SHAUNAVON — This spring’s Age-Friendly Shaunavon Wellness Day included a presentation on elder abuse by local counsellor, Cindy Willms.
June 15 was National Elder Abuse Awareness Day. The information she shared shed some light on the issues impacting elder abuse, including social isolation.
“Caregiving can turn unhealthy, leading to elder abuse, caregiver burnout and codependency,” Wilms says.
“People can slide into that without intending to. There may be a false sense of comfort and safety. Community and connection are key. There is a need for support for caregivers, too, which can help prevent circumstances where elder abuse occurs.”
Willms has been practising from her Prairie Creek counselling office in Shaunavon since August 2024. She obtained her master of counselling from Briercrest College and is a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC), registered with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. Caregiver support and elder abuse are just two of the issues that may impact mental health.
"Anxiety is so prevalent now. When we have anxiety, we try to control our environment, which makes our circle smaller and smaller,” Willms says.
“This leads to even more anxiety when we are outside of that ‘bubble.’”
Anxiety, depression, ADHD, relationship issues and grief are the most prevalent mental health issues that Willms has seen. She is taking additional training in ADHD to be able to provide more specialized services.
“ADHD affects adults, too. We need more work in recognizing it and ways to address it at home, work/school, and to build support around those who have ADHD.”
An education degree and years of teaching experience led her to Shaunavon in 2011 when she began teaching at-risk youth at Rock Solid Refuge. Through teaching, she realized that the part she loved most was the one-on-one opportunity to work with struggling students.
“Journeying with someone to find their value and potential is so rewarding,” she says.
After seven and a half years at Rock Solid, she became the associate for Family Ministries with Shaunavon Alliance Church.
“I loved that role and it really confirmed that my calling was in counselling. At Briercrest, I was also able to do my practicum through a project they were doing, counselling people in ministry.”
Most of that project was conducted virtually. Willms does offer both in-person and virtual counselling and provides services for some Employee Assistance Plans through insurance companies.
“Virtual and telephone counselling can be more effective than I once thought,” says Willms. She also travels to Frontier every couple of weeks to provide in-person services in that community.
Willms is taking her services one step further by introducing “Walk and Talk,” an in-person counselling opportunity in nature at Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. Through a vendor licence with SaskParks, Willms will be offering one-on-one sessions in nature.
“I first saw this idea on a poster in Austin, Texas, while I visited there as part of my internship. There is therapeutic value in walking, with less formality and intimidation. Just being in nature creates mindfulness.”
These sessions began in June with openings on most Fridays and Saturdays. Sessions are one hour in length.
“I will have lawn chairs so that we can sit and take a break along the way, or maybe we end up sitting for the whole session. I’m also open to the idea of Walk and Talk in other locations, based on clients’ requests."
“Counselling is relationship-based. People can have a safe, supportive, non-judgmental environment to process what might be going on in their life,” Willms says.
She stresses again that it’s all about community and connection.
“Community helps us find value and purpose and sustains some of the one-on-one benefits that professional counselling provides. There is a lot of social isolation and, despite its name, social media actually intensifies division and isolation. When we don’t have community and connection, then we have mental health struggles.”
She adds that she has observed and experienced that Shaunavon, generally speaking, does a great job of providing that support for its residents.
Prairie Creek Counselling is located at 420-Centre St. in Shaunavon and Willms can be reached by telephone at 306-910-3649 or visit the website at prairiecreekcounselling.com to learn more.
