Help Me Heal; How Wraparound Housing and Community Structures Aid Healing

Interfaith Housing invites you to a workshop exploring the Wraparound and COSA models of community care. These approaches create a circle of people around a person (with both professional and natural community members) to support them in addressing major obstacles they face.

Wraparound structures are showing success all across the country in supporting vulnerable people to succeed in getting stronger, healthier, and finding their feet again. They are being used in Edmonton to help youth break from gangs, and prisoners reintegrate when coming out of prison. They’ve been used to help struggling single parents and people with addictions or FASD.

COSA (Circles of Support and Accountability) is a similar kind of structure with proven effectiveness helping people who are sex offenders keep a safe course as they reintegrate in the community.

The work of building circles of care that serve to help a person heal is both simple and complex. Come join us as we learn about these important structures and consider how we can strengthen their use in all manner of settings; reinforcing a person with love, support, accountability, encouragement.

Here is the zoom link for our online participants with live feed beginning at 9:15:

Help Me Heal zoom link 2021

For our in-person attendees, our agenda is as follows:

9:00 – Doors open and registration at Northwest entrance of the ARCA banquet facility (behind the Edmonton Islamic Academy). There will be a smudge hosted by Elder Rose Wabasca available to those interested outside the NW entrance.

The Raging Grannies will also be in attendance and do some singing for us as we get settled.

9:30 – Welcome and land acknowledgement and prayer

9:45 – CRIHI words of introduction and agenda

9:50 – Opening presentation by Wraparound Canada’s Mark Vander Vennen

10:00 – Edmonton Wraparound presentation by Liz Lacika (Edmonton John Howard Society)

10:30 – Refreshments and table displays

10:50 – COSA presentation

11:15 – Table discussion and reflection

11:45 – Closing blessing and Adjournment

Event regulations related to Covid-19:

1. All attendees are asked to wear masks for the duration of the event, unless speaking at the podium. Masks and sanitizer will be available at registration.

2. Tables will be set up to accommodate up to five participants to allow for social distancing during listening and discussion sessions.

3. Unvaccinated attendees are encouraged to join us online via zoom. Proof of vaccination or a recent Covid-19 negative result will need to be shown prior to entry by our in-person guests.

For those who wish to join us online, the link is here: Help Me Heal zoom link 2021

Interfaith Housing is grateful for the donation of the ARCA banquet facility for this event by the Al Rashid Community Association, and for the hospitality of the Edmonton Islamic Academy.