Resiliency Resources! (And Other Cool Stuff)

With the conference over it is now time to get to work and use the knowledge gained to keep working on building resiliency in schools. Here are some links that might help:

• Joseph Boyden’s powerful true story, The First Time I Died. During the gala evening Joseph spoke about this part of his life and also told us many other deeply personal and moving stories which he shared for the first time in public.


• Information on the Sudbury & District Health Unit’s Can You Feel It? campaign


• Dr. Hammond’s Resiliency Initiatives organization


• Information about Youth Engagement Programs


• Information on Dr. McVey’s work on disordered eating can be found here, here, and here


• Dr. McVey’s The Student Body website on factors which trigger unhealthy dieting


• A short video on the Outdoor Adventure Leadership Experience, and information on the research Stephen Ritchie of Laurentian University has done on it


• Information on adaptive sport from ParaSport Ontario and the Canadian Paralympic Committee

If you have any other helpful resources share them in the comments section!

-Josh

"Can You Feel It?"... In a Student's Words

Hi everyone, today we have a student from the Can You Feel It? program job shadowing here. He wrote this blog entry for us about the progam:

Bonjour, je m’ appelle Sheldon Leroux. Je participe dans le groupe Comment ça « fil »? à l’ école St-Joseph Sudbury. On se rencontre chaque mercredi dans une chambre designée qu’on a décorée nous le groupe. On commence la rencontre avec une activité brise- glace amusante. Les etudiants qui participent au groupe de comment ça « fil »? viennent tous de l’école St-Joseph et les autorités sont des infirmières du Service de santé publique. Après l’activité organizée, on bouffe et sur des occasions spéciales les etudiants aident à cuire. Puis pour finir notre rencontre on fait une lecture de relaxation que occasionellement je fais ou je lis. Moi personnellement, je prèfere l’activité brise- glace car on a beaucoup de plaisir en les faisant et occasionnellement, ils sont difficiles.

Hello my name is Sheldon Leroux. I participate in the group Can You Feel It? at école St-Joseph in Sudbury. We meet every Wednesday in a designated room that our group decorated. We start the meeting with a fun icebreaker activity. The students who participate in the group Can You Feel It? are all from école St-Joseph and it is lead by nurses from the Sudbury & District Health Unit. After the activity, we eat food and on special occasions the student help cook. Well to finish our meeting we have a relaxation activity that sometimes I wrote or read. I personally prefer the icebreaker activity because we have a lot of fun while doing them and they are occasionally difficult.

And in the end...

So that was the Ontario Healthy Schools Coalition 10th Annual Forum. We laughed, we cried, and we all learnt a lot. It has been one week since the end of the forum, and I have been doing a lot of reflection on it. I stand by my initial feelings that it was one of the best organized, entertaining, and educational conferences I have had the privilege to attend. I joined the team near the end of the process, so I can’t say this with any certainty, but I am sure there were problems and setbacks along the way; but the school team here at the Sudbury & District Health Unit didn’t let anything stop them from putting on a great conference. They were resilient and they got it done. Congratulations, all your hard work definitely paid off!

If you attended, what did you think of the conference? If not, what did you think of my blog? Share your thoughts in the comments, any feedback is much appreciated. And check back soon for one last post with important links to some great resources all in one place.

Thanks for reading and have a great long weekend,

-Josh

A Different Way of Thinking

The Thursday night gala began with a social hour which provided an opportunity to meet new people and network. While I was not able to see Dr. Hammond’s talk in the morning, this did give me the opportunity to speak with him about his work at Resiliency Initiatives. He told me how he believes that in order to increase resiliency we need to move away from a one way model of communication to a two way model; a model encouraging collaboration between individuals. He said that in many cases where results are not being seen it might not be because the individual does not want to change, but because they may need a different way to achieve change. For example, this may mean that a teacher with some students who are continually underachieving may need to use a different way of teaching in order to see results from them.

Dr. Hammond stressed that there needs to be a paradigm shift in the way we work; away from an authoritarian standard and towards a collaborative one, changing the context of the relationships we have with those we are trying to help. I must say that I agree with him on this issue; in the Science Communication program I learnt about a similar paradigm shift. This was a movement away from a deficit model, in which the public is seen as lacking in knowledge and the scientists merely tell them what they need to know, and towards a two-way communication model between scientists and the public being encouraged. This has lead to more understanding and a better relationship between the two groups. I see no reason why similar results would not be seen in the case of resiliency building as well; the person who is being helped could have important information to share.

What do you think about this paradigm shift? Have you seen it already start to happen? Share your thoughts in the comments!

-Josh

The Gala

I am sure that Thursday night’s gala was a highlight of the forum for everyone; it certainly was for me. There was great food and great company, entertainment provided by a very talented group of youth, and an extremely powerful and moving talk by Joseph Boyden. Even Dr. Arlene King, the Chief Medical Officer of Health of Ontario, said a few words and congratulated the organizing committee on the wonderful job they did in bringing all of this together.

Supper began with young performers Alessandro Costantini and Janie Pinard serenading us with a song from Cabaret. Throughout the night they returned and entertained us many more times with a variety of music, they sang everything from Shrek to Poison. Although this may seem like a random selection of songs, they were all chosen specifically to be in line with the theme of resiliency. Last year Alessandro formed Y.E.S. (Youth Entertaining Sudbury), a group of youth dedicated to entertaining Sudbury through theatre. In August 2010 they performed their first show, Hair, at the Sudbury Theatre Centre; I saw this show and it was amazing! This summer they will be performing Rent; the cast came on stage near the end of supper to sing a medley of songs from the show (to a standing ovation), and if you are near Sudbury in August I definitely recommend getting a ticket to the play.

After supper Joseph Boyden took the stage, and said how jealous his wife would be when he told her about the Glee-like talent of these performers. Joseph is originally from Ontario and spent many years teaching in Moosonee, a place he considers his second home, but now lives in New Orleans. Joseph told us a number of deeply personal and moving stories about his life and the struggles that he and his friends have faced. I fear that to retell them myself would not do them justice or come close to capturing the emotion felt by everyone in the room that night; but for an idea of the power of his talk listen to the true story The First Time I Died in his own words. Joseph’s talk left not a single dry eye in the room, but ended leaving everyone with a sense of hope for the future.

The night ended with the return of the cast of Rent. This time they performed songs from their past, singing music from Hair. By the end they had the whole room standing, clapping, and singing along. Some people were even seen dancing around the room. The room was buzzing, and it was clear that everyone had a great time. Over the past year I have attended a number of conferences, and a number of conference dinners, and can safely say that this was the most interesting, engaging and fun of them all! I want to know what you thought, share your favourite parts of the gala in the comments section!

-Josh

Youth Engagement: A How-To Guide

The conference ended with one final session on Friday afternoon. I chose to attend the session on the Ontario Public Health Association Youth Engagement Project, led by Jennifer Lodge of the Ontario Public Health Association. This session also featured two colleagues of mine at the Sudbury & District Health Unit: Gisele Bourgoin and Nathalie Thistle, Public Health Nurses with the school health promotion program. Gisele and Nathalie lead a youth engagement project at a local elementary school for a group of students from grades four to eight. Also presenting at this session were two students from the group who came to share what they do in this after school program.

Jennifer introduced the concept of the Youth Engagement Project to us and explained how it is a community based empowerment approach to building resiliency in youth. After giving us a bit of background on the history of the Youth Engagement Project, where the funding came from, and which other health units also hosted pilot projects, Jennifer turned it over to Gisele and Nathalie. The two of them told us specifically about the development of the Sudbury program. The Sudbury & District Health Unit has a group of Youth Program Advisors (some of which were seen around the forum, starring in the Can You Feel It? video, working at the campaign booth, and entertaining us during Thursday night’s dinner) who they turned to for advice. It was decided that it would be best for any youth engagement project to have a room of its own in the schools, a place that was not associated with class. Surveys done by the Sudbury & District Health Unit with local youth showed stress was a primary health issue for youth; therefore it was decided that any program they developed should have a focus on stress management.

Nathalie and Gisele also led us in an icebreaker activity; one of the students stood in the middle of the room and we all stood in a circle around him. We were each given a ball to throw at him, and when we did we shouted out a pressure facing him. One lucky volunteer was given the role of his mother and it was her job to try and protect him from all of our projectiles; it was a tough task. Afterwards we repeated this activity, but with two more volunteers representing a teacher and a coach who also helped to protect the student. They were given a short time to come up with a plan, and as the coach pointed out it was actually the student who spoke up first to offer a solution to their network of support. An important lesson, listen to what youth have to say, they might just know what kind of help they need! This time around it was much more difficult for the stressors we were throwing to hit the student, the support network was effective.

Next, the two students told us about the creation of the program room at their school as well as what they do each week. They told us about how the room is a space where no one is judged and all are treated as equals and with respect. They developed their own ways to cope with stress, and end each gathering with a relaxation method. Other activities happen as well, like cooking classes and celebrations of all kinds. The students also told us of how they are ambassadors in their school and have done activities such as performing a skit to teach other students about stress management. A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of going into their school and joining the Youth Engagement Group for an afternoon; the kids were all having a fun time, and can make a great three-bean salad!

From what I have seen, programs like this can make a very large difference in the lives of students; they help to create a support network to enhance resiliency skills, improve social skills, and provide a sense of belonging. Schools need more programs like this! Important things mentioned to keep in mind when developing these kinds of programs are that food and celebrations are important, students like to move quickly through projects to see results, there should be a space separate from classrooms for the program, school and agency support is most definitely needed, and it is very important to be flexible.

For more information about Youth Engagement Programs visit http://www.youthengagement.ca/

-Josh

Get Out and Play!

The final keynote speaker of the conference was Steve Daniel. Steve was injured in 2005 while serving in the Canadian Armed Forces. He was performing a parachuting training exercise when he landed awkwardly, bursting his T-11 vertebrae and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. This accident forced him to retire, but also led him to the world of adaptive sport. In 2008 Steve competed in the Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing in arms-only rowing. On a more local level, Steve is now also a coach of the Sudbury Rolling Thunder Wheelchair basketball team. He did not give up after his accident; instead he did not let life get him down and persevered.

Steve began his talk by telling us how he joined the Canadian Armed Forces seeking adventure, and soon found it on tours of duty in Croatia, Bosnia, and Afghanistan. He took pride in his work, and to have his career end at a young age was a tragedy. But he told us he quickly found that sport was one of his new callings and became active in the world of adaptive basketball and rowing. Along his journey, Steve discovered the lack of opportunities for many people with disabilities who want to engage in adaptive sports. There are many barriers which can prevent children and adults who have disabilities from participating in sport; equipment is expensive and can be hard to come by, and playgrounds with adaptive equipment tend to be few and far between. There is also a lack of awareness amongst many people of the availability of adaptive sports in general.

Luckily, things are changing and there are ways for all of us to help. More adaptive equipment is becoming available all the time in playgrounds across the country. Different organizations and councils exist to help bring adaptive equipment to those who need it, and to help with the cost of the equipment. And awareness can be raised by all of us by acknowledging the immense talent of these athletes and their incredible drive to succeed. Organizations such as ParaSport Ontario can even arrange to have athlete and coach ambassadors to share their story and demonstrate paralympic sports in schools, community centres, and many other environments. This is an amazing opportunity for educators to help raise awareness of adaptive sports amongst students, as well as promote physical activity.

Steve’s talk was very inspirational. Since his accident he has gone on to earn a Business Administration Diploma from Cambrian College, has just completed a degree in Physical and Health Education at Laurentian University, and will be starting medical school in the fall. With hard work and perseverance, even in the toughest situations, anything is possible.

For more information on adaptive sport visit ParaSport Ontario and the Canadian Paralympic Committee.


-Josh