In A Good Way is located in Brandon. The project is
sponsored by the Brandon
Friendship Centre (BFC), which provides a range of services and
programs to the Aboriginal community in the Brandon area.
In A Good Way focuses on providing
supports and services to Aboriginal children age 0-6 and their families in
the Brandon area, which has experienced high pregnancy rates among Aboriginal
adolescents. In A Good Way was developed and
opened in 1994 by BFC primarily to address the gap in services for young
parents. Its programs address parenting issues, reproductive health,
self-empowerment, self-care (including addictions issues) and family
recreation. Participants play an important role in the development of
programs and services.
The
experience of the project over its first few years led to an expansion of
focus to include older parents. The expansion was necessitated because many
of the adolescent parents continued to have babies past age 17, and because
many of the parents were not ready to work actively on their personal
development until they were older (in general, 20 to 21 years).
The
most important feature of In A Good Way's service approach is the
integration of CAPC programming with a Canadian Prenatal Nutrition Program
and an Aboriginal Head Start program, all sponsored by BFC. The three
programs together can offer supports to children from the prenatal stage
until entry into school. Accessibility is another important feature of the
IAGW approach; transportation and childcare are provided for all IAGW
programs.
"In a Good Way has been very helpful to me. I was feeling very lost and if
it wasn't for your help and your understanding, I don't know what I would
have done or where me and my baby would be. Me and
my daughter are
very lucky to have you for support."
Contact:
Mavis
Canada : Coordinator
321-9th Street
Brandon, MB
R7A
4A8
Ph: (204) 571-0670
Fax: (204) 571-1949
goodway@mts.net
