The Alberta Foster and Kinship Association, in collaboration with Little Warriors, is beginning the much-anticipated pilot project for caregiver supports! The group support portion of the pilot is kicking off March 14th, 2022! 

These support groups aim to offer:

• Provide small group support/psycho-educational and processing groups (online)

• Information sharing for approximately 30 minutes, based on themes for each session

• Provide clinical and therapeutic/coaching support for the remaining time of approximately 1 hour, to provide a space for people to express, discuss and process

Additional Details/Eligibility:

• Pre-registration required

• Must be an AFKA Caregiver Member

• Max 40 Participants per session – registration will close once maximum reached

• Each participant must register with a unique email address

Facilitator Bios

Dr. Wanda Polzin, MA, RCSW, EdD

Dr. Wanda Polzin has over 25 years of counselling and clinical experience working with children, youth and families across various domains including Health/Mental Health and Addictions, Children and Family Services, as well as Education.

Dr. Polzin has a Doctorate of Education (EdD) in Counselling Psychology, a Masters Degree (MA) in Counselling Psychology and is a Registered Clinical Social Worker. Dr. Polzin’s clinical training is multi-faceted, with specialization in Attachment, Trauma, EMDR, AAT, Neurobiofeedback, Family Therapy, Clinical Hypnotherapy, and Concurrent Addiction and Mental Health interventions. She has a deep passion and energy for working with children and caregivers, particularly in the area of attachment-based caregiving, trauma and trauma-informed care, family systems, complex case needs (dual diagnosis), evidence-based practices, supporting resiliency, and promoting wellness.

Melissa Jones, BEd, MEd, CPC

Melissa Jones, AFKA Executive Director, will co-facilitate this session. Melissa has many years of experience and knowledge in the world of foster and kinship care having been with the AFKA for 10 years, as well as being a bio-child of a foster family and an adoptive mom. She has training in a variety of areas, all of them converging to help her focus on application of knowledge and need for awareness, connection, appreciation, and celebration to be most effective in the daily roles we all participate in.

See below for upcoming session dates, links to register and recent changes! 

Please note that the group session that was originally scheduled for March 21st has been cancelled. Registrants have been notified via email and we will send out notification when it has been rescheduled and registration opened to our email list.

The group session, Connection Before Correction: Attachment Based Parenting and “Kit Time” Basics  is being rescheduled from March 28th to Monday, March 21st. Registration for this will open on the morning of Monday, March 14th.