CASA Mental Health is expanding our CASA House, Adolescent Day Program and CASA Classrooms across Alberta. Recently, we announced two new director positions for our Senior Leadership Team who will lead the expansion of these programs and help us achieve the goals in our five-year strategic roadmap. These directors will champion CASA’s vision for a community where all children, youth and their families are provided with timely mental health care and are empowered to thrive.
Tanya Kendall, Director, Clinical (Day Programs and CASA House) is a heart-first, action-oriented person. As a leader and one of CASA’s newest directors, she’s also committed to building a mental health system that wraps around kids and families, to provide more timely mental health care closer to the communities where kids live and learn.
With roots in EMS and a career that’s spanned government, acute and primary care, Tanya brings vision and varied and deep experience to her new role. She is passionate about creating spaces where people feel seen, heard and empowered. When she’s not at work, you’ll find her on the trails with her dog or soaking up time with her husband and teenage daughter, her greatest pride and joy.
Learn more about Tanya’s vision for CASA House and day programs:
What is CASA House?
CASA House is a live-in program for teens who need support with significant mental health and/or addiction challenges. Teens stay at CASA House for an average of four months. The program involves parents and caregivers as active participants in treatment, which includes individual, group and family therapy, social and life skills training and on-site schooling in small classroom settings.
What are day programs at CASA? How do they differentiate?
Currently, CASA offers an Adolescent Day Program, Children’s Day Program and Preschool Day Program. These are community-based programs for children and youth with serious mental health and/or addiction challenges, and they’re located at CASA Centre in Edmonton.
Young people in these programs may experience difficulties at school or in their communities. Unlike CASA House, children and youth only attend day programs for the school day. The day programs help them successfully reintegrate into their community schools by aiming to improve social and academic functioning.
What kind of youth are served in day programs?
Our day programs support children and youth who are trying to make sense of big emotions, navigate social or school challenges while managing complex mental health concerns. These young people are often overwhelmed by environments that don’t understand their needs.
We meet them where they are, offering compassionate, “whole-person” care that gives them the tools and confidence to return to their schools, communities and relationships with renewed hope and clarity. Our focus is never just on the symptoms – it’s on the person and their path forward.
What makes these programs unique, compared to other mental health programs?
What sets CASA House and our day programs apart is the heart we bring into every room. We don’t just treat symptoms; we walk beside children, teens and families during some of the most vulnerable moments in their lives. We build relationships that create trust and safety, and we hold space for healing in a way that honours each child’s unique story.
Our programs are not one-size-fits-all. They are adaptive, responsive and grounded in connection. Our interdisciplinary teams work hand-in-hand with families because we believe true healing happens when everyone is at the table.
What kind of youth are served in CASA House?
CASA House is a place for teens who are struggling deeply with complex mental health and/or substance use challenges. Many arrive carrying years of trauma, heartbreak and feeling unseen.
They come from across Alberta, from all walks of life. What unites them is their bravery – their decision to show up and do the hard work. Our job is to help them rediscover their strength, rebuild their lives and believe in their futures.
How do the day programs and CASA House integrate with each other?
We don’t operate in silos. CASA House and day programs, specifically the Adolescent Day Program, are part of a continuum of care that works together, not separately. Our teams collaborate, share insights and ensure smooth transitions between services based on what a youth needs, whether they need more intensive residential care or a step down into a school-based day program. This integrated approach reduces the trauma of change, builds continuity in relationships and ensures each young person feels supported and understood.
Where are CASA House and day programs headed over the next four years?
We are on a mission, not just to sustain what we do, but to grow it in ways that meet the real, rising needs of kids and families across Alberta. Over the next four years, I see us staying the course in Edmonton, strengthening our existing day programs while integrating CASA House and the Adolescent Day Program to create a more connected, responsive model of care.
We’re also expanding CASA House and day programs into Calgary, Fort McMurray and Medicine Hat. It’s a bold – and much-needed – step toward equitable access for families across Alberta. We’ll also focus on developing our teams, because when we invest in our people, we elevate our care.
My vision is this: to create a system of care that wraps around children and teens with complex mental health needs, the ones who haven’t found success in traditional community services, the ones labelled “too hard, too complicated, or too much”. I believe they deserve more, and CASA Mental Health will be that place.
What are you most excited for over the next year in this new role?
What excites me most is the chance to build something together! This role gives me the opportunity to lead with intention and heart, to lift up our incredible staff, centre the voices of families and co-create systems that actually work for children, youth and their families.
I’m especially passionate about mentoring emerging leaders and fostering a culture of curiosity, reflection and action. Being entrusted with the future of CASA House and day programs isn’t just a job – it’s a calling. I’m honoured to answer it.
What’s something about CASA House or day programs that people may not know that you want to highlight?
What many don’t see, unless you walk our halls, is the joy. Yes, there are hard moments, heartbreaking moments. But there is also laughter, connection, breakthroughs and resilience. Our teams celebrate every small win, from a teen speaking up in therapy for the first time to a child returning to school after months of being too anxious to leave the house. We don’t just support mental health, we build relationships that transform lives.
Learn more about CASA Mental Health’s Services Across Alberta.
