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Melodee Martinuk Chronicle Staff A selfâ€"help handbook designed to assist area unemployed cope with being out of work has just been released by the Community Inforâ€" mation Centre, Waterloo Region. Called the Hard Times Handâ€" book: Tips For You And Your Family While You Are Unemâ€" ployed, the booklet is 40 pages of information about living on a reduced income with emphasis on activities, programs and services which are free, offered at low cost or geared to income for residents of Waterloo Region. "There is a multitude of services available, but it is confusing and irritating to people down on their luck to run through government red tape ... in order to find out how to help themselves," explained Joyce Cruickshank publications officer for the CIC. ‘"We tried to pull it all together in the Hard Times Handbook." O Approximately 35,000 copies of the handbook were printed at a cost of $4,000, not including the salary of Cruickshank who spent four months preparing the booklet. Funding for the publication came largely from local businesses, orâ€" ganized labor and the federal government through its Industry and Labor Adjustment Program. CORNER ONTARIO AND DUKE STS., KITCHENEAR AND WATERLOO SQUARE PROFESSIONAL Information to help handle the hard times ( Dbry Cleaning ) Joyce Cruikshank The staff of the CIC decided to prepare the guide in response to the rapid increase experienced last year in the number of enâ€" quiries coming from the public for information concerning financial assistance and consumer help. According to Ann Lawlor, direcâ€" tor of the CIC, this handbook is a first in Canada. ‘"There‘s absoluteâ€" ly nothing like it in the province and probably not in the country." Although the handbook was proâ€" duced specifically for the Waterloo Region the CIC has already reâ€" ceived requests for copies from as far away as Winnipeg. Free copies of the Hard Times Handbook are available at city halls in Waterloo and Kitchener as well as Canada Employment Cenâ€" tres, Waterloo Region Social Serâ€" vices credit/debt counselling agencies, centres for the unemâ€" ployed throughout the region and the CIC, 18 Queen St. N., Kitchenâ€" In preparing the handbook the CIC "put ourselves in the: position of the unemployed and tried to look at problems they would face on a dayâ€"toâ€"day basis as well as in emergencies," said Lawlor. er. Thus the handbook is divided into five sections. The first offers tips on how to provide life‘s necessities when you are unemâ€" ployed ‘"so they don‘t come to physical harm because of hardâ€" ship," Lawlor explained. Included in this section is advice on how to apply for unemployment insurâ€" ance benefits and where emerâ€" gency funds, accommodation, food and clothing are available. Sections two and three deal with the "dayâ€"toâ€"day problems‘"" people must contend with when out of work â€" financial obligations, how to get legal assistance and suggesâ€" tions on how to ‘"shop for more with less." As well, the Hard Times Handâ€" book includes a chapter dealing with services available to help people cope emotionally with their unemployment. Information inâ€" cluded in this section ranges from a listing ofâ€"agencies in the Region offering counselling services to suggestions of lowâ€"cost leisure acâ€" tivities. The handbook concludes on what Lawlor hopes is an ‘"optimistic‘ note, with advice on where to go for help in looking for a new job. Pat Arbuckle Chronicle staff When times are bad everyone is affected in some way. Whether you are unemployed, know someone who is, or have experienced the fear of losing your job, to some degree you have been touched by the economic recession. The Waterloo Region Branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association is hoping to provide people with coping skills during Making the Best of Bad Times, an evening of workshops and entertainment Thursday, May 12, 5:30 p.m. at the Mutual Life Auditorium in Waterloo. A lot of people agree that times are bad but few offer advice on what people can do to deal with the situation effectively, said Pam Mank, viceâ€"president of the Waterloo Branch and chairman of the public education committee that organized the event. We don‘t expect to give people a great plan on how to run their lives for the next five years but we hope to give them a few tools to work with to catch themselves emotionally before things ge}d beyond the blues into depression," she said. Depression, anger, inadequacy and loss of initiative â€" they are feelings that are commonly associated with unemployed people but they are also shared by family members, friends, even those who have jobs. "The morale of those who are working is affected by economic times," said Mank who feels that because of the economy people are hanging on to jobs they are unhappy with or are afraid to do or say anything to jeopardize their jobs. _ ‘""Some people may be actually depressed and not realize it,"" she added. & . Making the Best of Bad Times will feature presentations by the Elmira Mental Health Players, a New York drama group who will present a series of vignettes on actual life situations and problems. "The idea is that if people see things in action, they tend to become more involved in it than if there is just a speaker," said Mank. The dramatic presentations will serve as ap introduction to the three workshops. One workshop entitled Families will highlight probâ€" lems that arise even in the best of families due to reRLoo NN. 475 KING ST. NORTH, WATERLOO Reserve your table today and be a part of our salute to secretaries‘ Our chef has prepared a â€" e STENO CHAIR Compliments of Schendel Stationery e GIFT CERTIFICATE From Zacks/Milady e FLORAL ARRANGEMENT From Laura Sharpe Fiowers e DINNER FOR TWO 11:30 to 2:00 p.m. WIN! fill out a ballot for outr draw SPECIAL LUNCHEON MENU Mon., April 25 to Fri., April 29 from Waterloo Inn Secretary Week Special WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2 Helping hand for jJobless money worries. The aim of the workshop is to point out ways that these potential conflicts can be avoided. _ The second workshop, Feeling Low, \\!ill explore feelings to help individuals recognize when they are depressed. S y "It will show you how to notice it in friends, how to stop a depression before it becomes a serious depression and how to keep yourself on an even keel rather than a series of highs and lows," said Mank. The final workshop Time on your Hands will examine how people who are unemployed, facing unemployment or retirement can make more constructive use of the extra time they may have ‘"so that they feel they are getting something out of it," she explained. _ Mank hopes that besides giving unemployed people a chance to meet others with similar problems, the evening will provide them with valuable skills that they can apply to make their daily life easier and information on where they can go for additional help. The Canadian Mental Health Association is a nonâ€"profit organization whose goal it is to promote good mental health, educate the public in the areas of mental health and provide service to the community. Funded by Federated Appeal, the United Way, the Ministry of Health and the Waterloo Regional~â€"Government, the local branch of the organization sponsors a number of programs in the Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo area including one annual major public educaâ€" tion event such as the Bad times workshop. Probably the best known of these is Help Crisis, a telephone distress line. Other projects the organization _ sponsors include Victoria House, a social, recreational, lifeskills program for people with chronic mental illiness, One to One which provides friendship on a oneâ€"toâ€"one basis for those who have experienced mental illness and Friends which provides the same service to primaryâ€" aged school children. Admission to the Making the best of bad times drama/workshop evening will be $4 per person and will include a soup and sandwich supper in keeping with the bad times theme. For additionâ€" al ticket information or to register for the workshop of your choice, call the Canadian Mental Health Association at 744â€"7645. Waterioo Sq. 886â€"1 740 This Coupon Expires April 30/83 12 exp 15 exp 24 exp 36 exp Present this coupon & Color Film Developing and Printing No Frills Prepaid SPECIAL 27. 1983 â€" Staniey Park Mail 803â€"7120 paGE