In January of 1994, AADAC added a province-wide Gambling Line to their services. The government had put newly available VLTs in all the bars and casinos and people were getting hooked on them, something which is still true today. Gaylene Heidt, who became the first co-ordinator, remembers: “AADAC was giving funding for problem gambling. When AADAC trained...
With its roots as a Drug Information Centre, Distress Centre has always had addiction support as a mandate. In September of 1990, as part of the desired expansion of services, there was a return to the use of young recovering addicts via the start-up of a new Youth Drug Line (YDL). As Jeanette noted, drug...
Happy Anniversary! Twenty years after its beginnings as the Drug Information Centre, Calgary Mayor Al Duerr proclaimed Distress Centre/Drug Centre week, March 18-24, 1990. Jeanette commented on various highlights over time. After 20 years, staff with higher qualifications were being hired, responding to much broader crises concerns, and offering a more diverse crisis counselling service. In...
Counselling continued to be a key aspect of the Distress Centre/Drug Centre services. At the 10th anniversary reception, Jeanette noted that there were 1000 counselling and referral calls coming in a month, along with 65 drop-ins. On-site counselling had increased 32% over 1979. The Centre was still the only agency that offered free, confidential, immediate...
Image: Volunteer in a 1982 newspaper. During the 80s, The Board of Directors was able to move slowly towards more of a governance-only role. Funding and fundraising were the exceptions; that remained hands-on. As noted in the 1981 Annual Report: “Financial management for the coming year will be a major challenge for Jeanette and the Board.” Volunteers...
Image: This image of volunteers appeared in our 20 year anniversary publication in 1990. At the 1980 AGM, Jeanette McEachern was proud to say the Centre had a solid volunteer training program, a good funding base and an active and responsible volunteer group. She also remarked that “other centres wrestle with the same problems we do:...
Image: Appeared in our 20 year anniversary publication in 1990. By 1980, the first location of the Drug Information Centre had turned into Bandito’s Bar. The second location, in the basement of what was known as the Old Y building, was becoming problematic due to limited space and ongoing facility issues. As Katie Black remembers: “The bathroom...
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...
