Rise Coffee - Community Events

Riseup Society Alberta is a registered charity providing free counselling to those impacted by intimate partner violence in the greater Edmonton area and further rural areas. Our counselling is available to all survivors of violence regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, cultural, spirituality, or other factor. Because intimate partner violence disproportionately impacts women, many of our clients identify as female. In addition to counselling, we also provide community education about mental health and healthy relationships. Recently, we have hired a social worker part time in an Elder Abuse position. This position has been funded through a grant to address a gap in services in Leduc County and surrounding area. Currently, we are able to staff the Social Worker two days a week. Our Social Worker meets with elders in the community who are experiencing any form of abuse, they then provide support through connection to resources, support with applications, safety planning, and emotional support.

This summer, Riseup Society launched our ongoing fundraiser/social enterprise- Rise Coffee. Rise Coffee has a physical café in Nisku located within the Business and Entrepreneur Centre as well as a coffee cart which can be taken to public events. All funds from Rise Coffee sales return to Riseup Society Alberta to fund free counselling sessions.

An issue that we have experienced in our work is that, often, people do not want to talk about mental health or abuse in relationships. We have found that older adults are particularly hard to reach about these issues as they are very stigmatized within this population. We believe that this stigma often prevents seniors from being able to identify or report abuse and keeps them from access to services.

In speaking with seniors at community events, we have heard a frequent theme of seeking connection in the retirement years. We often heard seniors talk about meeting friends for lunch or a coffee. We believe that community is a key part of successful aging. We hope that we can use a donation from Field Law to encourage older adults to connect at Rise Coffee, where they can see local resources and connect with our social worker to reduce the stigma associated with seeking help. The donation would allow us to host regular meet-ups and events directed primarily towards seniors to increase the accessibility of resources. 

This program will primarily benefit older adults by increasing their awareness and understanding of mental health and abuse. The hope is that this will encourage seniors to check in with their friends and loved ones about difficult topics such as abuse and mental health thereby reducing stigma and increasing willingness to access help.

Because these programs would be open to the wider community, we hope that it will increase community connection and understanding of mental health and abuse. By having our social worker available in a public setting like this, we are making access to resources more easily available. Likewise, by decreasing social isolation we can improve the mental health of community members.