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Krasman Centre relocates to temporary location

July 28, 2022   ·   0 Comments

Alliston’s Krasman Centre has found a new home after several weeks of having to stop on-site operations after a fire.

The fire took place at an adjoining building on Paris Street and caused damage to the Kasman Centre requiring extensive renovations to make the building habitable.

After several weeks of searching for a temporary location, the Centre has partnered with the Town of New Tecumseth and will be located at Alliston Memorial Arena for the duration of the renovation.

They are hoping to get back into their building by 2023.

The arena will serve the organization well as it is close to their normal location and also provide kitchen and shower facilities.

The Krasman Centre hosted a barbecue on Friday, July 22, to welcome visitors and let people know where they are. Along with the barbecue they will be celebrating Mad Pride.

The Mad Pride movement celebrates and empowers psychiatric survivors, consumers, and those labelled as “mentally ill.” The Krasman Centre is committed to empower mad communities and challenging the stigma and oppression that so many people living with mental health face every day.

“I went to the Memorial Arena and had a tour with the Town people and Parks and Rec, and we decided the actual arena hallway is perfect because we don’t need a lot space,” explained Cathleen Marengeur, South Simcoe Outreach Peer Supporter. “We needed a kitchen area in order to have food for peers who might need it – who come by and may be living rough and need some food. And something we didn’t have before, but we can offer now, is showers, because of the change rooms.”

The Krasman Centre offers peer support in a non-clinical setting.

“We’re a peer support survival initiative program,” Ms. Marengeur said. “It’s for people who have had a mental illness or in a journey – where ever they are in their journey. We’re peer support so we have a non-clinical environment. We provide services for people who have ‘have lived’ experience, meaning everyone who works for the Krasman Centre has lived experience with either mental health or substance abuse challenges. We support them where they are. It doesn’t matter to us if they are actively using or not, or in crisis. We support them however we can.”

The move to the arena will allow the Krasman Centre to continue their valuable work, and allow those needing their services to find a safe place close to the old location.

“We’re not case managers,” Ms. Marengeur explained. “We don’t tell people what to do; we support people along the way as they decide what to do. People who use a peer support model seem to have a better outcome as they have more say in their care.”

The barbecue celebration will let people who need their services know where they have re-located and allow them to pass the word to others.

By Brian Lockhart

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