The Rehabilitation Society of Southwestern Alberta is a non-profit, charitable organization founded in 1953 as "The Rehabilitation Society of Alberta for the Handicapped, Lethbridge Branch." The primary emphasis was to increase public awareness of the needs of people with disabilities, and provide a way in which disabled citizens could share their common concerns, and jointly relate their needs to appropriate Government Agencies and organizations.
In 1965 the name was changed to "The Rehabilitation Society of Lethbridge" and became incorporated under the Societies Act. The objective of the Society remained to cooperate with other associations to establish services for persons with disabilities. The Rehabilitation Society also recognized the need for a vocational setting to develop work habits and skills. In 1974, the Society changed its name to "The Rehabilitation Society of Southwestern Alberta."
The Society continues to operate in the building that was constructed in 1981 for the purpose of providing a vocational setting, which is located at 1610-29th Street North. This building now provides many different environments in which people are supported in a variety of ways. It also continues to be the main Bottle Depot site, Woodworking site and houses a small component of light industrial work.
Since that time, services have evolved from being mostly based in supporting large groups of people doing mostly facility based vocational activities, to now providing highly individualized community based opportunities.
Since 1994 the Society has provided support for people in finding and maintaining community employment. The Employment Supports Service is now based out of our JobLinks Employment Centre, in our downtown location at 416 8 Street South. The downtown building was purchased by the Society in 1998 to accommodate a Branch Bottle Depot and a section of our Client Services.
In 2005, Employment Supports renamed its service to JobLinks Employment Centre to reflect the expansion into supporting a more diverse client base. JobLinks provides citizens with barriers to employment with employment skill exploration, employment acquisition and maintenance support through contracted funding with the government sectors of PDD, Chinook Health Region (Mental Health), Alberta Employment, and Service Canada.
Today, the Society continues to support individuals with disabilities to be valued and contributing members of our community and the Rehabilitation Society. For more information on what each of our services offers, please use the links for Programs & Services and Commercial Operations.