An opportunity to gain more insight and information about family violence will be offered in Rimbey next week.
The Central Alberta Regional Coalition will sponsor a Creating a Vision for Non-Violence Conference to be held Nov. 2 at The Peter Lougheed Community Centre.
The conference will showcase an impressive group of speakers, each armed with a wealth of information about issues relating to family violence.
Speakers include Jan Underwood, who will speak about Family Violence in a Cultural Context
Tad Milmine, will address the issue of bullying with his presentation entitled Bullying Ends Here.
Chelsea Visotto will speak on Family Violence and Addictions and Ronnie Bilestky will address the topic of How to Support Those Dealing with Family Violence.
Patrick Rurka from Rimbey who has offered several wellness courses in the community will give a talk on Healthy Relationships & Mindfulness.
This is the fifth annual conference for the coalition that got its start in February, 2014.
At that time the Parent Support & Resource Centre Coordinator and Youth Services Coordinator staff from Sylvan Lake FCSS travelled to Innisfail to attend a meeting hosted by Innisfail’s Community Facilitator regarding Family Violence and Bullying in Innisfail.
At the meeting it was decided it would be beneficial to have a regional family violence coalition.
On Nov. 4, 2014 the first Creating a Vision for Non Violence conference was held with overwhelming support.meet with other violence prevention groups including the Vision for Non-Violence group.
Today there are several communities involved in the coalition including Blackfalds, Benalto, Bentley, Bowden, Caroline, Clive, Delburne, Eckville, Elnora, Innisfail, Lacombe, Penhold, Rocky Mountain House, Stettler and Rimbey.
Each communities offers Centres for Positive Relationships where information on violence and other related issues is available.
The goal of these centres are to create a common language, consistent information, continuity of resources, referral supports, shared Coalition Resource Bank, awareness promotion, and to alleviate the stigma associated with family violence and bullying.
The centres also provide long-term, preventative and sustainable supports by becoming part of the fabric of each community
The mission statement of the regional coalition is “Our collective action will create awareness and educational opportunities to build strong, safe, healthy resilient communities.
Tickets are also available at Stationary, Stories and Sounds in Rimbey.
For answers to questions about the conference call 1-403-843-3490.