The Senior Cohousing Group of Smithers is moving forward... After a community meeting held in the spring to inform the locals about senior cohousing the first of ten group sessions. Meetings will be taking place every Saturday until December, for the first two sessions Senior Cohousing Author Charles Durrett came to direct the topics and now it is up to local facilitators to finish the last of the sessions until the next phase.  Durrett explains, “Examining emotional well being... one day my kids leave town then my friends leave town or spouse dies what' s that like and what does look like instead of putting our heads in the sand and never worrying about it.”

Senior Cohousing is designed to have residents set themselves up being around neighbours who know them, care about them and in the long run support them.  For Lynnda Mc Dougall this is an intriguing concept, “It's an exciting concept to me because not only are you cooperating with other people and coming together as a community you are decreasing your environmental footprint, the idea of having a smaller personal space all those things that community make sense but when we are trying as individuals to provide all those things ourselves often it just doesn't work.”

Because the unit will bring many people together privacy was a concern.  Interested in Senior Cohousing Jim Senka says, “There's a lot people in cohousing that like their own privacy so they go out their back yard to be on their own, you go out the front door and everybody is there so privacy is not a concern that some people have which is good.”

Durrett lives in a cohousing unit and he says it makes his life more economical, interesting and fun, “That's what this whole work s shop is designed to do is to act out dreams their dreams as opposed to dream.”

Sites are being looked at in booth Smithers and Telkwa but the idea is to be within walking distance of amenities.