At YW Calgary, we focus on mental health as one of the main measures to prevent crisis. We promote Breathing Exercises as useful tools for regulating our emotions in stressful times. Download and print the YW Breaking Exercises in English or YW Breathing Exercises in Ukrainian. At the end of the exercises, we [...]
National Victims and Survivors of Crime Week (May 15 – May 19) is meant to raise awareness about the issues facing victims and survivors of crime and the services, programs, and laws in place to help them and their families. To honor this week, we wanted to provide some information about how to [...]
Hi, I’m Dana – YW Calgary’s Community Engagement Coordinator and top wellness enthusiast! I am passionate about leading an active lifestyle and encouraging others to do the same. I am an avid rock climber, and I love spending time outdoors climbing, biking, or just relaxing in the sun. While I do oversee the Fitness [...]
As we head into Mother’s Day weekend, we’d like to introduce you to Aileen, a woman who experienced domestic abuse and fled with her three young children. With nowhere else to go, and lacking the financial means support her children, she sought refuge at YW Calgary. In addition to providing safe shelter and [...]
Like other non-profit organizations, fundraising is very important to keeping our doors open and our services benefiting the community. While applying for grants and funding is a large part of our funding strategy, a sizeable part of our donations actually come from community fundraisers, also called third-party fundraisers, by supporters of our mission [...]
I’ll let you in on what the original plan looked like. When I was young, I wanted to be a “Video Jockey” on Much Music Television. Alas, my TV career didn’t pan out and instead I became a Registered Social Worker. I can say with confidence, I absolutely made the right decision. Another [...]
March 8 marks International Women’s Day, one of the most important days of the year to celebrate women's achievements and raise awareness about women's equality. We are kicking off the month of activities on March 3 @ 1pm with a can’t miss Instagram Live conversation between YW Calgary’s own Talia Bell, VP, Programs [...]
My 13-year tenure at YW is making me nostalgic. I have been reflecting on my experience and, with an appropriate amount of existential, millennial angst, trying to assign meaning to all of it. Permanence was never a security I had growing up. I left my country of birth at 4 months old and [...]
On the occasion of Black History Month, Mindfulicity expert and YW Calgary Director, Special Projects, Lana Bentley shares her experience as a Black woman practicing mental health in An Open Letter on Mindfulicity’s blog. I got my first job as a therapist in a mental health clinic in 2006. Things were different then. [...]
Family Day is just around the corner! We thought we would take this opportunity to reflect on the importance of family connections and the potential impact – positive and negative – they can have on the larger community. Research shows that family connections and parent-child attachment are at the heart of ALL healthy [...]
