distributing the journals for our Spruce Grove GSA kids which I bought for our March GSA. Please email or message me so I can get them to you! Or keep showing up for GSA meetings! Journaling is a fantastic way to improve your mental health it has pretty incredible benefits! It is a powerful way to help unjumble thoughts and emotions. It can also help us deal with stress and challenging life events, and it has been proven to positively impact our physical, mental and emotional well-being. There is no right or wrong way to Journal. Make it special and unique, make it yours! Spruce Grove Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) FCSS is offering preventative mental wellness programs for adults (ages 18+) in Spruce Grove and the surrounding area to help increase their ability to cope during COVID-19 and manage anxiety. Each four-week program will be facilitated virtually by a mental health practitioner from https://www.aspirepsychologicalservices.com through Zoom. Participants will be provided meeting details by email before the program starts. Thriving in Tough Times: Coping during COVID-19 Learn how to thrive despite the difficult and uncertain times we are currently experiencing. Participants will learn practical, hands-on tools that can increase their level of self-care, connection and personal understanding. Participants will also develop a “tough times action plan” to help them thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other challenges they may experience. Tuesdays: July 28, Aug. 4, Aug. 11 and Aug. 18 6:30–7:30 p.m. Registration deadline: Tuesday, July 14, at 4 p.m. Managing Anxiety: Bottom Up and Top Down Different parts of the brain have different functions and they all work together to help us manage the stresses of everyday life. But even still, sometimes we are left struggling to cope. Participants will learn about managing anxiety and explore the difference between immediate/in-grained responses and more conscious responses to stress and anxiety. Once we understand the difference, we can learn a variety of practical coping strategies for managing our response. Thursdays: Aug. 20, Aug. 27, Sept. 3 and Sept. 10 6–8 p.m. Registration deadline: Thursday, Aug. 6, at 4 p.m. In each program, registrants are encouraged to attend all four dates because the information covered builds from week-to-week. It is free to participate. Registration is required; space is limited. To register, visit https://ca.apm.activecommunities.com/cityofsprucegrove/ or call 780-962-7618. Each program can accommodate 15 participants and will require a minimum number of registrants to run. In the event that a program is cancelled, participants will be contacted directly. For more information, please email fcss@sprucegrove.org call 780-962-7618 or visit https://www.sprucegrove.org/government/news/spruce-grove-fcss-offers-free-mental-wellness-programs/ Our Community – Help our GSA grow together! Please help us continue to grow! Please help to stay open and continue to grow by saving your bottles or by making a donation online. We will continue to be a Safe Space where our youth can feel included, respected, and protected. Are you able to help set up a fundraising committee? How can you contribute? Our community is filled with folks with amazing people that care about youth and their surroundings. Our GSA is a Community GSA, help us grow together! Some of the ways you can fabulous: Please Help. Monetary donations, click on the donate button on our website, spend time with us at different events, parades or resource fairs) Contributions of any size will be used to support youth through the purchase of materials that will be used at our meetings, as well as to fund excursions to special events within the community. They will also support the GSA as a whole by helping us with operational expenses. We are a 100% volunteer-run organization; all funds will go to ensuring we can continue to offer services to youth. Please Donate your bottles to the Spruce Grove GSA Society! We will gladly arrange to pick up bottles once a month. This will greatly help out with our fundraising goals! Thank you to the folks who are currently donating to our GSA! Important Phone Numbers Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868 Text CONNECT 686868 kidshelpphone.ca/what-is-kids-help-phone 24-hour, anonymous phone counseling for children and youth, 100% confidential they do not trace calls, they do not have call display, you do not have to tell them your name. You can connect by phone or mobile app, or through the website. RCMP 911 780-962-2222 Spruce Grove 24 hours 780-968-7267 Stony Plain 24 hours Trans lifeline http://www.translifeline.org The Hotline: US: 1-877-565-8860 Canada: 1-877-330-6366 Need to talk? Call! Our peer support hotline is run by and for trans people. 211 Alberta Canadian Mental Health Association-Edmonton https://www.ab.211.ca https://edmonton.cmha.ca 211 (phone) 211(text) 24-hour distress line Resources for Albertans daily needs. When you see someone in distress, you can help before police or emergency services are needed by calling 211 and pressing 3 to dispatch the 24/7 Crisis Diversion Team. MyHealth.Alberta.ca https://myhealth.alberta.ca Health Information and ToolsSpruce Grove GSA Website sprucegrovegsasociety.org On our website you can find all of our information such as dates of our GSA, tips on Safe Spaces, health, recognizing abuse and Resources. Find us on Facebook and Instagram 
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