Family Community Support Services will be retaining their Community Support Worker for at least another ten months.

Manager of Community Support Services with the Town of High River Shelley Koot came before council on Monday, and is happy FCSS will have $24,000 to extend the position, which was set to end on March 30.

"I was very pleased with the response. This is a position that we added post-flood. We've always wanted it on our staff team, we just didn't have the finances to make it happen. Post-flood we had an opportunity to invest in some of these projects, and now we can't let them go. There's some really important work that's happening."

Koot says without the Community Support Worker, FCSS would not have the capacity to take on certain projects or see them through.  She says there's so much important work happening that they can't let the position go.

"We also haven't seen a growth in our staff team probably since before 2004. So population-wise we've grown a lot and our community needs have also grown a lot. So this was a need in our community. We had put it forward in budget season last year for our 2016 year. It wasn't accepted at that time, but I was encouraged to come back and ask and I'm very glad I did."

She says the position focuses on bringing residents together in positive activities to improve social well-being. She says this happens through projects that seem simple, like a senior's tea, but they're much more than that.

"That it's not just a senior's tea. It's reducing isolation. So, seniors have nowhere else to go, but at least that once a month they can come and have tea with another senior. We can use that opportunity to raise awareness, so we'll bring in a presenter that maybe talks about seniors benefits or about seniors health. So we're increasing their awareness as well."

FCSS deals with personal well-being through their Community Resource Centre as well and helps people find the resources to deal finances, stress, and anxiety.