Health & Wellness | DrumhellerMail

Health & Wellness: Wheatland County Counselling offers local support to Drumheller and area

Wheatland County Counselling

1) What services does your office offer? Wheatland County Counselling is a full service Psychology practice offering therapy to individuals, couples and families of all ages. The practice has a team of four therapists, each with unique training and experience.

2) Do you find people are hesitant to seek mental health treatments? The biggest barrier many face can be financial. Those without extended health benefits can see the cost of private therapy prohibitive. The Town of Drumheller offers a subsidy program to help those who may see this as a barrier. Additionally, stigma can be a barrier for many.

3) How important is Mental health for young people? Mental health is just as important, if not more important, in children as adults. Children do not have the cognitive capacity to identify, process, and at times, appropriately express emotions. Instead feelings can be internalized and children will complain of stomach aches, headaches, or become defiant or withdrawn. Childhood adjustment often carries through into adulthood, especially when concerns are not addressed; early intervention is key. A marker I often tell parents is that when a child’s sleep pattern changes or when their daily mood is drastically different than usual it may be worthwhile to have them seen.

4) When should somebody reach out for external help? Changes or disruptions to sleep, appetite, and daily mood are all markers for clinical levels of mental illness. If someone finds themselves struggling with stress, sleep or mood on more days than not, it may be worthwhile to seek support.

5) What can a person do to maintain their mental health? Through my training, I believe in a biopsychosocial approach to mental wellness. This means biological, psychological, and social aspects all interact to contribute to overall mental health. Biological factors include how a person eats, sleeps, their genetics, and how much exercise they get. Psychological aspects relate to a person’s thinking patterns, which for many of us, can become negative or develop unhealthy patterns (this is where therapy with someone appropriately trained can be incredibly helpful). Finally, social aspects of a person’s life will also contribute to mental wellness. This includes a person’s family life, life with friends, life at school or work, etc. Mental wellness comes from balance and health in each of these three areas.

Health & Wellness: Drumheller Freson Bros. set to expand health food section

Healthy Choice Freson Bros

Consumer tastes for healthier food choices is leading Drumheller’s Freson Bros. to expand their ‘healthy choices’ section to provide shoppers with even more food selections that are good for you.

In the not too distant future, the grocery store will be looking to reconfigure their floor layout to accommodate a larger healthy choices section in an expansion which manager Ken Richmond says reflects the needs of their customers.

“People’s buying habits have changed and we, as retailers, have got to adapt. That area will be expanding to enable us to adapt to their needs,” he said.

A sense of increased awareness of the food customers eat, as well as a healthy food market which continues to drop in price, bringing them more in line with costs traditional groceries, has lead to a change in shopper’s palettes for healthy options they understand. Freson Bros. also carries a selection of organic fruits and vegetables.

He says shoppers are more aware of what they are buying.

“They want to be able to understand the ingredient labels. They’re looking to support local products and right now with the news coverage on the issue, people are wanting to support and buy Canadian products,” he says.

With the expanded section will also come a new healthy choices manager responsible for bringing in great selections for the new department, as well as assist customers in choosing the right products.

Health & Wellness: Microgreens are an easy way to get your daily veggies

Eat More Greens

Rick Mason has known since the 90s the benefits of microgreens, but just in the last year he and his wife Eva have decided to start selling the produce which has been trending in foodie circles.

Microgreens are not the produce we are familiar with in grocery stores. They are harvested just after sprouting as shoots. Since becoming well-known in restaurant circles in the 90s, the food has been growing in popularity recently for both its visual appeal and the nutritional benefits. The stuff is filled with antioxidants and is high in nutrients, with some reports saying up to 40 times as much as their full grown counterparts, and their potency allows them to be easily added to almost any dish.

“Because they’re younger they’re higher in potency,” says Mason, adding that they are perfect for people who have a hard time eating all the vegetables they should in a day. “A small amount seems to fill you up quite quickly. A small amount goes a long way with these guys.”

The couple grow radish greens, sunflower greens, pea shoots, and buckwheat and more in their home.

“They’re really quite amazing. It’s also therapeutic looking out your window and seeing them growing on your window-sill when it’s minus 20 out. I totally encourage people to grow their own,” Rick said. “We want to help people eat better. When you go to the store you don’t know how long those vegetables have sat there, how long it takes to get to your plate, and you lose a lot of the nutrition.”

Rick and Eva currently sell their product out of their Morrin home and at a few restaurants, and people interested in buying some can contact them at 403-680-7037 or 403-991-2581. The couple plans to start selling their product at Drumheller farmer’s markets this year, where they plan to bring the growing plants directly and to cut them for customers right there.

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