Community Animators play a vital role in the Rural Mental Health Network (RMHN). As volunteer facilitative leaders, they work alongside their communities to foster inclusion, amplify local voices, and support grassroots action for mental health and wellness. Rather than acting as experts or service providers, Animators help guide community-led efforts—building connections, nurturing collaboration, and creating space for meaningful dialogue and local solutions.

This foundational role begins with Animator training, which prepares individuals to take on this leadership journey with confidence, care, and a deep understanding of community-based approaches to mental health.

Who Can Be a Community Animator?

Anyone living outside Alberta's seven largest urban centres—Calgary, Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, and Red Deer—can become a Community Animator. Community members should be passionate about mental health and wellbeing and be ready to:

• Build relationships rooted in trust and collaboration
• Engage in open and inclusive conversations
• Champion local strengths and lived experiences
• Support grassroots action and collective learning

There are no formal credentials needed to become an Animator. We value lived experience, local knowledge, and a commitment to building mentally healthy communities.

Key Responsibilities

Community Animators often collaborate with an Action Team—a small group of local champions who help design and implement community-led mental health strategies.

Connecting People

• Bring together individuals, groups, organizations, and services in the community.
• Encourage collaboration and build relationships based on trust, mutual respect, and shared purpose.
• Create opportunities for shared learning and network-building among community members.

Facilitating Conversations

• Lead open, inclusive discussions about mental health and wellbeing.
• Use dialogue—not debate—to explore community perspectives, priorities, and experiences.
• Practice active listening, asking meaningful questions, and creating safe spaces for sharing.

Driving Action

• Support communities in developing locally driven Action Plans.
• Help generate ideas and support small, safe-to-fail experiments and initiatives.
• Emphasize iterative learning—helping communities adapt and grow over time.

Empowering Communities

• Amplify community voices rather than imposing solutions.
• Recognize and build on local strengths, skills, and lived experience.
• Model humility, inclusion, and curiosity while navigating complexity and ambiguity.
• Share your own learning journey with other Animators to support mutual growth.

What an Animator IS:

• A connector, facilitator, and peer learner.
• Comfortable with uncertainty and open to new ideas.
• A partner in collaborative planning and design.
• A role model for community inclusion, participation, and wellbeing.

What an Animator IS NOT:

• A mental health expert, service navigator, or clinician.
• A program owner or sole leader of community change.
• Someone with a pre-set agenda or fixed answers.
• Responsible for delivering or managing services.

Training Approach

Animator training is the beginning of an ongoing learning journey. It focuses on upstream, community-based understandings of mental health—viewing mental wellbeing as something that is influenced by the social, cultural, economic, and environmental conditions in which people live. Rather than diagnosing problems or implementing outside solutions, Animators are prepared to engage with communities to uncover what matters most to them.

The training introduces concepts of community development and collective action, emphasizing collaboration, shared learning, and emergent solutions. Animators are not trained to push their own agendas or introduce programs they personally believe would be beneficial. Instead, they are equipped to support meaningful conversations, build connections, and streamline processes that lead to lasting and sustainable change—always in partnership with the community.

Training supports Animators in building confidence, sharing experiences, and participating in a supportive network—without prescribing a rigid approach. It sets the stage for long-term engagement and growth, both individually and collectively.

Animator Network & Support

Upon joining the RMHN, Animators gain access to the Mighty Networks platform—a digital space that connects them with fellow Animators across Alberta. Through this platform, they can share stories, ask questions, collaborate on ideas, and access ongoing learning resources.

Animators are also welcomed into a broader social impact network, joining many others who are contributing to mental health and wellness in rural communities across Alberta. This network provides support, inspiration, and connection beyond the local level, helping Animators feel part of a collective movement toward meaningful, community-led change.

In many communities, there is more than one Animator—and that’s intentional. Animators are encouraged to work together locally, share responsibilities, and support one another in navigating this complex and relational work. While each Animator brings their own strengths, this is not work meant to be done alone. Collaboration is core to the role and contributes to a more sustainable and supported approach to community leadership.

Backbone Organizations are essential community partners within the Rural Mental Health Network. These are local, community-based organizations—such as non-profits, registered charities, or organizations affiliated with local governments (e.g., FCSS offices, First Nations, Métis Settlements, municipalities, municipal districts, or special areas)—that support the work of Community Animators.

To access the Community Development Fund or apply for Community Grants, each community must have a designated Backbone Organization. This ensures that funds are held and administered by an established entity with appropriate governance and financial oversight, in alignment with community priorities.

Whether identifying potential Animators or supporting individuals who step forward, Backbone Organizations play a vital role in fostering relationships, amplifying local efforts, and helping Animators and Action Teams bring community-led mental health initiatives to life. To be effective in this role, Backbone Organization should possess certain characteristics, such as:

• Maintaining a broad view of mental health, wellness, and mentally healthy communities, and using this knowledge to support the efforts of the Animator and Action Team.
• Amplifying and upholding the visions and goals of the Action Team for a mentally healthy community, and helping to facilitate the implementation of action plans, directions, actions and activities.
• Assisting in preserving the social infrastructure of the Action Team to support ongoing community-led discussions and decision-making.
• Avoiding becoming prescriptive in Action Team meetings to ensure that all community members have an equal voice and the opportunity to participate.
• Encouraging the maintenance of action plans and connections to the Rural Mental Health Network.
• Supporting the development of a culture of respect and collective learning within the community.
• Building supportive relationships across the community and encouraging ongoing participation and community-led leadership.
• Sharing information about the project to interested stakeholders to promote awareness and understanding of the work being done by the Animator and Action Team.

Role (Required):

• Review and sign a Letter of Understanding with the Canadian Mental Health Association, Alberta Division and Centre for Suicide Prevention (CMHA AB + CSP), that outlines the terms and expectations of the relationship between CMHA AB + CSP, the Backbone Organization and the Animator
  • The contact person at the Backbone Organization should have the authority to sign documents
• Dedicate one organizational contact that will support the Animator
  • If the person with signing authority does not have the capacity to check-in with the RMH Team and the Animator, another person within the organization can be assigned to fulfill this role.
  • By assigning another person to handle these check-ins, the Backbone Organization can ensure that there is always someone available to communicate with the Animator and Action Team to address and support any concerns that may arise.
• Establish a process for accessing funds from CMHA AB and CSP and support the community in developing a plan to use those funds in alignment with the agreed-upon pathway.
  • Community Discovery Fund (if eligible): A small, kick-start fund available for new Animators—used over the first 3 to 12 months—to help build relationships and host community conversations that surface the initiatives that matter most locally.
• Submit a project Summary Report (template will be given) to CMHA AB + CSP at the end of the funding term, reflecting your experience supporting the Animator and journey with the Rural Mental Health Network.

Role (not required, but nice to have):

• If available, support Animator(s) to submit, manage, and report back on funding provided through CMHA AB + CSP to support the success of community-generated activities and reducing barriers to participation.
• Funding of community-led activities
• Support the Animator(s) in their role, as necessary. This will vary but includes:
• Assisting in connecting Animator(s) with community stakeholders
• Providing in-kind donations (e.g. meeting space, refreshments, technological support)
• Relational support to Animator(s) and Action Team members.
• Support Action Team’s transformational activities throughout implementation

Training is delivered through 7 modules through 10 hours of online learning and 4 days of live virtual sessions with the RMH team.

Attendance is mandatory on the virtual training days and you must be present for all 4 days in order to receive a certificate of completion.

• Free and Accessible: Training is offered at no cost, and participants are even compensated for their time.
• Self-Paced and Live Sessions: Training includes online self-directed modules and live virtual sessions to support flexible learning.
• Practical Tools and Support: Participants gain facilitation skills, mental health knowledge, and tools to lead meaningful conversations and action plans. 

Once training is complete, Community Animators can access funding to support their community-driven initiatives. 

Learn more about what training involves in the Training Modules breakdown below.

The RMHN training consists of 7 modules that guide participants through understanding the project, exploring their community, and taking action: 

What happens after training?

After completing Module 7: 

• Certificate of Completion: Animators receive a certificate recognizing their achievement. 

• Community Discovery Fund: A $2650 fund is provided to Animators through a local organization to support their work. Learn more below!

• Eligibility for Grants: Animators can apply for additional RMHN Community Grants to fund their initiatives. 

Community Animating takes time, effort, and sometimes, money. We recognize this and so provide Community Animators with a Community Discovery Fund after completing training. 

The Community Discovery Fund is $2650 provided by CMHA AB & CSP to Community Animators through their local community-based organization (backbone organization).

Please note: Eligibility for the Community Discovery Fund is determined on a case-by case basis.

The table below breaks down how the funding can be used, with examples.

2026 Dates

Winter 2026 Training Schedule: 

• January 29 – Online training launch 

• February 25 & March 4 – Virtual Training: Modules 3 & 4 

• March 18 & 25 – Virtual Training: Modules 5 & 6 

Spring 2026 Training Schedule: 

• April 28 – Online training launch 

• May 27 & June 3 – Virtual Training: Modules 3 & 4 

• June 17 & 24 – Virtual Training: Modules 5 & 6 

Fall 2026 Training Schedule: 

• September 29 – Online training launch 

• October 28 & November 4 – Virtual Training: Modules 3 & 4 

• November 18 & November 25 – Virtual Training: Modules 5 & 6