People with acquired brain injuries face significant transitions, from hospital to home or from who they were to who they are now. These transitions have a huge impact on the everyday lives of survivors, as well as their as well as their family and friends
Now What? Journeying Through Community Reintegration After A Brain Injury
Nanaimo Brain Injury Society executive director Kix Citton speaks to participants
at the November 2017 public symposium Journeying Through Community Integration After A Brain Injury
From concussion to stroke, acquired brain injury changes lives. People with acquired brain injuries face significant transitions, from hospital to home or from who they were to who they are now. These transitions have a huge impact on the everyday lives of survivors, as well as their family and friends.
Nanaimo Brain Injury Society (NBIS) held a public symposium in November 2017 titled, “Now What? Journeying Through Community Reintegration After A Brain Injury.” The symposium was designed to help participants learn what reintegration of the “new normal” means, identify the gaps in services and “be the change that you would like to see” by forming alliances with people with lived experience, healthcare and service providers.
People First Media partnered with NBIS to produce and share audio from the seminar. Listen to the podcasts below.
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In support of Mental Health, Tina and Craig Herman will be at Studio 10 Salon, in Campbell River, shaving all their head hair off on Saturday, April 14, 2018 at 11:00am. Mental illness has affected family and relatives of Tina and Craig. This is an issue that is very important in their lives. Tina’s hair will be donated to the BC Cancer Foundation. Please support Tina and Craig by donating to the Vancouver Island Mental Health Society. Studio 10 Salon is located at 1191 Shoppers Row, Campbell River (phone 250 830 1002).
Leslie McBain, a founding member of the family support and advocacy group Moms Stop the Harm, attended the 2017 Issues of Substance conference on addiction and substance use as a delegate, participant, and spokesperson. Just after the conference ended Leslie joined a group of stakeholders in a meeting with Canada’s minister of health to provide advocacy information and feedback about federal responses to the national addictions and overdose crises.
We speak with Leslie McBain.
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About Leslie McBain
Leslie McBain lost her only child, Jordan Miller, when he was just 25 years old in February 2014, to an accidental opioid overdose. Jordan became addicted to the pain medication Oxcycodone when it was prescribed by the family doctor after a back injury on a job site. Jordan was just starting his life, had his own business, had friends and community. His death shook their family and friends to the core.
A year after Jordan’s death Leslie joined with a group of similarly bereaved mothers to work for harm reduction changes to drug policies at all levels of government. She attends drug policy conferences, is on a B.C. provincial committee looking into the opioid drug crisis, she speaks on radio and television, and speaks to high school students on the topic of drug safety. Leslie is a founding member of Moms Stop the Harm.
Issues of Substance 2017: Addiction Matters
Issues of Substance (IOS) is Canada’s only national conference that brings together addiction workers, healthcare professionals, researchers, policy makers and knowledge brokers from across the country. The premier learning event provides an unparalleled opportunity to share new developments and best practices, and to get practical training related to prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery. IOS is also a forum for showcasing new research and knowledge mobilization efforts in the addiction field. The theme for IOS 2017, held November 13-15, 2017 in Calgary (Alberta), was “Addiction Matters.” The annual conference is hosted by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA).
About CCSA
The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction was created by Parliament to provide national leadership to address substance use in Canada. A trusted counsel, CCSA provides national guidance to decision makers by harnessing the power of research, curating knowledge and bringing together diverse perspectives.
CCSA Vision: a healthier Canadian society where evidence transforms approaches to substance use.
CCSA Mission: to address issues of substance use in Canada by providing national leadership and harnessing the power of evidence to generate coordinated action.
Together with its partners, CCSA is working to improve the health and safety of Canadians: “We will achieve this goal by nurturing a knowledge exchange environment where research guides policy and evidence-informed actions enhance effectiveness in the field.”
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Land is and always has been fundamental for the health and cultural identity of Indigenous peoples, playing an essential role in wholistic healing and wellness. The Thunderbird Partnership Foundation participated in several presentations and workshops–and shared information in poster displays–at the 2017 Issues of Substance conference in Calgary, Alberta.
Two poster presentations focused on the importance of culture as the foundation of effective service delivery: the first about the centrality of indigenous land to mental wellness; and the second about valuing cultural protocols with the same integrity as other standards of practice.
Land-Based Service Delivery Models
A Service Delivery Model (SDM) is typically structured with a set of principles, standards, policies, and constraints used to guide the development, deployment, operation, and evaluation of services delivered with the intent to offer a consistent experience to all. A LBSDM would convey principles and standards from an Indigenous lens while ensuring cultural protocols and integrity are valued with the same integrity as standards of practice.
Building upon knowledge gathered for the Honoring our Strengths and the First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework, LBSDM address mental wellness in four areas: Hope, Belonging, Meaning, and Purpose, while using culture as foundation. Eight LBSDM in Canada were assessed.
When the focus of LBSDM is enhancing Hope, Belonging, Meaning, and Purpose, five distinguishing themes were established: 1) Culture as Foundation, 2) Community Development, Ownership, and Capacity Building, 3) Quality Health System and Competent Service Delivery, 4) Collaboration with Partners, and 5) Enhanced Flexible Funding Investments.
Ultimately, if culture is the foundation, then land must be central to mental wellness.
We speak with Sherry Huff, a social media coordinator with Thunderbird Partnership Foundation, about land-based service delivery models.
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First Nation Community Crisis Planning, Prevention, and Response Service Delivery Models
A Service Delivery Model (SDM) is typically structured with a set of principles, standards, policies, and constraints used to guide the development, deployment, operation, and evaluation of services delivered with the intent to offer a consistent experience to all. A First Nations SDM would convey principles and standards from an Indigenous lens while ensuring cultural protocols and integrity are valued with the same integrity as standards of practice.
The foundation of the CCPPR-SDM uses the First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum (FNMWC) Framework, which promotes a strengths based approach. Most essential to this approach is the belief that people are resourceful and capable of solving their own problems.
When the focus of the CCPPR-SDM is enhancing Hope, Belonging, Meaning, and Purpose, five distinguishing themes were established: 1) Culture as Foundation, 2) Community Development, Ownership, and Capacity Building, 3) Quality Health System and Competent Service Delivery, 4) Collaboration with Partners, and 5) Enhanced Flexible Funding Investments.
First Nation communities have their own unique definition of crisis and capacity to plan, prevent, or respond to events, which must be respected.
We speak with Sherry Huff, a social media coordinator with Thunderbird Partnership Foundation, about First Nation community crisis planning, prevention, and response service delivery models.
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About Thunderbird Partnership Foundation
The Thunderbird Partnership Foundation is committed to working with First Nations and Inuit to further the capacity of communities to address substance use and addiction. The Foundation promotes a holistic approach to healing and wellness that values culture, respect, community, and compassion. Its top priority is developing a continuum of care that would be available to all Indigenous people in Canada.
The Honouring Our Strengths Renewal Framework document is the framework for this continuum – it outlines community development programs; services for the prevention, early identification, intervention, and treatment of addiction; and the important roles of mental health and well-being in all aspects of care.
Thunderbird Partnership Foundation is also committed to supporting the First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework which is rooted in cultural knowledge and emphasizes First Nations strengths and capacities, building upon the Honouring Our Strengths Renewal Framework. As such, the Foundation’s work is guided by the four components of mental wellness outlined within the First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework: hope, belonging, meaning, and purpose.
The Thunderbird Partnership Foundation is a member of the Wharerātā Group which is an international network of Indigenous leaders working in mental health and addictions. The members share a vision of the near future in which Indigenous peoples sustain their optimal health and wellbeing and contribute to that vision through strategic use of their Indigenous leadership influence on mental health and addictions systems.
Issues of Substance 2017: Addiction Matters
Issues of Substance (IOS) is Canada’s only national conference that brings together addiction workers, healthcare professionals, researchers, policy makers and knowledge brokers from across the country. The premier learning event provides an unparalleled opportunity to share new developments and best practices, and to get practical training related to prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery. IOS is also a forum for showcasing new research and knowledge mobilization efforts in the addiction field. The theme for IOS 2017, held November 13-15, 2017 in Calgary (Alberta), was “Addiction Matters.” The annual conference is hosted by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA).
About CCSA
The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction was created by Parliament to provide national leadership to address substance use in Canada. A trusted counsel, CCSA provides national guidance to decision makers by harnessing the power of research, curating knowledge and bringing together diverse perspectives.
CCSA Vision: a healthier Canadian society where evidence transforms approaches to substance use.
CCSA Mission: to address issues of substance use in Canada by providing national leadership and harnessing the power of evidence to generate coordinated action.
Together with its partners, CCSA is working to improve the health and safety of Canadians: “We will achieve this goal by nurturing a knowledge exchange environment where research guides policy and evidence-informed actions enhance effectiveness in the field.”
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Focus on local efforts to prevent gender-based violence
A major goal of Nanaimo Women March On 2018 was to encourage local community building and to motivate people to take everyday actions to learn about, raise awareness of, and to prevent gender-based violence. Organizers saw the march as an extension of the work they, and march participants, did both before and after that day. The hope is that this now-annual women’s march is a recognition of movement building.
Nanaimo Women March On would like to acknowledge that Nanaimo is the traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation. We keep this acknowledgment and respect for the Coast Salish people at the forefront of our march and thank the Snuneymuxw nation for allowing us to gather.
Intersectionality a major theme of the march
Nanaimo Women March On 2018 encouraged grassroots, collaborative, inclusive, transparent, and non-competitive modes of organizing. The March collective adopted rotating leadership so that many voices could be heard. Additionally, the Nanaimo-based March organizers supported March On, the Women’s March, and “anyone organizing to realize a peaceful, intersectional march in service of gender justice, anti-racism, decolonization, LGBTQ2+, and diversity in age and ability.”
Intersectionality is a sociological theory describing multiple threats of discrimination when an individual’s identities overlap with a number of minority classes — such as race, gender, age, ethnicity, health and other characteristics.
For example, a woman of color may face sexism in the workplace, which is compounded by pervasive racism. Similarly, trans women of color face exceptionally high levels of discrimination and threats of violence. Looking through the lens of intersectionality, it’s not hard to see why: these women potentially face anti-trans prejudice, sexism, misogyny, racism and — due to the ignorance surrounding trans identity — homophobia. — What Is Intersectionality, and Why Is It Important? from care2.com
No one should own a women’s march. The power is with the people.
Approximately 1,000 people attended the first Nanaimo Women March On rally last January 2017.
Image by Harper Bauer/Nanaimo News Now
We believe in communities.We believe survivors.We welcome allies. Feminism is love. — In solidarity, Deborah Hollins, Kathleen Reed, Lauren Semple, Chantelle Spicer, Melissa Stephens, Anne Taylor, Lesley Anne Clarke
People First Radio was at the march to record the speakers.
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Watch video from the 2018 March
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Eating Disorders awareness campaigns begin across Canada each year during the first week in February. The national campaign is led by Canada’s National Eating Disorders Information Centre in Toronto, while various provinces hold their own concurrent campaigns.
Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness – it is estimated that 10% of individuals with AN will die within 10 years of the onset of the disorder.
British Columbia’s provincial campaign is coordinated under the initiative love our bodies…love ourselves. B.C.’s 2018 campaign will emphasize education and awareness about orthorexia, a phenomenon where healthy eating becomes an unhealthy obsession.
Those who have an “unhealthy obsession” with otherwise healthy eating may be suffering from “orthorexia nervosa,” a term which literally means “fixation on righteous eating.” Orthorexia starts out as an innocent attempt to eat more healthfully, but orthorexics become fixated on food quality and purity. They become consumed with what and how much to eat, and how to deal with “slip-ups.” — National Eating Disorders
We speak with Joanna Zelichowska, manager of the Jessie’s Legacy Eating Disorders Prevention Program, with physician Dr. Steven Bratman, who introduced the term orthorexia nervosa and wrote a book about it called Health Food Junkies, and with Alicia Putinski, an orthorexia-recovered life coach and personal trainer.
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