A Place to Heal | A Place to Grow
Our team of experienced, dedicated St. Albert therapists and counsellors are here to help you heal and grow through some of life's toughest challenges.
If you want to learn what the difference is between sex and gender, what it means to be pansexual or genderqueer, what the components are that comprise our sexuality, or you are just curious about the different ways in which people today understand and express themselves as sexual and gendered beings, please watch this wellness webinarabout understanding sexuality and gender in a non-binary world
Read MoreLiving with pain can be debilitating not only physically, but psychologically as well. During this mental wellness webinar, Lori Tiemer explores the mind-body connection and discusses various strategies, including cognitive and relaxation techniques, for managing your pain and improving your quality of life.
Read MoreIn this recorded webinar, Dr. Rhonda Wizniak, our testing and assessment specialist, will help you:
River’s Edge Counselling Centre is excited to be named as the recipient of the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce 2016 Ignite Award. Sponsored by Athabasca University Faculty of Business, the Ignite Award recognizes a small business that has demonstrated itself as the most dynamic start-up business in the St. Albert community. It is an honour to for us to be recognized in this way. We believe it is our commitment to excellence in care, service to the community, teaching, and working as a team, that has allowed River’s Edge to grow into a strong and healthy business that will continue to serve the mental health needs of St. Albert for many years to come.
River's Edge Counselling Centre was proud to host Olympian Clara Hughes in our community on October 14th, 2016. She shared her inspiring story with over 800 kids at Leo Nickerson Elementary and 300 students at Paul Kane High School.
She then spoke at the Arden Theatre, sharing her personal journey through mental and physical pain, to a life where love and understanding can thrive. She was so moved by the work of the local organizations the event was supporting - SAIF, BAM, and OutLoud, that she donated 1000.00 from her book sales to those groups.
Clara stayed until well after midnight, signing books and connecting with people who stayed to experience her authentic and compassionate presence.
We hope the continued legacy of Clara's visit will be ongoing support for mental health organizations in our community and a deeper understanding for the challenges that people suffering with mental illness face every day. Her passionate challenge to us is to continue to fight stigma related to mental health and to advocate for increased access to mental health services in Alberta
To support the Caelin Porter Mental Health Awareness Walk. Caelin was a St. Albert youth who brought light and love to his family, friends and many other people in our community through his warm, caring presence and music.St. Albert youth have organized this yearly walk following his suicide to bring support to other youth who struggle with mental illness. They donate all proceeds from the walk to the CMHA and SickNotWeak.
To support the 4UBYUS Conference (a one-day event run by youth, for adults who work with youth in our community, with a focus on mental health and wellness).
To support programs and activities for LGBTQ youth in St. Albert (ages 13-24), in a safe, supportive and fun environment.
Nicole Imgrund speaks to Global News about how Alberta counsellors are calling for more regulation in the province of mental health counselling. Regulation means safer and more effective counselling for Albertans.
Last week, Nicole spoke to the St. Albert Gazzette on the need to regulate the requirements and experience needed to to be considered a counsellor. As it stands, a person can call themselves a counselor without any experience, which can create problems for vulnerable people seeking help.
Read the full story.
Tara Branch, founder of the Insight Mediation Community of Washington, D.C, provides us with a beautiful self-compassion meditation.
Grant Wardlow offered a wonderful presentation on self-compassion last month. His presentation was full of information and resources about the benefits of self-compassion and ways to become more self-compassionate.
Check out his insightful presentation here!
Chronic pain can be debilitating not only physically, but psychologically as well. Before you know it, pain can begin to sneak its way into all aspects of your life. Below are some strategies for managing pain before it manages you.
Read MoreOur wellness matters talk in November was "Brainwise" Parenting with Christine Crocker. View the slides to learn about information about childhood development and practical parenting tips.
Read MoreCheck out this article on our low-cost counselling services in the St. Albert Gazette:
http://www.stalbertgazette.com/article/20151003/SAG9604/310039962
We know there are many people who "fall through the cracks," not able to access mental health resources in the health care system as they require it, and without insurance or financial resources to cover the cost of private counselling and psychological services. We are fortunate to have family physicians, psychiatrists, a Primary Care Network and other community associations, such as SAIF, dedicated to working together to meet the mental health needs of our community. The team at River's Edge Counselling Centre looks forward to any opportunity to collaborate in this effort.
Our practicum training program admits 5 graduate students each year to offer counselling services with supervision and support from our team. We receive many applicants and choose mature students who are ready to provide high quality counselling services to our clients. This fall, we are pleased to welcome Sheila Chaba for a second full-year placement (Sheila has already completed her required hours and courses, but is committed to improving her practice while she completes her thesis requirement), as well as Grant Wardlow. While most practicum placements are for a few months, our program supports students in developing their practice for a full year, which also allows for longer-term care to clients. The fee for these services covers some of the costs associated with the program. Clients are charged $50.00/session (professional services cost between $125.00-$180.00). For some clients in particularly difficult financial situations, we are able to accept a lower fee for these services.
Accessing our lower-cost counselling services:
We do accept self-referrals for any of our services. However, we appreciate direct referrals from community partners when individuals are identified as needing counselling services. Professional referrals can be made by phone, online or by faxing our referral form to our office. If you are unsure whether or not a person may be a good fit to see a practicum student, or have any other questions about our services, please contact the office or our Director, Nicole Imgrund
We've recently had some opportunities to advocate in the media for increased accessibility of mental health services in Alberta. One way to improve the availability of quality mental services is to regulate the profession of counselling and psychotherapy in our province. Nicole was invited to participate in an Alberta Primetime interview to explain the significance of this regulation for the public. We will continue here at River's Edge to advocate for services that bring greater emotional, mental and spiritual health to all Albertans.
Check out our article from the St. Albert Gazette:
A city counsellor says the provincial government’s recent action on mental health is a positive step, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
Nicole Imgrund, the owner of River’s Edge Counselling and the past president of the Alberta Chapter of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, points to the bipartisan mental-health review that will be co-chaired by Liberal MLA David Swann and NDP MLA Danielle Larivee and the recent auditor general’s report calling for increased access for Albertans as two significant steps in the right direction.
But she said there’s one big piece of the puzzle that’s missing: regulating the counselling and psychotherapy profession under a professional college like the nearly 30 other regulated healthcare professions in the province.
“We think the question of regulation would go great lengths to meeting the necessities outlined in that (auditor general’s) report, which is accessibility to services,” she said. “As an unregulated profession, there’s work that we can’t do.”
For example, because it’s not a regulated profession the cost of counselling may not be covered by many Albertans’ health benefit plans, and with professional rates that could run close to $200 per hour, that means many Albertans have difficulty accessing that service. In addition, she said there is some work within Alberta Health Services that unregulated practitioners can’t do.
There are mental health services covered for all Albertans under the provincial health insurance, but Imgrund said the system is currently stretched fairly thin and people don’t always get timely access to the counselling they need.
“What’s very common is we get calls from people who are on the wait list of one to three months for mental-health services,” she said. “There’s a gap. There’s an incredible gap.”
Alberta Health Services spokesperson Kerry Williamson said the provincial health-care provider does provide timely service in Alberta, and in St. Albert in particular.
At the St. Albert Community Mental Health Clinic, 350 people receive the support of the 15 therapists and counsellors in that office. He said patients are assessed by a health-care professional within a day or two of visiting the clinic, and depending on their needs, are connected with addictions or mental-health specialists.
“For adults, appointments are available within two to three weeks with a mental health therapist or within one to two weeks with an addiction counsellor and 80 per cent of families are offered an appointment with 30 days,” he said.
As Imgrund sees it, there are many situations where somebody struggling with minor stress or anxiety would benefit from some counselling to nip larger problems in the bud.
“When the whole system is weighted, there’s not enough services and people need to reach a certain threshold of being ill before they can access those services, then there’s not room for prevention, and I think counselling offers that to a lot of people,” she said.
Imgrund explained while there are similarities, counselling and psychotherapy differ from the regulated profession of psychology. Both disciplines use counselling and psychotherapy as part of the practice, but psychologists also do assessments and diagnose mental-health problems.
“There are hundreds and hundreds of mental-health workers, counsellors and psychotherapists in Alberta who don’t diagnose as it’s not part of their scope of practice, but who provide counselling and psychotherapy as treatment for people who have mental-health concerns, and that entire profession is unregulated,” she said.
Three provinces in Canada currently regulate the profession, and Imgrund said the Alberta chapter of the CCPA is advocating for Alberta to follow suit. She said the previous health minister Stephen Mandel was receptive to the idea, but the process was stalled with the changing of the guard during the recent provincial election.
She said the association has requested Health Minister Sarah Hoffman to look into the request to regulate the profession.
Donnae Schuhltz, Alberta Health public affairs officer, said the ministry is currently reviewing the counselling profession in the province, but as that review is still in the very early stages no decisions have been made.
“Regulating a new profession and/or creating a new regulatory college is very complex, with the process often taking multiple years,” she said.
Timothy Wilson, Hoffman’s press secretary, said the minister is supportive of the department’s review of the profession and she knows counsellors provide a valuable service to Albertans.
Lisa Hardy did a recent presentation for River's Edge Counselling, called Utilizing Creativity to Connect with Your Kids. To see the presentation, please click here.
Recently, I have been reading, reflecting and conversing about our human experience of hope and its role in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and approach to life’s challenges. I have witnessed academics and Facebook bloggers, philanthropists and tragedy survivors debate whether hope is a belief or an emotion, an attitude, or a divine connection.
Read MoreIs stress your friend? This seems like a crazy question to those of us who have spent our lives (and careers) talking about the detrimental effects of stress on our emotional, mental and psychical well-being. But Psychologist Kelly McGonigal points to new research that suggests stress is only detrimental to your health if you believe it to be so. This challenges decades of research and public opinion that slates stress as our enemy.
Read MoreJust like adults, children experience stress at various stages of development. It could happen when they are transitioning to a new school, their parents are going through divorce or they experience the death of a close family member. The good news is there are things we can do to help as their parents. You may not be able to eliminate the stressful factor, but we can certainly do more than assume that it will go away on its own.
Read MoreThe holidays bring many expectations. Sometimes these expectations are fulfilled and we are left feeling touched by hope and joy. Other expectations are left unfulfilled and leave disappointment and sadness in their stead. The days leading to the holidays are so often marked by a stressful and almost manic desire to control the outcome - to secure some of the joy and avoid the opposite. But if this approach worked for us at the holidays, it would surely work better the rest of our days!
What if the holidays were simply an invitation?
Read More
