Our History
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.
HCA joins as a partner with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Alberta division.
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 staff, Art 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.