Training and Education
This training and education hub was created to help Edmontonians come together to support one another in living happier, more meaningful lives. Whether you're caring for family, friends, coworkers, or even strangers, we all play a role in looking out for each other.
These courses are designed to support your growth—whether you're a peer, a service provider, or someone just trying to help. Topics include mental health and addictions, suicide prevention, peer support, poverty and housing, parenting, and more. All trainings emphasize approaches that are fair, trauma-informed, culturally sensitive, and rooted in community values. See a calendar view of upcoming locally offered training →
Understanding Your Child's Behaviour – Norwood Child and Family Resource Centre
Learn about the science behind your child’s behaviour and how to nurture healthy and happy relationships with your family.
To register: Norwood - Courses
The Brain Architecture Game – Norwood Child and Family Resource Centre
This tabletop game builds understanding of the powerful role of experiences on early brain development: what promotes it, what derails it, and with what consequences to society.
Learn about toxic, tolerable, and positive stress, and how to build a brain!
To register: Norwood - Courses
Setting Boundaries and Limits with Children – Norwood Child and Family Resource Centre
Together with other parents, learn tips to support setting up rules, limits, boundaries, and realistic expectations for you and your child.
To register: Norwood - Courses
Play: The Work of Childhood – Norwood Child and Family Resource Centre
Discuss the parent’s role in play and learn how to set up your home environments to keep your children safe, engaged, and growing through play.
To register: Norwood - Courses
Handle with Care – Norwood Child and Family Resource Centre
This group focuses on supporting children’s mental health.
We focus on four building blocks: attachment, relationships with others, expressing emotions, and promoting self-esteem.
To register: Norwood - Courses
Empowered Parenting – Norwood Child and Family Resource Centre
Participants in this group will discuss developing positive relationships and positive parenting skills such as health, safety, behaviour and development of children, through interactive activities, videos, and conversations.
The goal of this group is for parents to learn positive parenting techniques and develop skills for success.
To register: Norwood - Courses
Masterclass in Stress Management: Supporting Kids Mental Well-Being - Strong Mind Strong Kids Psychology Canada
In this dynamic 1-hour virtual workshop, participants will gain essential insights into stress and resilience—key skills for helping young people navigate life’s inevitable ups and downs.
In this workshop participants will learn to:
Recognize the signs and symptoms of stress in children and youth.
Understand what stress feels like from a child’s perspective.
Identify common stressors and their impact.
Reframe stress as an opportunity for growth.
Equip young people with effective coping and problem-solving strategies.
Perfect for parent nights and professionals working with children and youth, this session offers an introduction to practical tools to foster resilience and well-being in the next generation.
To register: SMSKPC – Workshops
Teaching Traditional Parenting – The Family Centre
Discover the rich traditions of Indigenous parenting (miyo opikinawasowin) with our workshop, "Teaching Traditional Parenting".
This immersive experience, facilitated in ceremony, provides an overview of Indigenous parenting concepts and practices, including the history, legacy, and intergenerational impacts of colonization on parenting.
In this 6-hour workshop, participants will:
Learn about moss bags, cradleboards, swings, baby rattles, Indigenous stories, and tipi teachings
Gain a deeper understanding of nêhiyaw parenting from an Indigenous worldview
Acquire practical tools to help their service users integrate these concepts into their homes
The core of this workshop was developed by the late Janet Fox from the Onion Lake Cree First Nation.
To register: TFC – Indigenous Teachings
Parenting Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers – The Family Centre
The Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers workshop helps take some of the guesswork out of parenting by helping you better understand why children behave the way they do up to the age of five.
As a parent of a child under five, every day is an exciting challenge full of surprises. You never really know what to expect next when it comes to things like language, learning, or physical activity. And then there are those temper tantrums that seem to flare up out of nowhere! At times, you may feel like nothing you do as a parent is working. We’ll offer positive strategies to help you guide your children’s behaviour and provide a nurturing home, while you take care of yourself.
Who can attend:
Any caregiver who is parenting a child between 18 months and five years old.
Caregivers interested in establishing positive parenting practices in toddlers or preschoolers.
You will build skills for parenting toddlers and preschoolers by understanding:
What to expect as your child develops
Your parenting style and how it affects your child
Why children behave the way they do
How to positively guide behaviours
What bonding is and why it’s important
How ‘play’ helps develop physical, intellectual, and social skills
How to encourage confidence
How to better communicate with children
How to deal with misbehaviour and tantrums
How to potty train
How to care of yourself
By the end of the session, you will feel more comfortable:
Creating effective parenting strategies and giving positive feedback
Addressing misbehaviour or other issues
Setting boundaries, limits, and guidelines
Communicating with your child or children
Providing a nurturing home environment
Minimizing the negative effects of divorce or separation (if applicable), and
Solving day-to-day problems and challenges
Cost:
Group workshop: $150 per person.
Private session: $325
We are dedicated to supporting families of all income levels. We offer a subsidy for attending the group workshop for this class, thanks to funding from the City of Edmonton Family and Community Support Services.
If needed, you can apply for a subsidy by selecting one of the subsidy options in the registration form.
To register: TFC – PTPS
Parenting School Age Children – The Family Centre
Learn how to support your child when they are between the ages of 5 and 11.
When your child turns 5, they start to gain a new level of independence. Between the ages of 5 and 11, they spend more time at school, with friends, and participating in extra-curricular activities. This means they are spending less time with you under your direct supervision and care.
Since you can’t be there to solve all of your child’s problems as they occur, you need skills to teach them to be independent and make positive choices. The Parenting School Age Children workshop offers a way to help you understand how they’re growing up and the type of role you should have with them as they go through the school years.
Who can attend:
Any caregiver who is parenting a child between 5 and 11 years old
Caregivers interested in establishing positive parenting practices or addressing challenges in school age children
You will build skills for parenting school-age children by understanding:
What to expect as your child grows and develops
Your parenting style and how it affects your child
Why school-age children behave the way they do
How to positively guide behaviours
How to better communicate with your child
What bonding is and why it’s important
Ways to teach your child problem-solving skills
The ins and outs of self-esteem
Discipline strategies
Internet safety
Chores – what to expect and when
What drives power struggles and how to address them
How to care for yourself during this stage
By the end of the session, you will feel more comfortable:
Creating effective parenting strategies and giving positive feedback
Addressing misbehaviour or other issues
Setting boundaries, limits, and guidelines
Communicating with your child
Providing a nurturing home environment
Minimizing the negative effects of divorce or separation (if applicable), and
Solving day-to-day problems and challenges
How much does it cost?
Group workshops: $150 per person.
Private session: $325
We are dedicated to supporting families of all income levels. We offer a subsidy for attending the group workshop for this class, thanks to funding from the City of Edmonton Family and Community Support Services.
If needed, you can apply for a subsidy by selecting one of the subsidy options in the registration form.
To register: TFC - PSAC
Empowering Parents – KARA Family Resource Centre
Join us for an inspiring session designed to boost your confidence, calm, and connection.
Discover practical, uplifting tips on positive parenting, building confident children, and caring for yourself along the way. These supportive sessions are here to empower you on your parenting journey.
To register: KARA – Programs
Parenting After Separation (PAS) – Government of Alberta
PAS is an e-Course to help parents and guardians make positive choices about how they will continue to parent their children after separation.
PAS provides parents with information about the separation and divorce process, the effects of separation and divorce on children, techniques for communication and legal information that affects parents and children.
PAS and PASHC e-Courses are available in English and French at no cost.
To register: GoA – PAS
Parenting After Separation High Conflict (PASHC) - Government of Alberta
PASHC is an e-Course available to all parents and guardians who have completed the PAS course and are experiencing more intense, long-lasting conflict during their separation.
PASHC provides information and strategies to help reduce the level of conflict between separated parents and help minimize the negative impacts of parental conflict on children.
PAS and PASHC e-Courses are available in English and French at no cost.
To register: GoA – PASHC
Birth & Babies – Alberta Health Services
A prenatal education program for pregnant women and their partners in Edmonton and Area.
This program is available in varying durations, from 2 weeks to 5 weeks, or on weekends. Each class is two hours long. Classroom topics are determined in real time and may change from group to group and class to class. Topics often include when to go to the hospital, the labour process, coping strengths & strategies for both mom and the support person, postpartum care, newborn feeding & care basics, finding credible information on the internet and more.
We recommend bringing with you: water bottle/snacks, a mat (to try out labor positions/massage) and printed resources sent to you by your facilitator for activities. Hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes will be provided in class.
It is recommended that a series ending approximately 4 weeks prior to the expected due date be selected whenever possible. If this is not possible, please choose a class that works best for you.
If you require financial support to attend a class please call 780-342-2833 or email birthandbabiesedmonton@albertahealthservices.ca.
To register: AHS – B&B
Best Beginning Program - Alberta Health Services
Best Beginning is a free supportive health service for pregnant women who are facing challenges.
This program is designed for women who:
Need information to make healthy choices during pregnancy
Feel alone and isolated
Face language or cultural barriers
Are living on a low income
We offer:
Support from social workers, nurses, dietitians, and outreach workers
Group health education and peer support
Children's programming (1-6 yrs)
Healthy snacks and time to connect with other pregnant women
Community and Health Resources
To register: AHS - BBP
Introduction to Family Literacy – Centre for Family Literacy
A 2-part training prerequisite for certificate training that covers the fundamentals of building literacy in families.
Part One – Family Literacy Fundamentals
Explore the fundamentals of Family Literacy and expand your understanding of the role literacy plays in the life of children, their parents/caregivers, and the community.
The workshop will explore:
A brief history of literacy
What is literacy?
Core concepts of family literacy
Best practices in family literacy
Explore the different types of family literacy programs
Part Two – Connecting How We Learn
Examine the connection between the family and emergent literacy, early literacy and adult literacy.
This workshop looks at the process of early literacy development in children starting at birth and connects to best practices in working with adults. We will explore why both are important in family literacy programs and how these connections, and therefore the learning, can be strengthened.
To register: CFL – Certificate Training
Rhymes that Bind – Centre for Family Literacy
Rhymes that Bind training provides participants with the necessary information, resources and skills to facilitate their own Rhymes that Bind program in their community.
Rhymes that Bind promotes oral language development in babies and toddlers, as parents/caregivers learn how to support and enjoy learning through rhymes, finger plays, songs and simple movement games with their children in a safe, supportive peer group.
To register: CFL – Certificate Training
Books for Babies – Centre for Family Literacy
Books for Babies training provides participants with the necessary information, resources and skills to facilitate their own Books for Babies program in their community.
Books for Babies is a facilitated program for parents/caregivers and their babies, up to 12 months old. The program introduces parents/caregivers to various ways they can support their child’s early literacy and language experiences, encourages daily book sharing and, in doing so, helps promote healthy family relationships.
To register: CFL – Certificate Training
Books Offer Our Kids Success – Centre for Family Literacy
B.O.O.K.S is a facilitated program for parents/caregivers of preschoolers. This program models book sharing strategies, explores book themes and the connections to everyday life and extends on book content by incorporating a variety of different literacy activities into the sessions.
Some of these activities include: crafts, journaling, cooking and more! Parents/caregivers are given the opportunity to borrow books to share at home with their children along with ideas for extending and practicing the learning. The B.O.O.K.S program provides an informal setting where parents and caregivers develop their understanding of their role in their children’s literacy development.
To register: CFL – Certificate Training
Storysacks – Centre for Family Literacy
Storysacks training provides the participant with the necessary information, resources and skills to facilitate their own Storysacks program in their community.
Storysacks is a program in which parents/caregivers, volunteers and community members work together to make Storysacks as a means of supporting the early literacy skills of preschool children in their community.
Participants learn how to create props and scenery related to a storybook, representations of its main characters, an audio recording and a game based on the book. Storysacks may be used in a variety of settings, including family literacy programs, the classroom, children’s organizations, daycares, libraries and in the home. The program encourages parents/caregivers who may be facing barriers, such as low income, literacy issues, and lack of resources, to spend time together in a safe and constructive environments.
To register: CFL – Certificate Training