Jenny Schoenberger, MA, CCC, joined SIC in September 2018 as a specialized Children and Youth Counsellor. Since then she has counselled 29 children and youth, 38 parents and guardians, and three independent adults. Jenny also collaborates with countless school teachers, social workers, and other important people in children’s lives. In an interview with Time to Talk she offers useful insight into her tireless work with young people at the centre.  Please describe the work you do. I’m a child, youth and family counsellor and also enjoy working with adults.. I work through a family system perspective which basically means everyone in a family affects one another — children affect parents and visa versa. So while most of my work happens one-on-one, I often meet parents one-on-one, too, and sometimes bring parents into a child or youths’ session. These parent and family sessions  enable me to gain parents’ perspectives of what’s going well and  not so well, and they als...

Contact: daveprette@shaw.ca

Counselling by amateurs costs little and can work wonders First printed in The Economist, Mar 16th 2019 At jabal amman mental-health clinic, perched atop a hill in the old town of Jordan’s capital, Walaa Etawi, the manager, and her colleagues list the countries from where they see refugees—and what ails them. There are Iraqis (many with post-traumatic stress, says a nurse), Syrians (a lot of depression), Sudanese (anxiety), and at least ten other nationalities. By official estimates, 1.4m people have poured into Jordan from Syria’s civil war alone. Disaster-relief groups like the International Medical Corps (imc), which runs the Jabal Amman clinic, came to help. In the past two decades care for mental distress in such emergencies, whether wrought by conflict or natural calamity, has become an immediate priority—on a par with shelter and food. And what has been learnt from disasters has inspired new, pared-down mental-health care models that can be deployed...

This 6 week course is for professional caregivers, clergy and others who work with and/or support people as they transition towards end-of-life. Learn about the many challenges of chronic illness and the unique losses of advanced old age. Acquire tools to enhance communication and improve both quality of life and quality of care. Learn practical ways to help and support the very elderly, the dying and their family members. Gain quality resource materials. Course Facilitator :  Margaret Anderson  (A Member of the Canadian Hospice and Palliative Care Association) When : Thursdays, April 4th – May 9th, 2019 from 7-9pm Cost : $175 per person (includes all books, materials and resources) Location : South Island Centre   3821A Cedar Hill X Road (free parking) To register call: 250-472-2851 ext. 101 or email: courses@southislandcentre.ca Or online: www.southislandcentre.ca (follow the links on the home page) Payment in full must be received by...

(Posted by Christopher Chase, February 18, 2015) “ Anthropologists have long known that Native Americans reared courageous, respectful children without using harsh coercive controls. Nevertheless, Europeans colonizing North America tried to “civilize” indigenous children in punitive boarding schools, unaware that Natives possessed a sophisticated philosophy that treated children with deep respect. ” ~ The Circle of Courage The Circle of Courage is a model of positive youth development first described in the book Reclaiming Youth at Risk, co-authored by Larry Brendtro, Martin Brokenleg, and Steve Van Bockern. The model integrates Native American philosophies of child-rearing, the heritage of early pioneers in education and youth work, and contem-porary resilience research. The Circle of Courage is based in four universal growth needs of all children: belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. These traditional values are validated by contemporary child research and are c...

(Published on the CMHA website) There are many schools of thought on mental health. So, at the Canadian Mental Health Association, we waded into everything from western psychology to Indigenous knowledge, and here is what we found: when we look at various descriptions of mental health, the overlaps are striking. We found that, while feeling well means different things to different people, some things might actually apply to all of us: in order to thrive, we all need a good sense of self, and we all need purpose, contribution, hope, resilience and belonging. We’ve condensed that knowledge into an informal list that you can use to check your own mental health. (You can find the sources we consulted below). It’s not a scientific tool, or a way to diagnose yourself. It’s just one way to check in with yourself about your mental health, and maybe guide you on how to support and improve it.  Read each statement, and consider whether you “Agree” or “Disagree” with it. Your sens...