After ten years in business, Morinville's Career Employment and Counselling Services will close its doors for good on Dec. 31.
Those looking for employment counselling will then have to visit the Alberta Works branch in Westlock, said Charmin Rockwell, career counselor and owner of the Morinville centre.
Rockwell said the provincial government did not extend its contract with her company this year, and the closure is likely due to funding cutbacks. The centre will still complete all of its current projects before the end of the year, she said.
"We encourage people to come and get their resume so they have a copy of it before we close," she said. "I am confident that all the things we worked on with our clients will be done before we are closed and to make sure they have the resources they need."
For the last number of years, the government had outsourced career services in smaller, rural communities to individual contractors while the bigger centres were serviced by Alberta Works, said Rockwell.
The Morinville centre services more than 400 people per month, providing a wide range of career planning workshops, courses and services, she said. Now that the office is closing, Rockwell said her clients will get their services out of Westlock.
She worries though that some people may not be able to get there as easily. And online resources, such as the Alberta Learning Information Services (ALIS) are useful but cannot always make up for a lack of personal assistance.
"There's only so much you can do over the phone," she said. "(The Internet) has a huge amount of resources but people need to know about that service to be able to access it."
No change in services expected
If there are Albertans that cannot make it to a contact office, Alberta Works has staff who travel to Morinville, said Tony Puim, area manager for Alberta Works in Westlock.
"That's an issue throughout rural areas. We can't have an office in every community so we are looking at how can we accommodate Albertans," he said. "And we do delivery from distance, assessment from distance, and when possible my staff travels to those communities."
Puim's staff services an area spanning as far as Calling Lake and Fox Creek. He agrees some services still require personal attention though a lot of them can now be completed online, or by calling his staff. But Morinville's numbers of people needing direct assistance were simply too low to continue the service, he said.
Rockwell said her centre is now working with the Morinville Community Library to help residents better access resource databases and have some self-guided access. While she is laying off her staff at the end of the year, she will continue to do organizational consulting.
She stresses that people with concerns over a lack of services should contact the appropriate authorities.
"Because if the government doesn't know that people want a service they may not think about relocating money toward services there in the future," she said.
The Westlock branch of Alberta Works can be found at 11304-99 Street, and can be contacted at 780-349-7700. Tony Puim added that anyone is free to contact him with their concerns at 780-778-7133.
