Health Leadership Training Workshop

💧 Hydrotherapy: Basic Home Remedies for Healing

This practical, educational, hands-on course is designed to take full value of learning to gain confidence to conduct workshops/seminars for your church and community. It is a positive way to learn and practice basic health care treatments as well as learn the details of how to organize such events. For example, what is important in advertising, what equipment/supplies are needed, and why is risk management important.
You will have an opportunity in this workshop, with partners, to demonstrate a treatment for class member participation. Come prepared to have fun and to be involved! Wear casual, comfortable clothes that can get damp or wet.

NOTE: Anyone who chooses this track must stay with it for all 3 sessions and cannot choose from the other tracks.

Instructor: DonnaLee Lehmann is passionate about living life to the fullest and helping others do the same through experiential learning. Her university degrees are in Public Health and Occupational Therapy, and she has years of experience teaching university courses in wellness, international development, emergency and disaster relief management, and leadership. Though officially retired, she remains active in presenting workshops and seminars on natural remedies, hydrotherapy, and stress management as well as serving on various committees and boards. DonnaLee  and her husband Paul have three adult children and three grandchildren.  They work together and have presented at countless conferences, young adult meetings, camp meetings, churches, evangelistic events, and private gatherings across North America and internationally. Their presentations are geared to be educationally interactive and focused on personal and group growth.

Requirement: You will receive a list of items you will need to bring to this course.

Textbook: “Hydrotherapy, Simple Treatments for Common Ailments”; Clarence Dail, M.D. and Charles Thomas, Ph.D. – includes definitions, purpose and effects, indications/contraindications, important considerations, equipment, and procedures along with graphics, for each treatment. Available to purchase for $26.00 (cash only) at the workshop.  *If you already have one of these hydrotherapy books, please bring it to this course.

Important Note: this course is not intended to certify you as a hydrotherapy practitioner.

🌱 Community Gardens with Purpose

Sabbath 2-5pm: Cultivating Well-Being – Smart Gardening for Alberta Minds and Spaces
Paul will discuss the physical and psychological benefits of gardening. The huge potential for growing a large variety of vegetables in central Alberta. The benefits of microclimate modification. Ways to grow perennial veggies not normally suited to our climate. Gardening for apartment dwellers & small fruit production. Bring your Questions for Answers on gardening!

Instructor: Paul Pineo lives on an acreage north of Crestomere with his wife on a property that used to be the Sylvan Heights School which later became the Mamawi Ataskotan Native School. Now it has turned into a large garden with a number of greenhouses. Paul has always preferred to be in the great outdoors. He feels the need to be continuously learning. Gardening satisfies both of these needs.

📋 Health Expos: From Planning to Impact

Friday 7-9pm: Part 1: Health Expos: Strategies for Community Transformation
Learn how to design and run a highly effective health expo that inspires lasting community wellness. This practical workshop covers everything from event logistics and volunteer coordination to engaging public communication and reliable screening techniques. Discover how to turn simple health tests into meaningful lifestyle conversations, and learn the exact follow-up strategies needed to transition one-time attendees into ongoing health programs. Perfect for health educators, ministry leaders, and volunteers looking to make a measurable local impact.

Sabbath 2-5pm: Part 2: Health Expo Hands-On Practice & Setup
Put your knowledge into immediate action in this interactive, hands-on experience. Participants will step behind the health expo booths to practice setting up testing equipment, running screening stations, and managing crowd flow. You will role-play common visitor scenarios, fine-tune your communication skills, and practice delivering health data with clarity and empathy. This live practice ensures your team leaves with the physical skills, technical confidence, and operational teamwork required to run a flawless, professional community event.

Sunday 9am-12pm: Children’s Health Ministries & Expo
Learn to launch dynamic children’s health expos that connect physical wellness with spiritual growth. This workshop covers kid-friendly station design, volunteer logistics, and interactive health games. Discover how to engage the whole family and inspire kids to make healthy choices that build a strong foundation for a lifetime of discipleship.

Instructor: Dr. Darlene Blaney, PhD, NCP, CFT, is a nutritional consulting practitioner, certified fitness trainer, and author with over 30 years of experience in health education and ministry. She is the Alberta Seventh-day Adventist Conference Volunteer health ministries coordinator as well as the Canadian Union Health Director. As the owner of the Total Health School of Nutrition, Natural Food store & nutrition practice along with her husband Ron, in Eckville, Alberta, she is passionate about teaching that vibrant health can be simple. Dr. Blaney specializes in using evidence-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine to prevent and reverse chronic diseases. She has authored four plant-based cookbooks (including the CHIP cookbook with Dr. Hans Diehl) and regularly conducts community seminars aimed at making sustainable, healthy eating choices accessible to everyone.

🍲 Mastering the Plant-Based Cooking School: From Planning to Production

Sunday 9am-12pm
You’ll receive ideas on planning and conducting a cooking class for a community and or a church. Information provided by power point, interactive discussions and practice demonstrations. Come join us in discovering how you can introduce healthy eating and impact your community.

Instructors:

Nina Chernipeski has enjoyed helping conduct cooking classes periodically for many years. First started when in high school. Since retiring from nursing and moving to Alberta from Ontario, the passion for health ministry continued. This lead to encouraging the formation of a health team, “Eat Rite” cooking classes at Ponoka SDA church. Now, as a team, we encourage young people to participate, and practice their talents.

Sheila Beaudoin