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LISTEN UP! NEW PODCAST ABOUT CHILD MENTAL HEALTH
Check out Kelty Mental Health's new ‘Where You Are’ podcast about child and family mental health. https://keltymentalhealth.ca/podcast
Join hosts Char Black and Michelle Horn in conversations with parents and caregivers, youth, and health professionals. Podcasts will challenge myths, stereotypes, and stigmas, and provide up-to-the minute health and substance use information, strategies and tips.
Child and youth mental health will be a major focus of our Community Mental Health Summit in Kelowna next spring. Stay tuned for more details. www.freshoutlookfoundation.org
NATURE DEFICIT DISORDER… is a real thing!!
Research shows that children who interact regularly with nature are happier, healthier and more likely to protect our planet than those who don’t. Why then, are children disappearing from the outdoors at a rate that would put them at the top of any endangered species list?
Richard Louv, child advocate and author of Last Child in the Woods, suggests that urbanization is the primary culprit, and that children today “are less alive” because of their disconnect with nature. This ‘nature deficit disorder’ can cause loneliness, obesity, addictions to electronic devices, and a lack of appreciation for the wonders of nature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UngTgxz-P8o
The antidote, Louv suggests, is “an environment-based education movement, at all levels of education, that will help students realize school isn't supposed to be a polite form of incarceration, but a portal to the wider world.”
Learn more about the link between nature and good mental health at our Summit next spring in Kelowna. www.freshoutlookfoundation.org.
DYING FOR GOOD MENTAL HEALTH...
Anthropologists argue that your mental health is a reflection of how you feel about both life and death. While societies outside of North America embrace death as a meaningful part of life, we typically aren’t comfortable thinking or talking about dying.
University professor Anita Hannig explains that, “End of life here has become so medicalized that death is often viewed as a failure, rather than as an expected stage of life”… and that death has become a topic many of us a “avoid and abhor as an enemy to be defeated.” https://undark.org/article/death-dying-america-anthropologist/
One exception was late philosopher/comic Emily Levine who, during a 2018 TED Talk entitled ‘The Gift of Life and Death,’ shared openly about her terminal lung cancer, the cyclical rhythms of the universe, and how she hoped that, in the end, the microbes would find her “delicious!” https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=635033883598654
Learn more about good mental health at our Community Mental Health Summit next spring in Kelowna. www.freshoutlookfoundation.org.
YEAH, BRENE! Are you putting off an important but potentially messy conversation? World-renowned social scientist and storyteller Brene Brown can help with her Daring Greatly Engaged Feedback Checklist. These ten nuggets will transform you from being a chicken to a person who communicates effectively yet gracefully and respectfully.
It starts with, “I know I’m ready to give feedback when: 1) I’m ready to sit next to you rather than across from you; 2) I’m willing to put the problem in front of us rather than between us (or sliding it toward you).” Check the full list out at https://brenebrown.com/downloads/
To learn more about mental health and self care, join us at our Community Mental Health Summit in Kelowna next spring. www.freshoutlookfoundation.org
DEMENTIA VILLAGE TURNS SENIORS CARE ON ITS HEAD!
Fashioned after a radically new approach first tried in the Netherlands, Langley is home to BC’s first ‘dementia village’ designed specifically for seniors suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Opening in August, this pioneering memory care community includes cottages for six people within walking distance of a complete village surrounded by a secure perimeter wall. With the help of caregivers, residents can shop daily for groceries and supplies at the general store. Check it out at https://www.thevillagelangley.com.
Learn more about the importance of targeted housing for people suffering from mental illness and addictions at our Community Mental Health Summit in Kelowna next spring. www.freshoutlookfoundation.org
Living here - The Village Langley
Canada's first true dementia village: a memory care community in Greater Vancouver based in Langley.
GOOD RELATIONSHIPS and mental health go hand in hand. This brilliant video shows the cliched relationship between millennials and boomers, and points out how we can see each other differently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI5LO-gSUeU.
As a warm-up to our Community Mental Health Summit next spring in Kelowna, FOF is planning an event to highlight the mental health issues faced by millennials. Discussion will also explore how these Gen Y folks and boomers can better relate to each other in the workplace. www.freshoutlookfoundation.org
A BRIEF MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT HISTORY: From Open Heads to Open Minds
Check out our blog about archaic mental health treatments that began seven thousand years ago, when “healers” drilled or sawed holes in people’s heads to release the demons that were “obviously” trapped there.
Other dubious remedies followed, finally leading us to the science-based study of neuroplasticity we’re beginning to understand today. Take the treatment tour with us today! https://freshoutlookfoundation.org/from-open-heads-to-open-minds/
Inspiring community conversations for sustainable change.
The Ministry of Mental Health & Addictions just released its 'Pathway to Hope' plan for better mental health and addictions care in BC. Check it out at https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/BCMentalHealthRoadmap_2019.pdf
The cornerstone of the plan is improved mental health prevention and treatment services for children and youth. Another focus is the overdose crisis, which Darcy says "has revealed enormous gaps in addictions care."
We've invited Minister Judy Darcy to present her plan at our Community Mental Health Summit in Kelowna next spring. http://www.freshoutlookfoundation.org. We hope you'll join us too!
Australian superstar Guy Sebastian recently lost his close mate Luke to suicide. To celebrate Luke's life, Guy crafted this amazing tribute called 'Choir.' Check it out here https://youtu.be/G9xXMGzW8NY It truly shows the power of 'the voice'!
A HUGE thank you to our newest Community Mental Health Summit sponsor!
www.theresilientmind.life offers proven education, training, and mentor support for people ready to address stress and/or mental health challenges in an informative, interactive, and fun way. Check out The Resilient Mind video at https://youtu.be/7978NxLRXSE.
Blending distance education tactics with social media technologies, this groundbreaking program offers resilience assessments along with 7-week online or in-person resilience games and training exercises for individuals or employee groups. And being science-based, it incorporates the latest findings from social and behavioural psychology and the study of neuroplasticity (your brain’s capacity to change continuously throughout your life).
Find out more about this amazing tool at the Summit in Kelowna next spring. www.freshoutlookfoundation.org
A BIG THANK YOU to our new media sponsors for the Community Mental Health Summit http://www.freshoutlookfoundation.org. Visit the events pages at Sun FM http://www.thesun.net, EZ Rock http://www.1015ezrock.com, and AM 1150 http://www.1150.ca! YOU ALL ROCK!!
And just a reminder that you have until June 30th to support the Summit through the Great Canadian Giving Challenge. Every $1 you donate to the Fresh Outlook Foundation through the Canada Helps portal qualifies us to win $10,000! https://www.canadahelps.org/en/gcgc/10169 THANK YOU!
MENTAL HEALTH BY DESIGN
How can we design and build communities to optimize mental health and wellness? You’re going to find out at our HEADS UP! Community Mental Health Summit in Kelowna, BC next spring! www.freshoutlookfoundation.org
We’ll explore how to transform physical places into social spaces through progressive community planning, land-use policies and zoning regulations, landscape architecture, active transportation investments, and green building design and construction. We’ll also touch on other factors that influence community mental health… safety, air pollution, public art, active spaces for exercise, and economic stress and affordability. If you’re a community leader, you won’t want to miss these vital conversations!
While conducting research for this session, we came across the Centre for Urban Design & Mental Health in the UK, which is looking to hear from folks with cross-disciplinary and integrative interests in mental health and any of the disciplines involved in urban design. Check them out! https://www.urbandesignmentalhealth.com
The Centre’s very informative website reports that, “Most efforts to improve mental health are still targeted at treating people who already have mental health problems. By designing protective factors such as nature access, physical activity, social interaction, sleep and safety into the city, urban design innovation can add value by helping strengthen the population’s mental health resilience for good mental health and mental illness prevention and recovery.”
If your community is working on a groundbreaking success story in this area of study, please email jo@freshoutlookfoundation.org
The Great Canadian Giving Challenge is here! For the entire month of June, every dollar you donate to the Fresh Outlook Foundation through Canada Helps https://www.canadahelps.org/en/gcgc/101697 qualifies us to win $10,000! What a boost for the Community Mental Health Summit we're hosting in Kelowna next April.
Great Canadian Giving Challenge
Your favourite charity could win $10,000 when you donate to them in June. Check out the Great Canadian Giving Challenge #GivingChallengeCA
Why a Community Mental Health Summit? IT’S THE BUZZ! https://freshoutlookfoundation.org/cuz-the-buzz/
FOF is at it again! Discover why and how founder Joanne de Vries is mobilizing the “buzz in the room” and the “buzz in her being” to build an amazing team of partners, sponsors, and volunteers for BC’s first-ever HEADS UP! Community Mental Health Summit next spring in Kelowna. https://freshoutlookfoundation.org/cuz-the-buzz/
Check our website https://freshoutlookfoundation.org to see how the Summit will engage people from all age groups, genders, cultures, and sectors in conversations about mental health challenges, successes, and oppportunities at the individual, family, workplace, and community scales!
SEE HOW YOU CAN BE INVOLVED! How about hosting a warm-up event to increase awareness about a specific mental health issue and build momentum for the Summit?
For information about becoming a presenter, sponsor, or volunteer… please contact Joanne at 250-300-8797 or jo@freshoutlookfoundation.org.
SOMETHING BRAND NEW FROM FOF!
FOF is thrilled to unveil its plans for BC’s first HEADS UP! Community Mental Health Summit in Kelowna next spring.
Using the highly acclaimed Building SustainABLE Communities conference as a model, the Summit will gather people from all age groups, cultures, and sectors to explore mental health challenges, successes, and opportunities at the individual, family, workplace, and community scales. YES, we will!
BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP...
To optimize event outcomes, we need help with planning, promotion, and fundraising. Visit our website for more info or contact Joanne at 250-300-8797.
Stay tuned for updates as Summit details unfold!
What an amazing group of community heroes! We had the privilege of pitching to the 100 Heroes Who Give a Damn at their quarterly meeting this week. FOF founder Joanne de Vries co-presented with Janine Rayburn to garner support for the Okanagan’s first-ever HEADS UP! Community Mental Health Summit.
Janine shared the story of her son, who at 8 years old tried to take his life for the first time. Their saga of trying to find timely diagnosis and treatment is a testament to how much work needs to be done to address mental health issues for children 12 and under. This is just one of dozens of topics that will be explored at the summit.
While we didn’t win the main prize (congrats to Connect Counselling), we did receive $7500 from three incredibly generous donors! This seed money will help leverage funding from other organizations.
Please help by thinking about how you can contribute to fundraising efforts. How about donating to commemorate someone’s mental health journey, or to celebrate your favourite mental health hero? Why not host a HEADS UP mental health awareness-building lunch at your workplace? Or plan an event to showcase mental health-related TED Talks? The possibilities are endless! Let’s talk soon!!
Call Out For Speakers
The Burns Bog Conservation Society in Delta, BC is hosting the Peatlands for People Revisited Conference October 11-13 in Surrey, BC. The final day of the Conference coincides with the 30th Anniversary of the Society.
The goal of the Conference is to bring together students, community members, businesses, researchers, and international scientists to share their knowledge of wetlands and peatlands.
This is a Call Out for Speakers announcement.
For more information, go to http://www.burnsbog.org/
We are all about fostering a positive environment for collaboration and change to take place. That's why we were so excited to welcome Wayblaze Community Crowdfunding to Building SustainABLE Communities this year! A new crowdfunding platform (and BC-based!), they help people and groups raise the funds necessary to get their awesome projects off the ground. One of those awesome projects is an amazing story out of Kelowna, and it involves a plot of land, some sheep, and a group of determined citizens.
Ceres Circle Farm is an ecologically-run sheep farm and has been for the last 20 years. Recently, the land was donated with the intention of it becoming a new community cooperative farm. The new owners, Cecilia Hogan and Kevin Morin, are bound and determined to return sheep to the land, create space for more farming projects, and open it up to welcome additional farmers to the space...and they need the community's help to do so.
Check out their page on Wayblaze for more info about the farm. Pitch in, ask questions, get involved, and get excited! This is what community is all about, isn't it?
Help purchase sheep for a farm held in a land trust for new farmers
A new crop of farmers in need of a flock - Help raise $7,000 so we can buy sheep for a community farm cooperative developing in Kelowna. Click this post to find out more.
