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Congratulations Wellness Warriors!!!!!   Thank you for joining us for the wrap up party last night! It was great to see so many of your faces!   We had a 1st/2nd Place Tie with The Tragically Fit & Coronitas! 3rd place was Estrogen Express!   Honestly we are so proud of all the teams! So […]

Here’s your week 5 points!! We had some serious movement on the list – way to go!   Finish strong in your last couple days!   The Tragically Fit 7000 Coronitas 7000 Estrogen Express 6875 FFAS Twoonies 6810 The 4 Amigas 6560 Spike Rules 6475 Ma-KIN-it-Work 6390 Not Slim KINda 6375 Hubba Hubba 6330 Late […]

In wellness challenge info session #6 the theme from How’s Your 5 was EAT.  Greta Kubis who is a registered dietitian with AHS gave great tips for Healthy Eating During Stressful Times.

Woot Woot!! 🔥🔥🔥 Here’s your totals after 4 weeks! Things are heating up! Finish week 5 strong friends!     The Tragically Fit 5600 Coronitas 5600 Estrogen Express 5485 FFAS Twoonies 5415 Spike Rules 5225 The 4 Amigas 5215 Not Slim KINda Shady 5150 Ma-KIN-it-Work 5100 Hubba Hubba 5055 RadioHeads 5010 The Hungry Games 4995 […]

In our info session this week we are joined by both Mary and Tracy.  We learn about the benefits of reading, bedtime stories, 15 bedtime rituals and an evening wind down.

Here’s what the totals from Week 3 look like in the Wellness Challenge.  We have lots of fluctuation throughout the middle in the week.  Lots of teams moving up and down.  Keep up the great work! The Tragically Fit 4200 Coronitas 4200 Estrogen Express 4105 FFAS Twoonies 4030 Spike Rules 3975 Not Slim KINda Shady […]

Week #4’s theme is PLAY.  So in our info session this week Zumba instructor Amber Kenney joined us to talk about adding active & fun play into our lives. Plus she takes us through a quick 20 minute zumba class.

Here we are POINTS wise after two weeks!! The Tragically Fit             2800 Coronitas                         2800 Estrogen Express             2755 Spike Rules                      2740 FFAS Twoonies      […]

If you haven’t had the chance to meet Lisa Szabon-Smith from The Hub PT: Fitness and Nutrition yet – let us introduce you.  She is a professional athlete and coach!  She’s awesome! She has created for us an ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ workout idea for us to add some activity to our wellness challenge, […]

Welcome to our Info Session # 3! Darlene Donovan – Parks & Facilities Supervisor with the Town of High River joins us for Week 3 – Mental Health – – to talk about the mental benefits of gardening.  Thank you also to her lovely assistant Tracy Morgan.    

Ok…those who like a little FRIENDLY COMPETITION….this is the post you have been waiting for!!   POINTS REVEAL!!!   Spike Rules                       1400 Coronitas                          1400 The 3 Amigas & 1 Amigo 1400 The Tragically […]

Bruce Masterman joined us for Info Session #2.  A chat about nature and self-care.   Bruce shares with us how research shows exposure to nature reduces stress.  He share tips on how to connect with nature while staying safe during Covid-19.  Plus he tells us “give yourself permission to take a break.”  

Carol MacMillan joined us for Info Session #1 to talk about ergo-dynamics, the structure of routine (and why it’s important and mental well-being.

Part of the fun with the 10th High River Community Wellness Challenge is an opportunity to learn to run!  (yes, what you learned as a child needs to be built on!)  All kidding aside we are thrilled to have Paige Valgardson teaching us how to go from couch to 5km. Each week on the High […]

The 10th High River Community Wellness Challenge is back!  This year 100% VIRTUAL! Jody Seeley and Carol MacMillan from the committee share the details of what to expect, what it is and how to get involved. Download your Team Captain form and your Participant Form for all challenge information. Then email hrcommunitywellnesschallenge@gmail.com to register.  Or […]

2020 marks the 10th year for the High River Community Wellness Challenge.  Considering Covid-19 restrictions, the group wasn’t sure what the future would hold for the challenge.  After much discussion all members felt that this year it was needed more than ever, with a few tweaks and adjustments for our current situation, the challenge will […]

Are you ready to think about January? (Don’t throw anything!) I know Christmas is out before Halloween and it’s almost time for Valentine’s displays…we are bombarded with thinking ahead.  But hear me out!  2020 is going to be full of community-awesomeness!  Starting out with the annual Community Summit January 23-25, 2020!! We want you to […]

Crowded Cafe After two years working behind the scenes on this big idea it has been an incredibly rewarding month to introduce it to the community.  First, the response to the Community Café in August was uplifting. As the RSVP’s rolled in and then the clouds – we were honestly afraid that there would be […]

I NEED HELP Asking for help can be hard. “I need help” –  3 little words, why is it so hard??  Even when we have to physically move something big we try to do it ourselves first. Let’s think about moving a big table.  First we look at it, hmmm… maybe I can move it.  […]

In last weeks blog, we covered the origin and the idea of the Emotional Safe Spot in High River, this week we are going to look deeper at the training. Here is a copy of the Certified Emotional Safe Spot Members guide that looks at some of the expectations of the trainee’s. Certified Members Guide […]

The flood of water in June 2013 was followed by a couple of other floods.  The flood of volunteers and helpers, the flood of recovery specialists, the flood of researchers.  Each one left a mark, some visible some concealed. One of the things that was fortified during these floods was a connection between the professional […]

With Summer half-way through there is still lots of time to get the family out for fun in High River.  Although there are many things to do in our town, we complied a Top Five list to get you started. The Highwood River This amazing river that runs through High River originates in the Rockies […]

While drinking a cup of tea and reflecting this morning the thought popped into my head about self-care in the summer.  Is this easier because the weather is nice, and you feel like you are “allowed” to relax more, or you can go outside for that nature boost?  Or, is it harder because your kids […]

You have to love when you search “songs about working together” and you get something this great. Our High River is about working together.  We’ve talked about it before here and here. Sounds great – right? The reality though…sometimes you just want to pick up your ball and go home. Why can’t we all just get along? […]

Spring has sprung a little late this year and I’m a little shocked at how strongly I’m reacting to the green and to the leaves on tree’s!  If you see a woman in a red car smiling from ear to ear and whooping about a burst of color – that’s me.    Emotions can be […]

This is Canadian Mental Health Association Week (May 6-12, 2019) “Mental health is a state of well-being, and we all have it. We might have a mental illness, and we might not. Either way, we can all feel well. We can all have good mental health. It is about having a sense of purpose, strong […]

We have a great opportunity before us to ‘Up the Grade’ from our 2018 Vital Signs Report in Environment.  As a community we gave our town a B+ in this key area of life.   We celebrated the following three areas: The number of natural spaces and parks that are easy to access. The opportunities for […]

Collaboration is a process of participation through which people, groups, and organizations work together to achieve desired results. Collaborations accomplish shared vision, achieve positive outcomes for the audiences they serve, and build an interdependent system to address issues and opportunities. Doesn’t that sound amazing? It’s a common goal within all community.  It’s really a part of what we […]

cover photo courtesy of Lorraine Hjalte If you were at the Community Summit Lite this year you would have heard an impassioned plea for sharing the great LIVE MUSIC opportunities that we have in our community. As Sir Elton John said “Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves […]

It’s National Volunteer Week and the Town of High River officially declared it for our community on Monday April 8th, 2019 when they raised the volunteer flag outside town hall. The Town hands out the awards to the Volunteers of Year winners on Tuesday night April 9th, 2019. No surprise this event has SOLD OUT […]

I think we (sometimes) take for granted all the things we share as a community.  We love our community, without question.  But when is the last time you slowed your busy and reflected on that?  I admit, with the schedule I keep – I am guilty of not doing that.  But this morning watching a […]

Being in a room of people who love their community is electrifying. From January 24- 26 Our High River hosted our 5th Annual Community Summit. The evening of the 24th was ‘Summit Lite’ including appetizers and Actionators – a little taste of Summit.  Friday was an invite out to other communities to look at Our ‘Tools […]

I was invited to be the guest of honour at the 187 Foothills Air Cadet Squadron Mess Dinner this year. It was so cool to see what this group does, learn more about them and share in a special evening.  The staff, parents and cadets are so awesome and kind. This packed house full of […]

We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.   As we move out of American Thanksgiving and towards the holidays our radio, television and computers are spewing a constant babble of Black Friday deals.  Tomorrow it will change it’s tune to Cyber Monday and beyond that you will be poked, prodded […]

You are walking down the street and suddenly you come upon somebody laying down.  Are they okay?  Are they hurt?  Are they just resting? Are they even alive?  Whether we are trained or not we know some basics to check for – pulse, breath – if you’ve taken the courses you may find yourself saying […]

Community is built on relationships and relationships are built on communication.  Despite the importance of these three things- essential to our physical and mental health- we usually just let it happen.  While we spend hours learning other things, playing games, we rely on the communication we picked up along the way.  We wing it. Communication […]

Good Evening High River, As we enter Halloween week I challenge you to take off the mask we wear the rest of the year-have fun, get to know someone better, challenge yourself to be brave this week. Halloween shows us that scary CAN be fun.   Have a deep and connecting week- say hi to […]

What are we focusing on? First impressions are very, very fast – science says less than 1/10th of a second.  Snap.  Decisions made.  Does this mean it needs to stay that way?  As the duckrabbit picture shows we can look longer and see more. How long are we willing to look? At the most basic […]

A Good Trade :  Judgement for Curiosity Do you remember the scenes in Dances with Wolves where they talked about a good trade? Don’t worry, I’m going to put them right here, doesn’t Kevin Costner look young?   I spent this past week in training with 12 other professionals.  This training, creating emotional safe spots, […]

Okay, deep breathe in, and out.  One more time.  This might be your first deep breath since the month started and she’s already ½ over!  September is full on go time as school kicks in, everyone is back from summer vacation and the years end seems to be hurtling at us at full speed. As […]

Wrapping the community around our schools. In these polarizing and passionate times there are still a few things we can agree upon.  One of them is that education is important.   An even greater unifier is that our kids are important.  It takes a village to raise a child is more than a great poster, […]

Express Yourself Do you feel like you are safe to be yourself in High River? As Alberta becomes increasingly diverse we are seeing the small town emerge from a place where people have a relatively similar background and mindset to a place where difference cultures, ideals and lifestyles are increasingly intermingled.  In a healthy ecosystem […]

In a world that’s more connected than ever, evidence is showing that people are lonelier. Even to the degree that the United Kingdom has a department and a Minister of Loneliness!! Loneliness is a state of mind, it is a universal human experience and can be rooted in a lot of different causes – here’s […]

Did you plant anything this year?  Hopeful that you’ll end up with flowers or vegetables, maybe a tree? While you’ve gone to all of that planning and effort other things pop up.  Some of these things are easy to pick out and remove, I usually go for those ones first.  Others, like the quack grass […]

3 times this week I’ve attempted to leave town just east of the United Church.  Three times I hit the detour sign.  I’m not going to lie, my emotional temperature went up every time.  Not a lot, I can talk myself down pretty quickly, but I felt it. How have you been doing?  Rebuilding has […]

Are you ready to join a movement? A couple of weeks ago we talked about passionate people. Visionaries and leaders are really important, there’s no denying it.  Where we as a culture have been mistaken, or maybe where we could mature beyond, is that we have made leadership and leaders MORE important than the other […]

by Fawna Bews As I sat in a meeting this morning – a meeting of big minds trying to figure out the current socio-political landscape (I know, silly right?) I kept getting an image of feet. As I heard the woman beside me say “I’ve always been told you need to get a thicker skin […]

by Fawna Bews There’s nothing quite as inspiring as a person who is full of aliveness.  They bring life to the community. It doesn’t even seem to matter what they are passionate about, it’s the fervor of sharing it, of transforming a simple idea to a big event or program.  I’ve been seeing a lot […]

by Fawna Bews One of the hardest things about community are the people.  Am I right?!  Annoying people, bossy people, lazy people, stuck-up people, judgey people (wink, wink).  And yet, we can’t really have community without them. One is the loneliest number.   I’ve had the gift of working with traumatized youth most of my […]

by Fawna Bews There are some things we just don’t talk about.  As a couple of my colleagues said to me “we were taught that you don’t air your dirty laundry”.  Over the past few years the doors on mental health as an acceptable topic of conversation have opened up.  There was a time in […]

by Fawna Bews This week is seniors’ week and whether you are someone whose roots run very deep in the community of High River [flash quiz – who’s the current longest living resident of High River? Please message us if you know] or one of the many people who choose High River as the perfect […]

High Riveritte Liz Vigueres is orginally from Mexico.  When the large earthquake happened in that country last fall she wanted to help.  She rallied support – especially from the Rotary Club and raised some funds. Here is an update from her… STOVE PROJECT The first photo is a broken clay stove, after the Earthquake September […]

Our High River and the Town of High River are inviting all residents, businesses and agencies to complete the 2018 Vital Signs survey designed to measure quality of life in High River! “This year we will be gathering information from citizens, agencies and businesses that will allow us to better understand how our community has […]

One of the most asked questions we face is – What’s in it for you and the Community?  So we compiled a top 10 list! #10: It’s good for you. Volunteering provides physical and mental rewards. It: Reduces stress: Experts report that when you focus on someone other than yourself, it interrupts usual tension-producing patterns. Makes […]

This is a question we are asked often and it’s not always easy to answer.  It’s not that we are not clear it’s that we want it to be more of an ideal than another program or agency. The hope for Our High River is to encourage citizens to be positively involved in their own […]