Reflections on the past year

We are proud to report on an extremely successful 2011 year at the Calgary Sexual Health Centre and it is a pleasure to share some of the highlights with you.

We continued to impact individuals and communities with excellent programming, and because of our ability to adapt and evolve to meet the changing needs of Calgarians, we have remained a relevant, accessible organization in the city.

Our services were founded on providing women with counselling related to their sexual and reproductive choices.  Today, we provide  a broad range of services to a diverse range of clients. Our services include birth control counselling for couples, sexual health programs for people with developmental disabilities and their families, support for youth questioning their sexual orientation, and programs for survivors of sexual trauma.

We have been providing school based comprehensive sexuality education for thirty seven years and continue to reach thousands of youth annually through this work.  This highly respected program is responsive to the challenges faced by youth today and exemplifies our dedication to continuous improvement and high impact work. 

One example of our commitment to increasing our impact is the WiseGuyz, our school-based program for Grade 9 boys, which has gained attention as an important prevention program.  In 2012, we will initiate a research element designed to determine the long term impact and examine the program outcomes from theperspective of health sexuality and the prevention of intimate partner violence. Our goal is for WiseGuyz to become a best-practice prevention program for young men.

Professional development has become an integral part of our work over the past three years. Through the Training Centre, we have provided workshops to over 5000 service providers in Alberta.  Participants continue to report that the training provides them with important skills that better enable them to appropriately support their clients.

This year we began to implement the third part of our impact strategy by working to integrate sexual health into relevant policies.  For example, as bullying policies are developed and implemented, we will work to ensure that homophobic bullying is addressed.  We know that social change requires working at the direct service, organizational and systems level and we are committed to that work.

Our Board of Directors has focused their efforts on long term sustainability.  A Fund Development Plan has been developed, and a Board Growth Development Plan is underway. Their expertise supports a 39-year legacy of innovative programs and sexual health services while building stability for future growth.

We want to thank the amazing staff and dedicated volunteers who contributed to the successes of 2011. To summarize, last year twelve staff and 98 volunteers provided programs to clients of 72 organizations and students at 37 schools. In total we impacted 28,788 Calgarians with programs, information, and resources.

Thanks to our funders and donors for being strong partners in our work. And, thank you to all of our community supporters who play an integral role in ensuring our Agency continues to thrive!

Pam Krause

Executive Director

(View our 2011 Annual Report online or contact us to request a printed copy.)

Amy Schalet enlightened and sparked discussion at our Annual General Meeting

Thank you to everyone who joined us last night for our Annual General Meeting to review the 2011 year.

It was inspiring to hear of the many successes and learnings that CSHC experienced in the past year. We were pleased to share the review with our guests as we also celebrated this 40th year.

To summarize, last year our 12 staff and 98 volunteers provided programs to clients of 72 organizations and students at 37 schools. In total we impacted 28,788 Calgarians with programs, information and resources.

• Our Training Centre provided 63 professional development workshops for 1,930 service providers in our community.
• We provided confidential one-on-one counselling services to 285 clients, and an additional 1714 individuals through email and phone support. 
• Our Adult Outreach Programs provided 125 community workshops reaching 1,133 individuals. 
• Our Youth Outreach Programs partnered with 22 community organizations to provide 218 workshops reaching 2920 marginalized youth. 
• We reached over 8,300 students in public and private junior and senior high schools with our Comprehensive Sexual Health Education Program.

Of course, the highlight of the evening was the keynote presentation by acclaimed author Amy Schalet. Her stories and insights into cultural differences around teen sexuality - and the impact of those differences - resonated with our staff and guests, and will certainly inspire much discussion and new perspective in our work as we move forward.

 

Thank you Amy for sharing your insights and observations with us! 

To learn more about Amy Schalet and her book "Not Under My Roof" - or to view any of the resources she referred to during her presentation - visit her online at www.amyschalet.com.

And of course - thank you to everyone for supporting our work last year and over the past 40 years! Our board, staff, volunteers, funders, community partners and supporters - past and present - all make our work possible. 

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

For those of you who were unable to join us last night, you can catch Amy's interview on CBC Radio's Homestretch program from that afternoon. Here's a link to the show: http://www.cbc.ca/homestretch/episode/2012/06/14/parents-teens-and-sleeping-over/

We are also pleased that CJSW will be airing her presentation from last night during an upcoming show. Stay tuned for more details.