Fort McPherson’s first Wellness Week will kick off Monday through Friday, and will include speakers, a soccer tournament, fun night activities, a talent show, and more.
One-on-one counselling services will also be made available, as well as a session on suicide prevention, and presentations from the community’s wellness department and local residents.
The event coordinator, Wanda Pascal, says their goal is to make the event fun and welcoming to all residents, with activities like a northern games demonstration, a youth jigging contest, and live music from local musicians.
Events will begin on Monday at 5:00pm with a barbecue and introduction for the week, followed by “fun night” activities, Pascal said.
“There’s going to be lots of laughing,” said Pascal. “We can just go out and meet and have fun without alcohol and drugs. Just to get people to be there and to listen and be supportive, that’s one of the main things we’re doing it for, just to show the people that we care.”
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The sober, family-friendly event is an important step for the community during a time of grief amidst a territory-wide addiction and mental health crisis.
“We’re just going to take it day-by-day and see what we can do to make it a fun week,” said Pascal. “The whole community is invited, anybody can come.”
Organizers are looking for volunteers to help out throughout the week to help with the soccer tournament, fun nights, and other activities.
Pascal says this is the first of future Wellness Weeks in Fort McPherson, and next year she hopes to see it grow bigger.
“We have to get out of this low self-esteem and build our self-esteem up, and this is one of the way of doing it,” said Pascal. “We’re just trying to do stuff to get people out and show their talent.”
Wellness Week was made possible through a collaboration between the band council, hamlet, Designated Gwich’in Organization, and Dinji Zhuh Solutions.
