Prosper Place is Joining the CMHA Edmonton Family!

CMHA Edmonton and Prosper Place has joined forces as one organization, to continue under the Canadian Mental Health Association – Edmonton Region banner.

Prosper Place is a safe, inclusive community of vibrant peer culture and peer excellence where people living with the effects of mental illness feel valued and encouraged to explore their self-directed paths of recovery. It is a peer-led organization serving people living with the effects of mental illness. Founded in 1993, it is based on the clubhouse model of purposeful work and empowerment. Opportunities for purposeful work and empowerment are provided through its regular activities and projects, peer-to-peer coaching, Recovery College programs and courses and its social enterprise initiatives. Peer leadership and peer-to-peer support are important elements of its daily routine, including a peer board that contributes to the governance of the organization.

Prosper Place will now continue as a program under the CMHA Edmonton banner. The staff and boards of both organization have been working together over the past few months to ensure a smooth transition through the official integration date of April 1 and that programs and services for community members continue without interruption. These programs include peer-to-peer coaching, Recovery College and vocational courses, and social enterprises that provide meaningful employment and skills training to people with lived experience.

Most importantly, the integration of Prosper Place, its programs, and its peer community, will mean that as an organization CMHA Edmonton can better serve and support people with lived experience. This means not just as program participants, but by involving peer members in the design, planning, and delivery of programs across CMHA Edmonton – a key pillar of our Strategic Plan. This will include the retention of the peer board, and through direct connections to all CMHA Edmonton programs, increased opportunities for community-building, support, education, employment and housing.

We are excited for what this means for our ability to do a better job of serving people in need, and we are excited to share this with you today. If you have any questions or want to learn more about what this means for current programs and initiatives, please contact Alex Abboud at [email protected] or (780) 414-6302.