One simple word launched a 110+-year mission to provide treatment, support and care for young people in crisis. That word: yes. After being called to war, a First World War soldier asked Reverend George Wood if he would take in his two children so he could serve. Despite grieving the recent loss of his wife, Reverend Wood agreed. Soon he began saying yes to more children whose parents had either died or weren’t able to financial support them, opening his Innisfail home as an orphanage called Wood’s Christian Homes, in 1915. He worked closely with social worker Annie Jarvie and the two married in 1916.
The need soon outgrew their home, so the family moved to 30 acres in Olds in 1918. After Reverend Wood fractured his spine in a horse accident, the couple and 32 children relocated to Bowness in 1926 to be closer to medical facilities. Even after Reverend Wood’s passing in 1928 and Annie’s in 1939, Wood’s Homes, established as a non-denominational non-profit in 1923, carried on their legacy.
“That history of responding when there’s a need still really exists in our culture. In many ways, we started as an immediate foster home, saying yes to those two children, and their service grew significantly and very quickly,” says Bjorn Johansson, CEO of Wood’s Homes.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, more buildings were added to the 42 acres among the Douglas Fir trees, which is now a protected sanctuary, and the team continues to incorporate the forest landscape in therapeutic practices. Changes to child welfare regulations transitioned Wood’s Homes from an orphanage into a government- and community-funded social institution, and while the classification changed, the mandate remained: providing comprehensive, compassionate services for vulnerable children.
Today, Wood’s Homes operates more than 40 programs across 27 locations, delivering free, immediate mental health supports. A child’s stay can range from a few days to long-term care lasting 12 to 14 months. The organization offers services on a continuum with the goal of stabilizing the situation, healing hearts and minds, and reuniting families.
“When I started 35 years ago, a child who came here was not going back to live with their family. If you came into care, you grew up in care. The government was going to be your parent,” says Johansson. “That’s changed significantly in the last 15 years. That’s why this Family Centre was built, because no matter how much struggling you have in your family, or if bad things happen, your family should be a part of that treatment.”
The Bowness campus’ Vermillion Family Centre serves as a stepping stone to getting families back together. Two suites allow families to stay together with support from the Wood’s Homes professionals, whether it’s for intensive treatment weekends, supervised visits or to rebuild family connections. It also provides space for elders and knowledge keepers supporting Indigenous children and their families.
Beyond Calgary’s three campuses, program hubs in Lethbridge, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie and Strathmore support families through counselling, a more than 100-bed foster care network, group care, emergency shelters and life-skills programming. Many programs are community-based, but Wood’s Homes offers long-term programming as well. The Bowness and Parkdale campuses provide live-in treatment for children experiencing complex trauma, extreme behaviours and emotional disturbances, with 24/7 care from child youth care specialists, social workers and psychologists. As research into the effects of trauma evolves, so does their approach as well as their facilities. To better incorporate these advancements, Wood’s Homes is looking to renovate and grow.
“We have very vibrant creative people who want to provide this exceptional care for children, and the environments can’t match that initiative. I think that’s the big goal of our 100-year milestone, to have those environments catch up to the creativity and the innovation of the 21st century care we’re hoping to deliver here,” says Krista West, chief operating officer for Wood’s Homes.
That care extends beyond treatment to focus on the whole child. The onsite school’s outdoor classroom encourages exercise as well as land-based learning that supplements the CBE curriculum. Residents have their pick of a variety of recreation options to use during their free time: courts for basketball and other games, a theatre for movies and Xbox tournaments, or a games room with arcade games, foosball and a pool table. And there are quiet spaces with spectacular forest views and supportive staff if residents need a break or are having a tough day.
Wood’s Homes is committed to providing healing, support and opportunities for Indigenous children, too. Around 12 per cent of the organization’s clients and up to 40 per cent of the children living on the Bowness campus are Indigenous. On top of a fully-functioning sweat lodge and the teepee on site, Wood’s Homes is designing purpose-built spaces that allow for ceremony and healing for this vulnerable group.
While reflecting on its rich 100-year history of service and healing in Bowness, the organization is firmly focused on the future. The Wood’s Homes Foundation is currently fundraising to build four new residences on Calgary’s flagship campus. These will replace outdated 1960s buildings with spaces that are better suited for the organization’s modern framework. They also will help the organization meet the growing need in the community.
“A big part of this revitalization project is to make sure we are increasing capacity. We’re excited to add another 18 beds to enhance the service continuum in Calgary. That’s significant as we regularly have five to eight children on a waiting list, and we know they’re not doing well while they’re waiting. To be able to increase access and remove barriers to service is really important,” says Johansson.
The more than 600 professionals across the organization share a dedication to service that has had an enormous impact on at-risk families for 100 years. It has taken a village, and Wood’s Homes is using this milestone to bring that village together. The June 11 celebration is a chance to thank everyone who has supported them over the decades and to invite everyone else to be part of what comes next. They are inviting those who have lived, worked or spent time in Wood’s Homes programs over the years to an open house, with formal remarks from community and organization leaders to follow. This milestone celebration is an opportunity to reintroduce the organization to the wider city during a capital campaign aimed at strengthening services for children in crisis. And it’s a chance to say a special thank you to the Bowness community, which has accepted and supported the organization from the beginning.
“The partnership with the community is such a significant part of our story. Of course we have lots of people who financially supported us, but if the community didn’t understand the value of our service, then we wouldn’t be able to move forward in the way that we want to in the next 100 years,” says West. “We couldn’t do it without them.”
And now, a century after opening the iron gates to invite children into the Wood’s Homes, it’s still that simple word, ‘yes’, that continues to open the door to healing, hope and a better future in Alberta.