Free courses through Recovery College will help with mental health strains of the Holiday Season

By ANNA SMITH Local Journalism Initiative on November 21, 2025.

asmith@medicinehatnews.com

The Holidays can be a source of great joy, but can also take a toll on peoples’ mental health; to help people get through the season, the Recovery College is holding a series of free courses.

The college is presented through a partnership between Medicine Hat Family Services and the Canadian Health Association.

“There’s a lot of pressure involved with the Holidays, and so we’ve tried to sort of curate some specific courses for this time of year that might be helpful for people,” says recovery college co-ordinator Angela Dunn.

Courses on offer include Conflict Resolution, Self Care Simplified, Alone But Not Lonely and Insights into Emotional Triggers. The focus, says Dunn, is to focus on some of the specific difficulties and pressures that can come up around the Holiday Season, such as family conflict, dealing with grief surrounding a first holiday without a loved one, or feeling overwhelmed regarding preparations.

All programs are available without charge to those who would benefit from them, alongside the Recovery College and Medicine Hat Family Services’ usual support groups and other programming.

Those interested are asked to go online to recoverycollegemedicinehat.ca to learn more or sign up for any programs.

“We also have some new courses coming up in the new year that might be relevant for that time of year,” said Dunn. “We’ve got one called Beating the Winter Blues that’s really helpful for people who struggle with seasonal affective disorder, or the general winter blues. There’s one coming up called ‘Why am I so tired?’ and also just some courses on goal setting for those New Year’s resolutions.”

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