LAKELAND - Portage College will be offering a new two-year addictions counselling program beginning in the fall of 2025.
The post-secondary institution, which has campuses in Lac La Biche, St. Paul, and Cold Lake, is receiving $620,000 in funding through the Alberta government’s Mental Health Professions Enrollment Expansion grant program. This funding will be used over a three-year period for the development and delivery of the addictions counselling program, which will be starting up next fall.
According to Gilbert Perras, the Dean of Career Programs at Portage College, the program has been requested by several of the college’s community partners, including First Nations and Métis settlements. He added that the application for funding from Alberta Advanced Education was based on requests from these community partners.
“We have heard from our community that this program is much needed,” Perras told Lakeland This Week.
Perras said graduates of the program-which is 60 credits over its two-year duration-will learn the skills to provide addictions counselling to individuals, groups, and families.
He continued by saying that there is a definite need in the region for more professionals who are trained in addictions counselling.
“We know that when local people are trained locally, they tend to stay and work in the community,” Perras said.
According to an information release from Portage College, the funding is part of a provincial investment designed to create new spaces in mental health-related programs in post-secondary institutions in Alberta.
Nancy Broadbent, president and CEO of Portage College, praised the new addictions counselling program.
“With this new program, we’ll equip students to make a meaningful impact in their communities,” said Broadbent.
Rajan Sawhney, Alberta’s minister of advanced education, said by expanding the amount of mental health-related programs across the province, the government is making sure that Alberta communities have a capable workforce that has the ability to mee the mental health needs of these communities for a long time into the future.
“Increasing the number of trained mental health professionals in our province will directly benefit families and vulnerable Albertans by making critical mental health services more accessible,” Sawhney stated.
Dr. Donna Feledichuk, Vice President of Academics and Research at Portage College explained that the college heard from its stakeholders regarding the pressing need for this program in the region.
“We are grateful to the Government of Alberta for providing the necessary funding, which allows us to meet the needs of the communities we serve,” she said.
