Several months after moving into its new location at the Co-op Mall, Innisfail's Evergreen Parent Link Centre is bustling with activity.
“It's been great. We've had several hundred people through the centre,” said Tracy Davis-McMillan, coordinator for the centre. “Slowly we saw an increase from October, a big increase in November and more new families in December.”
The Evergreen Parent Link Centre officially opened its doors in mid-October and has continued providing a variety of programming for parents and children between the ages of zero and six.
During the past several weeks, there has been positive feedback from many of the parents using the programs and services at the facility, noted Davis-McMillan. One of the more popular programs to date has been the drop-in program, she said.
“We have the drop-in program in the morning and afternoon, and we also have evening and weekend (drop-in) programs that we offer,” she said. “We offer the weekend drop-in twice monthly, every other weekend. The drop-in is a popular program and our evening programs are growing as well.”
She said the centre will also be introducing several new areas of focus and programming, including a new parent education program.
“It's called Circle of Security. It's an attachment-based program and we'll be offering that in 2016,” she added. “It will run once per week for eight weeks and we'll probably offer it three times throughout the year.”
In addition, the Positive Parenting Program known as ‘Triple P' will be offered this year as well, said Davis-McMillan, who recently completed training and certification for the program and is now the program's facilitator.
“The Triple P program investigates children's behaviour and how to correct it,” explained Davis-McMillan. “All of our parent education programs -- Triple P, Circle of Security and Active Parenting, are all parent-based programs.”
The centre offers an abundance of programing opportunities for children to learn and grow, said Davis-McMillan, noting that with new programming on the horizon, 2016 promises to be a busy year ahead.
“We are continuing to adjust and grow based on parents' needs and wants in our new location,” Davis-McMillan concluded.
Anyone wanting more information on Evergreen Parent Link Centre can call 587-679-5861. If families live in Red Deer staff at the agency can be reached at 403-505-2590.
Tracy Davis-McMillan
"We've had several hundred people through the centre. Slowly we saw an increase from October, a big increase in November and more new families in December."
