Greenwood Neighbourhood Place (GNP) is offering information sessions through Alberta Health Services regarding community health to Sundre residents.
This month, there is a series of free sessions informing people about issues such as suicide, depression and bullying.
Last Thursday, a session was held at the Sundre High School about bullying prevention.
“The main messages in the presentation were defining bullying, how to reduce bullying and it focused on bullying in the schools,” said Kim Free, representative from GNP and program coordinator for Sundre Call to Action, a group that focuses on suicide prevention in the community.
The goal of the sessions is to benefit health in the community, she said.
“The communication needs to start somewhere. Nothing is going to change, nothing is going to get better unless people start talking about it,” she said.
“This is one of the many ways Greenwood Neighbourhood Place and Call to Action are trying to open up the lines of communication about community health in Sundre.”
The session was presented via video by Karen Kondor, a representative from a company called Olweus, which focuses on bullying prevention, she said.
“The information today was fantastic. They're valuable sessions, they would be so powerful for parents, community members or teachers to attend,” said Free.
Only three people attended this session but she has hopes that others will attend the upcoming sessions.
She said she learned from the session that there are three characteristics of bullying: aggression, repetition and imbalance of power.
“To make sure that we understand the difference between bullying and kids fooling around is really important,” she said.
She believes that bullying could lead to suicide, but that it is only one of the many factors.
“Community health means a lot of different things. It can be bullying prevention, it can be suicide prevention or it can also be physical health, spiritual health, emotional health or mental health.”
