OLDS — Like many other things, this year’s edition of The Conversation Has To Happen, an annual conference for people affected by suicide and depression, will look a lot different this year.
Instead of being held in one big room on one day, it will be held from Nov. 16-27 after the 10 a.m. news on local radio stations.
Different speakers will be featured each day.
Included in that group is Emily Webb, who will be representing the local emergency shelter but will be sharing her own a personal story.
Another speaker will be Jody Tomm of Community Addiction and Mental Health in Olds.
And then there’s Michele Langmead of Sundre, a recovered alcoholic and addict. She too is going to speak on her own personal journey.
Lisa Ormann will also address listeners. She and her family lost her son Mitchell, who passed away in 2018 after a long battle with depression.
Bernice Lynn of the town’s age friendly committee will be speaking on depression among seniors.
Also speaking will be Katrina Milaney of the University of Calgary, who studies issues vulnerabilities related to mental health, disability, domestic violence, homelessness, gender and culture.
Other speakers from the province include pastor Colin Millang of the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Hanna.
“He was a farmer out at Lloydminster and he lost the family farm. He had quite a story,” organizer Andrea Hawiuk said during an interview.
Hawiuk conceded it’s weird not to be holding The Conversation Has To Happen the way it used to be held, but it’s a different year, thanks to COVID.
“That’s all we can do this year. I mean, what else can we do,” she said. "I know the people really wanted The Conversation Has To Happen this year.
“We could have skipped it. But we had so many people urging us ‘No, don’t not do it. Do it somehow.' And so this is the only thing we could come up with.”
