For more than 80 years, we have supported families in Alberta to raise healthy children, navigate through change, develop strong and healthy relationships, and heal from trauma.
We can work together with families and communities to ensure their needs are front and center, resulting in meaningful solutions based on their unique situations.
We do not make decisions for anyone; we help people navigate complex systems and equip them with resources and information to make their own decisions.
We are open to working alongside all Indigenous communities in Alberta.
sîtôskam iyiniwatisiwin “Supporting an Indigenous Way of Being”
We are committed to working towards reconciliation by becoming a wicihtasow (ally).
Our Indigenous Practice Framework was facilitated through circle process and ceremony with community members, Elders and Knowledge Holders. It addresses the impacts of historical trauma. We are committed to increasing our knowledge and understanding of the history of Indigenous people and opportunities to experience ceremony, traditional teachings, and activities.
Our service users and employees can access frequent ceremony and teachings, such as sweat lodges, pipe ceremonies, smudging and brush downs, medicine picking, and regalia making. Our knowledge holder facilitates ceremonies and supports our employees and service users through ongoing education and experience, and increased connections to Indigenous communities, Elders and other community services.
The framework uses circle teachings as the basis for understanding of well-being, and was developed with the guidance of Elder Dr. Leona Makokis and Dr. Ralph Bodor and in partnership with IRM Research & Evaluation and Boyle Street.
In the nêhiyaw worldview, health and wellness are understood as miyo-pimâtisiwin or living the good life through seeking mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical balance. miyo-pimâtisiwin is a way of being and a commitment to live and practice in accordance with nêhiyaw ceremony, teachings, and values.
Practical classes
In our classes, caregivers, kin, couples, and individuals learn practical tips and skills for positive parenting, effective communication, and self-improvement.
Our classes include:
Parenting/caregiving newborns, toddlers and preschoolers, school-age children, and teens classes
Indigenous traditional parenting
Couples communication
Anger management, Building self-esteem, Healthy boundaries and effective communication, Understanding Addictions, Overcoming Adversity
In our classes, participants learn to:
Build effective parenting/caregiving skills
Understand how negative childhood experiences, toxic stress, and trauma affect parenting and child development
Improve communication and advocacy skills
Develop or build positive networks
Address issues that contribute to addictions, domestic violence, and mental health
No two families are the same. We provide customized support to families based on their specific needs. In general, we support families to:
Build effective parenting/caregiving skills
Understand how negative childhood experiences, toxic stress, and trauma affect parenting and child development
Positively influence brain development by focusing on attachment, literacy, culturally sensitive play, and nutrition
Make financial decisions that empower families to overcome barriers related to poverty
Improve communication and advocacy skills
Navigate systems
Develop or build positive networks
Address issues that contribute to addictions, domestic violence, and mental health
ohpikîhakan Foster Care
Our foster care placements provide safe homes for children and youth aged 0 to 17 who cannot live with their own families, for a range of reasons. Typically, the ultimate goal is reuniting with their families while cultivating healthy relationships and connections with their community.
ohpikîhakan translates into “a child that is being raised” in the Cree language. This name was gifted to us by Elder Dr. Leona Makokis to emphasize the importance of the relationship and connection to a child’s culture and family. ohpikîhakan is trauma-informed and embedded with culturally responsive services and Indigenous worldviews.
Over the last 14 years, we have been providing Family Reunification Services to children and their families. We believe in the concept of wâhkôhtowin (relational accountability/kinship), the understanding that we are all related to each other and to earth and all things on it, and identity comes from these connections.
Our goal is that children and family members are safe, have positive relationships with loved ones, and are given a voice in decisions affecting their future. Our Family Reunification homes provide care for children and youth, as well as ensure parent(s) and kin can spend as much time as possible in the homes. This may include parent(s) living in the home during the reunification process. Our goal is to maintain these relationships as parents or caregivers move through their healing journey.
We have homes available for children and their families to be reunited with the support of experienced workers. Currently we have five homes available in Edmonton to provide this type of service. If you require this type of service, please reach out via the form below.
Let’s connect
Take the first step to building a relationship with us by reaching out to us.
The Family Centre acknowledges that we are on Treaty 6 territory, a traditional meeting ground, gathering place, and traveling route for the Cree, Saulteaux, Blackfoot, Métis, Dene, and Nakota Sioux. We acknowledge all the many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit whose footsteps have marked these lands for centuries.
