In the early 70's, most Drug Information Centre callers were adolescent. By the early 80's, the Distress Centre/Drug Centre “found that teenage service users had all but faded out of the picture...
1980 marked the 10th anniversary of the Distress Centre/Drug Centre. At the Annual General Meeting, Chair Hilde Houlding was pleased to note that: [caption id="attachment_19667" align="alignleft" width="407"] From a 1980s newspaper.[/caption] “The month to month struggle is past, the new challenge is to maintain the vital, productive partnership of volunteers and professional staff that we have created....
In 1979, Board Chair Hilde Houlding proclaimed the departure of Dr. Stew Clark as Executive Director and the hiring of Jeanette McEachern as the “end of a beginning.” Jeanette served as Executive Director for 18 years, and was variously described as passionate, fearless, formidable, and a legend in her own time. Katie Black, Teen Program...
Throughout the 70s, funding was an ongoing challenge. Ken Low noted that generally: “Funding is a problem for any pioneering endeavour, funders use a criteria and metrics for leading edge initiatives, to get supports.” The Drug Information Centre (DIC) was seen to be short on such formal metrics, on policy, and on the strict procedures...
From the first days of the Drug Information Centre, volunteers have been key to its success. Since most early volunteers did not have any formal training in counselling, it was not uncommon to run into difficulties. Emil Roessingh, both a volunteer and Volunteer Coordinator recalls: [caption id="attachment_19606" align="alignright" width="366"] A volunteer photo from the early '70s.[/caption] “There...
Image: A contact card from 1979. Some information removed to protect confidentiality. Compared to the first five years of DIC operations, 1976-1979 were relatively uneventful. Reliable, ongoing funding was the major administrative issue. Co-ordinator Penny Cairns noted in a 1976 staff meeting that fundraising was taking up so much time it was hard for her to...
In the early 1970s, outreach to clients, to the local community and to other professionals formed significant parts of the Drug Information Centre’s work. By 1975, funders were also demanding such collaboration. One major initiative was The House. Opening in June 1973 at 635 4 Ave N. E., The House provided a group-living experience for teenagers...
At the end of 1971, the Drug Information Centre (DIC) continued at its original location, operating 24/7. Education, crisis support and counselling regarding drug issues remained the main goals. Policy decisions were arrived at through group discussion. A grant of $2,000 from Junior League supported the library, with the rest of the funding coming from...
While smoking dope and ‘finding themselves,’ Canadian youth were crossing the country in large numbers during the late 1960s and early 70s. It was a lifestyle most cities and towns were unprepared to deal with. Social supports were slowly being put into place, but never without controversy. To enable a large-scale professional discussion of this problem,...
Although it was the general concern for youth encountering the drug culture that prompted the original Drug Advisory committee members to come together, there was a much more pressing issue for the larger Calgary community. Sex, drugs and rock and roll would be infecting McMahon Stadium on July 4 and 5th of 1970, by way...
