Due to their unique and slightly isolated location, the town of Bashaw has a lot of mental health service options from neighbouring municipalities, but factors like transportation, wait times, and a gap in services can cause some residents to feel left out.

Bordering the counties of Camrose, Stettler, Ponoka, and Lacombe, Bashaw and surrounding area residents have plenty of options to choose from mental health wise, but accessing it is not always the easiest thing.

Now the Community Wellness Team is hosting a town hall meeting Thursday to offer some information and hopefully solutions to those problems.

The Community Wellness Team, made up of the Bashaw FCSS, the adult learning council, Bashaw School, and the RCMP, have a few recommendations on how to fix the challenges they face.

Jackie Northey with the Wellness Team says it won't take much to fill those gaps.

“It’s going to a little bit of resources whether that be some income support or a little bit of funding to do it… there’s no point in people going out and creating services or creating models or creating projects that they haven’t checked to see if that’s what people need, so that’s what the purpose of the town hall is.”

Some recommendations being made at the meeting from the Wellness Team include developing more mental health initiatives that offer referral counselling and a prevention/early intervention program, close collaboration with all levels of government, and the development of a Rural Community Services Centre as a way to develop appropriate ways of serving each of them.

The Town Hall is Thursday, may 17th, at 7pm at the Bashaw Community Centre.

Bashaw Community Centre. Photo courtesy of Google Maps

They will also be discussing rural crime, and the connection between crime in general and mental health.