Resources
May is Sexual Assault Prevention Month
Everyone in Canada deserve to be safe and free from violence. May is Sexual Violence Prevention Month, an opportunity to raise awareness about sexual abuse and support people experiencing sexual violence in this country.
ALIGN Well-Being in Child and Family Services Initiative
The way we define and understand child and youth well-being matters.
ALIGN’s Well-Being Toolkit Community of Practice (CoP)
The CoP is an informal community of like-minded practitioners and evaluators in the child and family serving sector who are interested in growing their organization’s impact on child and youth well-being.
2025 Federal Election: Make your priorities known (Inclusion Alberta)
Inclusion Alberta encourages every Albertan 18 years and older, including those with intellectual disabilities, to participate in the federal election and exercise their right to vote on election day, April 28, 2025.
Alberta.ca Bill 53: Compassionate Intervention Act Legislation Tabled
The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions has introduced Bill 53: Compassionate Intervention Act.
MHRC Launches New Youth Mental Health Data Hub Launch April 2025
MHRC and GreenShield have launched this new resource to deliver unparalleled insights into the mental health of young Canadians in collaboration with leading youth mental health organizations.
Strength in Numbers: The 2023-2024 ACWS Report on Domestic Violence Shelter Impact in Alberta
Released April 2025 this report reveals a continued rise in demand for shelter services and the urgent need for sustained support to keep up with the growing complexity of survivors’ needs.
Empowering Providers Serving Gender-Diverse Youth (PolicyWise)
Provincial governments across Canada have been announcing and enacting changes to laws affecting the health and well-being of gender-diverse youth. These legislative changes have increased the demand for evidence-based information on how best to support these youth, their families, and their communities. Recognizing this need, PolicyWise for Children & Families is proud to launch the Empowering Providers initiative.
KPMG Survey Child and Family Services Key Trends Survey
KPMG has launched a national survey to better understand the current landscape of services and supports for children, youth, and families across the country. The goal is to identify shared challenges, surface leading practices, and inform system transformation efforts—from service integration and workforce modernization to reducing cultural inequities.
OCYA Calling for Change Report 2025: Consultation Opportunities for Young People and Practitioners
The Office of the Child and Youth Advocate’s 2024-2025 Calling for Change – Consolidated Investigative Review is underway. The focus of this year’s report is how systems recognize, support, and intervene when young people experience trauma, grief and loss and the consequences of unresolved trauma, grief, and loss, and pain-based behaviours that can happen as a result.
CoRe White Paper Effective and Compassionate Intervention: Civil Commitment for Individuals with Severe Addiction in Alberta
The policy white paper (March 21, 2025) was developed by The Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence CoRE following its creation in summer 2024, at the request of Alberta’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction.
Report - Indigenous Land-Based Research Gathering: Summary of Learnings from Talking Circles
A Way Home Canada and the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness’s Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab, in partnership with Waakebiness Institute for Indigenous Health, hosted a two-day, summative knowledge-sharing gathering held on the land and in ceremony.
An Introduction to Decolonizing Indigenous Research
A Way Home Canada, Canadian Observatory on Homelessness & Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab
Alberta.ca Open Data Emergency Shelters Daily Occupancy Updated March 2025
This collection of datasets provided by Seniors, Community and Social Services (SCSS)
A Guide to Serve & Return (Center on the Developing Child Harvard University)
The resources in this guide offer more on the science behind serve and return, practical ways to implement it, and strategies to support caregivers and children.
fACT Sheet: 2025 Alberta Provincial Budget (ESPC)
The 2025-26 Alberta budget, titled Meeting the Challenge, covers finances from April 1, 2025 until March 31, 2026 and seeks to continue to build the province and support Albertans during a challenging time period.
Bill 37: Alberta.ca Amendments to the Mental Health Services Protection Act (MHSPA) February 2025
The act, its regulation, and four sets of standards provide requirements for the following licensed mental health and addiction services: Bed-based addiction treatment, drug consumption services, narcotic transition services and psychedelic drug treatment
PolicyWise Creating a Roadmap to Prevent Youth Homelessness February 2025
This roadmap seeks to create information that brings light to effective prevention strategies through research and evaluation
MHRC Report Unsupported Needs: Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Services...
Diving deeper into national trends of mental health service access, this report explores how severity of mental health symptoms or substance use behaviours relates to how Canadians are accessing support
Alberta Opens First Eating Disorders Recovery Centre in Calgary Supporting Youth & Adults
Operated by EHN Canada, the 12-bed EHN Sandstone Recovery Centre in Calgary increases access to specialized eating disorders treatment in the province providing up to 52 youth and young adults with treatment free of charge every year.
The Disability Policy in Canada Provincial and Territorial Report January 2025
New report published January 2025 signals provinces and territories must work together to eliminate barriers for persons with disabilities
Calgary's Enough for All Well-Being Dashboard
The Enough for All Well-Being Dashboard brings to life vital data demonstrating Calgary's progress toward achieving its poverty-reduction goals. See yearly changes and trends in income, housing, education, employment, and more.
The Role of Mentoring for Foster Parents & Why It Matters (ALIGN)
Mentoring children and youth offers significant value, both for the individuals involved and for society as a whole. Below are some of the key benefits of mentoring:
Online Training Decolonizing, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (Homeless Learning Hub)
Free, on-demand training designed to support anyone working in the homeless-serving sector who is committed to creating an inclusive and equitable environment for all.
Alberta Set to Change How Social Agencies Serving the Homeless are Funded in 2025
The Alberta Government announced upcoming changes to how services for Alberta's homeless population will be funded and will now provide funding directly to front-line agencies versus distributed through community-based organizations.
A Call for Meaningful Action in 2025 (Inclusion Canada)
The federal government released its Fall Economic Statement (FES) with new priorities and new spending—but no meaningful progress to lift people with disabilities out of poverty. Inclusion Canada is deeply disappointed that, despite Minister Chrystia Freeland’s resignation and clear signs of an economic pivot, this government continues to neglect the urgent needs of Canadians with disabilities.
This December, Be Part of a Provincial Story of Well-Being Impact! (Well-Being Eblast Nov 2024)
This December, we invite you to share your organization’s work of supporting Well-Being and create a Provincial Story of Impact with the ALIGN Well-Being Impact Portal and Dashboard. .
The State of Mental Health in Canada 2024 Report (CMHA)
On November 19, 2024 the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) released The State of Mental Health in Canada 2024, a first-of-its-kind deep dive into the landscape of mental health, addictions, and substance use health care in Canada using data from across the country.
A Generation at Risk: The State of Youth Mental Health in Canada October 2024
Mental Health Research Canada's (MHRC) report is the first comprehensive and collaborative national report of its kind to be released in at least five years.
Alberta.ca Ensuring Wraparound Services
Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange and Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services Jason Nixon issued the following update on continuing care and the health refocusing work originally announced in November 2023: “
MCHB: Centering Stories in an Ecological Framework (ALIGN's Well-Being Eblast Oct. 2024)
This month we feature Hannah Goa’s experience of piloting the toolkit at the Multicultural Health Broker Cooperative (MCHB) in Edmonton. Hannah has been supporting the Intercultural FRN work for the past 4 years and is responsible for reporting to funders. She became interested in joining the toolkit pilot group to inspire her work on their Evaluation Framework that uniquely reflects the values and principles of cultural brokering.
Establishing Community Pathways to Prevention Services In the Context of the Family First Prevention Services Act Report 2024
Authors Krista Thomas, Olivia Wilks / Chapin Hall 2024. Many families facing difficulties often don’t receive support until their situations become serious, putting them at risk of child welfare involvement.
Toolkit Mobilizing on the Right to Housing for Women, Two-Spirit, & Gender-Diverse People
If you or your community has been impacted by the gendered housing crisis, your voice is needed! Check out the toolkit to learn how you can get involved in this historic process.
Homelessness Data Improvement Framework (Homelessness Learning Hub)
This tool can also be used to guide discussions on data quality amongst community partners and local leaders
CDS Sector Priorities 2023 – 2026 (PDD)
ACDS has highlighted seven priorities to guide our advocacy work for the CDS sector and corresponding collaborative opportunities with the Government of Alberta
ALIGN Statement: Nurturing Children’s Needs: Analyzing the Connection of Gender Policy in Alberta
Understanding the Importance of Gender Policy in Alberta: Promoting Children's Rights and Well-Being
