Grande Prairie’s Emergency Shelter & Supportive Housing Centre

For women and children in need of safety and support

Our Services

Emergency Shelter

42 beds in a private, secure, welcoming facility. For women and children in need of short-term emergency accommodation.

Serenity Place

An apartment building for women, with or without children, in need of safe, affordable housing and specialized programming.

Housing

Community Support Services

The healing journey can be long and difficult. It wasn’t made to be walked alone. Programs open to residential and outreach clients.

Outreach

Childcare Support

Get the help you need. After-school and respite care for children is provided for residents. Outreach clients can also access childcare during group support.

Childcare

Public Education

Community awareness is key to the prevention of family violence. Our Public Education Coordinator is active in the community, advocating healthy relationships.

Education

Volunteer

You only need two things to make a difference: a desire to help, and a decision to act. Share your interests and talents with the residents at Odyssey House.

Volunteer

About Odyssey House

Odyssey House is a non-profit organization and registered charity. We provide safe, secure, and supportive accommodation for women and their children who are victims of domestic violence, are in crisis, or in need of a housing alternative. Odyssey House is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In the 2020/2021 year, we supported 130 women and 123 children at our emergency shelter. We facilitated 58 groups attended by 208 people. Our Trauma counselors provided 748 hours of therapy to 147 individuals. Our second stage shelter supported 18 women and 28 children. Public Education delivered 385 presentations with a total of 7,172 individuals in attendance.

Our Family Resource Centre provided 1018.75 total hours of direct childcare to 66 unique children. Out of those total hours, 17.5 hours were provided to support moms accessing support group sessions and 10 hours were provided to moms accessing community support services. Serenity Place Daycare provided 3018.74 hours of direct childcare to 8 unique children. We had 3,647 calls to the crisis line. These statistic were affected compared to years prior due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

More About Us

Serenity Place provides comfortable, affordable accommodations to help you get back on your feet.

Past Testimonials

I felt so alone, I didn’t know who to turn to. Who would understand? At the shelter, they completely understood what I was going through. I don’t feel so alone now.
Sandi
There are times when we just cannot cope with what is happening in our lives. We lose confidence easily, we feel bewildered and carry with us a feeling of disappointment. When we feel like this, when we are distressed within ourselves, we have to learn new ways for coping with our lives. We have to search for New Beginnings. We have to find new ways to help us find peace and contentment once again; new ways to help us make a richer life for ourselves. We will never know what we can do, how we can change our lives-unless we try, as we make our lives, if only for a while, a journey of New Beginnings.
Pauline Smith
Since I’ve been here, I’ve learned a lot about what it means to love myself again and not be afraid to be alone and to be a single mother the workers here are so amazing. I’m blessed to be here and have them in my life.
Serenity Place Resident
I remember when I told one of our clients her move in date, she teared up and said "I just want to go tell my kids we have a safe home now."
Family Support Coordinator, Serenity Place
The staff that came in really made me feel important, and that I wasn’t alone. More than that, they let me know that I am not responsible for the way that my ex has treated me, and that there are people that care about me and my well being.
Karen B.
I didn’t realize that this was happening in my own town- you always think that it doesn’t happen in your own back yard. I would like to be able to do more for my community and am really happy that I had my eyes opened to this.
Loui D.
It wasn’t until we looked at what healthy and unhealthy relationships look like that I realized that I, myself and living in an unhealthy relationship. I guess I need to go back to the basics and decide what I want for myself and my children before I can move on. This course gives me the courage to believe that I can give myself and my children and better life.
Linda C.
This course really opened my eyes to how women are treated and how my doing nothing can contribute to that negative action.
Kim W.
Odyssey house is a great community resource for the vulnerable people in our community, they are a great asset to have in our region.
Katelyn N.
The ladies that come in and do the presentations are so relatable, I feel comfortable and safe talking with them.
Jane H.