Alberta’s first park dedicated to enhancing mental health officially opened in Calgary on Saturday. The climbing boulder has become a popular spot to scramble up the Brawn Family Foundation Rotary Park in northwest Calgary. Like everything else at the park, it was designed with teens in mind.
We always hear that teens love to climb really high and then they like to sit up there and one of the reasons is that adults won’t follow. So we see them climbing up on our bouldering wall sitting up there and having that space on their own, but still being part of a really supportive environment, said Sheila Taylor, Parks Foundation Calgary’s chief executive officer.
Years of research went into the design and construction of the green space, she said. Exposure to nature has been linked to lower stress, better mood, and faster psychological stress recovery.
The park was made possible through a partnership between the Parks Foundation and the City of Calgary, along with various donors including the Brawn Family Foundation and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation.
