Our History

Explore the timeline below to learn more about the development and milestones of the Healthy Campus Alberta Community of Practice.

2013

Alberta Government funds post-secondary mental health and addiction initiatives

1st Annual Provincial Summit

Gathering of the provincial community, featuring presentations by mental health experts

2014

Ashley Humeniuk was hired as a full time facilitator to support the development of a Provincial Mental Health Framework

2nd Annual Provincial Summit

Healthy campus strategy and action plan was launched to build a healthy campus community

2015

We welcomed Danielle Stewart-Smith as the provincial facilitator to support the provincial community

3rd Annual Provincial Summit

With 200+ in attendance from 22+ organizations, this Summit informed the draft of the Alberta Post-Secondary Mental Health and Addiction Framework and identified the need for a community of practice (CoP)

1st Community of Practice Meeting

Establishment of the mission, vision, and next steps for the newly formed Healthy Campus Alberta

2016

Alberta Post-Secondary Mental Health and Addiction Framework

Finished Framework was released

Creation of the Healthy Campus Alberta Design Team

The HCA Design Team was formed to provide overall direction and guidance to the CoP, as well as the organization of events and activities. To learn more about the DT, explore the Terms of Reference and the Statements of Understanding.

2nd Community of Practice Meeting

Development of a 6-month timeline for HCA in collaboration with the Design Team

Healthy Campus Alberta Website launched

3rd Community of Practice Meeting

Collaboratively planned the first HCA learning event

1st HCA Learning Event

4th Community of Practice Meeting

2017

5th Community of Practice Meeting

To read the community summary report, explore here.

1st HCA Wellness Summit

With the theme Building Resilient Campus Communities, this summit welcomed 186 attendees representing 23 campuses and 13 community organizations to the University of Calgary, where the Advanced Education Mental Health Grant was announced. To learn more, explore here.

2018

HCA Administrator, Melodie Esau, joins the HCA staff team

HCA Grant Proposal approved

Our first two student staffArt Assoiants and Makayla Freeman join the team

2nd HCA Wellness Summit

Hosted by the University of Calgary, this summit welcomed over 200 attendees representing 25 campuses and 46 organizations to learn together under the theme Transitions. To learn more about this summit, explore here.

We welcomed two new students to the HCA team, Dalia Grobovaite and Teresa Chen.

1st HCA Connections Summit

Planned collaboratively by an advisory committee made up of representatives from 9 campuses and 3 organizations, this summit was hosted at the University of Alberta. We welcomed 128 attendees from 23 campuses and 12 organizations and highlighted the work of the CoP and the collaborative development of best practices. To learn more about this summit, explore here.

As Danielle Stewart-Smith stepped out of her role as the HCA Coordinator, we welcomed Leah Tenove onto the team as the Knowledge and Relationship Coordinator to work alongside Melodie Esau, now the Operations Coordinator.

2019

We welcomed Makayla Freeman back to the HCA staff team as the Project Assistant

HCA 2019 Reception

Hosted at Bow Valley College with a focus on celebrating campus approaches. Read the community report to learn more.

HCA Website Relaunch

6th Community of Practice Meeting

To read the community summary report, explore here.

2020

We welcomed our largest team to date including: Katy DeCoste as Student Communications Assistant, Katherine Liu as Student Event Assistant, Jennifer Nate as Administrative Assistant, and Helen Pethrick as Student Research and Knowledge Exchange Assistant.

3rd HCA Wellness Summit

Our 3rd Wellness Summit, held virtually for the first time, was planned collaboratively with a community advisory committee made up of 10 representatives from 4 campuses and 2 community organizations. We welcomed 140 attendees from 23 Alberta campuses, 10 community organizations and 1 campus from B.C. and explored the theme Moving Upstream. To learn more about this summit, explore here.

Cynthia Ma joins the HCA team as the Student Event Assistant, one of our rotating student positions.

7th Community of Practice Meeting

Hosted as an online gathering for the first time. Read the community report to learn more.

2021

Aubrianna Snow joins the HCA team as the Student Communications Assistant, one of our rotating student positions.

4th HCA Wellness Summit

The 4th Wellness Summit took place online over 3-days from June 15 to June 17, 2021. Conversation was focused on the theme of Telling Our Stories: Processes of Reflection and Growth, as the community sought to connect after a year of dramatic change and uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unique attendance over the 3-day Summit was 146, with representation from 10 community organizations, 23 campuses from across Alberta, and 5 other Canadian campuses. To learn more about this summit, explore here

Daniel V. Sadler (Event Assistant) and Cheyanne Soertaert (Community Engagement Assistant) join the HCA team in our rotating student positionsHelen Pethrick assumes the role of Research and Knowledge Exchange Facilitator. 

8th Community of Practice Meeting

The HCA 2021 Community of Practice Meeting was held online. View the community report here