January 13, 2025

As we return to the rhythm of regular life after the holidays, I remind myself of St.Amant’s Vision: an inclusive Manitoba where everyone is empowered to live their best life. For many of us, a sense of belonging and community are key ingredients in our best lives.
A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to a holiday party hosted by some of the people connected to our Supported Independent Living Program. Close to twenty-five people came together to break bread, share stories with old friends, and make new ones. Some amazing people introduced me to their passions: painting, writing fan fiction, magic, technology, and much more. Those passions were clearly important to their identity and shaped how they were seen by the people around them.
At a time when loneliness is so common in our world, it was incredible to see a community becoming stronger in front of my eyes. Community and belonging: that’s why our commitment to Meaningful Connections is so important. At St.Amant, we have the privilege of truly knowing the people we support and then helping them to connect with whatever gives them meaning, purpose, and a valued role in their community.
Switching to our strategic plan, all of our year one projects are now approved. Each strategic project was carefully chosen to bring meaningful change and improvements into our organization.
One project is focused on restraint use and the rights of the people we support. This project aligns with our objective to remove unnecessary rights restrictions and minimize the use of restraints. We want to make sure that restraints are used only when necessary, are as minimally restrictive as possible, and that we are carefully tracking how, when, and why restraints are used. More broadly, the project on restraint use is tied to important work on rights promotion and the removal, wherever possible, of unnecessary rights restrictions for people we support. I look forward to sharing more about that work in the coming months.
Ben Adaman
President and CEO