Member Daniela
MemberForum Replies Created
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I agree- people do not want to lose their power and privilege. The people who benefit from white supremacy and ideology do not want to step out of the comfortability that affords them.
When challenged, it’s easier to become defensive for many people instead of taking a critical and reflective look into their own role in perpetuating racism.
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Thank you for this question, Lesley!
The Centering Black Youth Wellbeing Certificate cohort being offered through School Mental Health Ontario and YouthREX is open to all school boards within Ontario.
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Pathways to Care Project- Is this project taking place throughout Ontario, at various school boards? I would be interested to know.
Thank you
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Anti-black racism still exists in Ontario and throughout Canada due to the colonizers’ hierarchical capitalist system we live under, which is based on a white supremacist culture and most of all, this system needs to continue to promote these white supremacist values and beliefs through systemic and institutional opression, in order to maintain power and control and make profits at the top of the chain. Race is a man-made concept which was developed and promoted by colonizers in order to maintain power and control over those who are not white and profit through slavery at that time. In Canada, there’s not even an acceptance and acknowledgement that slavery existed here in Ontario and other parts of Canada. A capitalist system also promotes individualism, productivity, competitiveness and most of all profits versus people, shared power, relationships and community. A white supremacist culture is threatened with change, speaking truth to power and uprisings as white supremacy is the underpinning of a colonial hierarchical capitalist system. Systems and Institutions have not embraced an anti-racist stance and have not yet fully made a commitment to change.
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anti-Black racism still exists because of the ways that white supremacy exerts power, influence, and control over the overt and covert policies that our systems and laws are built on. It also assumes barriers in that many of us feel too powerless to fight back and are too busy, stressed, or worried about finances to think that we are willing and able to make a difference, take a risk, and are scared that we or our families may in fact be ‘punished’ in some way. Anti-Black racism still exists because systems in our country are generally run by people for whom the ‘rules’ worked well for, people continue to be rewarded over and over again for compliance with the status quo and for ‘following the rules of whiteness’ (covert and overt). Anti-Black racism still exists because people internalize the messages that white supremacy sends out about whiteness and it exists because white people can run away to places where conversations about equity are theoretical in nature and aren’t about life and death. Until most people believe that unless the system changes they will be destroyed too, ‘change’ will center on talking and hoping that people will do the right thing, when maybe the laws and policies upstream (leadership) that can change the balance of power need to be changed.
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The status quo doesn’t believe it exists and fails to acknowledge white supremacy.
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Using evaluation to ‘improve’ youth programs (rather than just ‘prove’ that they work!) is core to YouthREX’s Framework for Evaluating Youth Wellbeing.
If you haven’t already, you can take our FREE 10-week online certificate course exploring the main concepts, approaches, and practices relevant to conducting evaluation of youth sector programs and initiatives, Program Evaluation for Youth Wellbeing. Registration for our next cohort of learners closes on Wednesday, October 26th, and the certificate will open on October 31st. The best part? All course content is available to you at once so that you can work through the modules at your own pace!
Have you already taken this certificate with us? Great! Maybe you want to strengthen your skills and learn how to manage, analyze, and visualize quantitative data? Even better! Registration for our FREE Using Spreadsheets in Program Evaluation certificate course (which runs online for four weeks, beginning November 21st) doesn’t close until Wednesday, November 16th, so there’s lots of time for you to decide to join us this fall!
Unsure which certificate is right for you? Looking for other resources to support your program evaluation? Get in touch with our Learn team!
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YouthREX is excited and honoured to co-sponsor and be a part of the Ontario Native Education Counselling Association C3 (Clean, Confident, Cool): Empowering Indigenous Youth Conference!
This conference will educate and empower Indigenous youth about the effects of cannabis and vaping, and provide workshops on confidence building, mental health, team building, and developing coping mechanisms. 🌿🧠🤝💗
Look for YouthREX team members at the conference, being held in Sault Ste. Marie from November 18th to 20th, and check out our workshop (featuring Youth Outreach Workers from the region!) on supporting youth to make informed decisions about cannabis use — a skill useful for caregivers, youth workers, and peer advocates.
We’ll be highlighting our What’s with Weed resources and giving away some cool swag items, too! 😎
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The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are still being felt, and much as been written about the impacts on the mental health and wellbeing of young people (including on REX Blog over the last few years, in June 2020, November 2021, and August 2022).
A recent policy brief from BGC Canada (in collaboration with The Canadian Child Care Federation, the Canadian Mental Health Association, and YWCA Canada) looks at what is needed to better support the mental health of frontline workers supporting children and youth, particularly those experiencing marginalization: The Burnout Crisis: A Call to Invest in ECE and Child and Youth Workers. (You can also check out the Youth Mental Health Joint Statement that YouthREX signed on to in collaboration with stakeholders from across Canada’s child and youth mental health sector.)
How have you experienced, navigated, and found ways to cope with burnout in your work?
Share your strategies here! You can also consider joining our two-part webinar series on arts-based approaches to advancing mental health and wellbeing to learn new techniques for supporting your mental health and the mental health of the young people with whom you work.❣
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Last Monday marked the fourth anniversary of cannabis legalization in Canada. The federal government has announced a legislative review of the Cannabis Act, to be led by an Expert Panel chaired by Morris Rosenberg. The review will “focus particularly on the health and cannabis consumption habits of young persons, the impact of cannabis on Indigenous persons and communities, and the impact of the cultivation of cannabis plants in a housing context.”
What do you think the challenges facing youth have been since the legalization of cannabis?
Learn more about the history of cannabis in Canada and the journey to legalization through our interactive timeline.
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On November 2, 2022, the Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health is hosting a virtual conference: Building New Worlds.
This conference is designed for stakeholders in post-secondary mental health across Ontario and Canada, and will feature best, promising, and emerging practices in the sector through an online platform, including keynote speakers, concurrent sessions, poster presentations, wellness activities, networking opportunities, and more.
Learn more on their website, and don’t miss Dr. Jennifer Mullan‘s opening keynote, A Call to Action: Politicizing Our Educational Practices With Healing Engagement (9:00AM to 10:00AM).
This presentation will seek to sew together the intersections of student life, Historical and Ancestral Trauma, structural oppression, mental health, and the importance of reigniting and re-educating “where are our students are” amidst a global pandemic and intense violence for People of the Global Majority. Dr. Mullan will invite participants IN, allowing space for reflection and humanization within all systems, especially the education system. The keynote will highlight the deep need for the collective acknowledgement to “heal, feel, and deal” with the grief, rage, and disconnect present in our current realities, and how that is impacted by our lineages, and personal/cultural trauma histories. Dr. Mullan will draw from the intersections of psychology/mental health & wellness, the political/social justice, and ancestral honouring.
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Don’t miss our upcoming two-part webinar series, Arts-Based Approaches to Advancing Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing. We’re partnering with Broadview Psychology to explore improving mental health literacy and delivering engaging and supportive arts-based programming to advance youth wellbeing.
Part 1 (on Monday, November 7th, from 1PM to 2:30PM ET) will look at four core facets of DBT-informed creative arts interventions, including:
- Metaphor use
- Mindfulness skills
- Distress tolerance techniques
- Dialectics in Action
Part 2 (on Tuesday, November 8th, from 1PM to 2:30PM ET) will provide an overview of evidence-informed practices to deliver arts-based youth programming to support mental health and wellbeing, and engage in a discussion with practitioners across a variety of disciplines and communities on how these practices can be applied in your work with youth.
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I also just started the lecture series. The first two modules have been eye opening and emotion provoking. I have also been reflecting on past experiences with clients in the agencies I have been employed. I am disheartened by the statistics that have been presented thus far. They are a strong reminder that there is more work to be done, and the importance of being aware of our own implicit biases. I look forward to the remaining modules and the learning that will take place.
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I also just recently started the lecture series as well. Something that stood out to me was the information provided on the teaching field. If we take a close look at the school system in our various cities, I am not basing this on actual statistics, but I can say that our schools are predominately led by white women/white men. I think it’s important to reflect on that.
I look forward to this series, thank you for the opportunity
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I’ve just begun the lecture series, and I find myself replaying a lot of my experiences in personal support work in group homes play back in my head. Ignorant management staff, who at best are woefully ignorant in regards to the origin of certain slurs and derogatory terms, and at worst are downright combative about change and accountability. The amount of patience and effort it took to stand up to these problems at the time, and looking back, I know nothing has changed in that particular setting. Im trying to move forward and not feel complicit and instead focus on the change I can help feed in my current position. But it is difficult.
Here’s to a fuller toolbox by the end of the lecture modules.
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Thank you for saying this! This certificate tackles a lot of difficult topics that cause us to recall past memories, but hopefully in the process it will allow us all a better understanding of our environments and how to deal with them.
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Curious about how you can improve your evaluation processes? Interested in identifying what kinds of data can tell the story of your program’s impact and legacy?
YouthREX & ArtReach are excited to co-present Evaluation 101, an online workshop for Toronto youth aged 13-29, on Wednesday, November 2nd, from 6:00PM to 8:00PM.
This interactive workshop will provide an overview of conducting program evaluation in the youth-serving sector. It will also explore creative strategies and tools for collecting data and sharing it with others, moving evaluation beyond reporting requirements to truly strengthen programming.
Click here to learn more and register!
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We wanted to share details about an upcoming online event — Innovations in Harm Reduction for Youth Cannabis Use — being hosted by Daniel Bear (Humber College), Rebecca Haines-Saah (University of Calgary), and Emily Jenkins (University of British Columbia).
This event will take place on Monday, October 17th from 9AM to 11AM PST (12PM to 2PM EST), showcasing Canadian cannabis research and education projects designed for and with youth, and creating space for discussing new developments in harm reduction, youth-led approaches, and how to be inclusive of the diverse needs of youth who use cannabis. The event will bring together youth experts, advocates, community organizations, and researchers across the country, featuring a panel discussion and a Q&A session with a Youth Expert panel. Come and hear about what’s new and next in youth cannabis use harm reduction!
For more information, contact: Ana.Figueras@ucalgary.ca
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We’re very excited to announce our next online Youth Work Teach-In — Beyond Invisible: Exploring Pedagogy, Perspectives & Practices for Black Youth Mental Health.
In collaboration with Donna Richards and the York Research Chair in Youth and Contexts of Inequity, YouthREX is excited to co-host this free event for the Ontario youth sector on Thursday, October 6th, from 9:30AM to 1PM ET.
The Teach-In will include a keynote presentation, engaging workshops, and conversations that explore how race shapes the mental health experiences of Black youth, and the importance of an anti-Black racism framework in transforming oppressive practices and policies.
Our opening keynote speaker, Mercy Shibemba, is an award-winning youth activist from the UK who uses her story of growing up with HIV to educate, challenge stigma, and inspire!
There will also be a spoken word performance by The Poet MJ.
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Check out the recording of the opening keynote by Mercy Shibemba and the closing workshop led by our YouthREX colleagues!
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@PHBSpark These are great resources! Thank you for sharing!
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We’re so excited to share that registration opened today for our next online Youth Work Teach-In — Beyond Invisible: Exploring Pedagogy, Perspectives & Practices for Black Youth Mental Health.
In collaboration with Donna Richards and the York Research Chair in Youth and Contexts of Inequity, YouthREX is excited to co-host this free event for the Ontario youth sector on Thursday, October 6th, from 9:30AM to 1PM ET.
The Teach-In will include a keynote presentation, engaging workshops, and conversations that explore how race shapes the mental health experiences of Black youth, and the importance of an anti-Black racism framework in transforming oppressive practices and policies.
Our opening keynote speaker, Mercy Shibemba, is an award-winning youth activist from the UK who uses her story of growing up with HIV to educate, challenge stigma, and inspire!
There will also be a spoken word performance by The Poet MJ.
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Thanks for these links Kathe! The Halton Youth Initiative just finished creating four toolkits filled with valuable resources including a practice brief, videos, infographics, and tip sheets focusing on the Youth Volunteer Life Cycle, Making the Case for Authentic Youth Engagement, Using Technology with Youth, and Youth + Equity. All of the toolkits consider life in the Covid-19 era. Check them out at – https://www.haltonyouth.com/resource-toolkits
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These are great Kathe! We just finished compiling four toolkits based on our experience with the Halton Youth Initiative: Youth Volunteer Life Cycle, Making the Case for Authentic Youth Engagement, Using Technology with Youth, and Youth + Equity. All of the kits consider working in the Covid-19 Era and are filled with valuable resources including a practice brief, videos, infographic, and tip sheets. Check it out! http://ow.ly/hbaz50Kyh9E
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We’re continuing to add resources to our Knowledge Hub that explore the impacts of COVID-19 for diverse youth. For example:
- Resetting Normal: The Impacts of COVID-19 on First Nations, Métis and Inuit Youth (Report from Canadian Women’s Foundation)
- The Impact of COVID-19 on Youth Experiencing Homelessness: Shifting to a Collaborative, Prevention-Focused Response in a Large Urban Area (Report from Covenant House Toronto and Making The Shift)
- It’s Difficult to Grow Up in an Apocalypse: Children’s and Adolescents’ Experiences, Perceptions and Opinions on the COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada (Report from UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti)
- The Racism is a Virus (Toolkit from Act to Change)
- Strategies to Mitigate the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Child and Youth Well-Being: A Scoping Review Protocol (Academic Article published by BMJ Open)
Do you have resources to share? Do you have questions about your work with youth that have yet to be explored? Get in touch and let me know!
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Did you know that YouthREX offers *two* FREE online certificates that can build your cannabis literacy? 💻📚
Cannabis and Youth: A Certificate for Youth Workers is self-guided with open enrollment, which means that you can register and begin learning any time! This certificate provides evidence-based information on the health, social, and legal risks associated with cannabis use, and connects you with resources that you can apply directly to your practice.
We also partnered with Cannabis & Psychosis to develop Cannabis and Mental Health, a comprehensive suite of online resources exploring a range of issues surrounding the mental health impacts of cannabis. This 90-minute course was created by youth, for youth, and includes a Mentor Guide for youth workers, program leaders, educators, mentors, parents, and youth allies! 🤝
Start learning today! You will also find diverse resource collections developed for youth workers and young people on our Knowledge Hub. 🤓
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In May, @KhadijahKanji and I co-hosted a workshop for Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario’s Gathering Divergence Multi-Arts Festival & Conference. This session unpacked Asking About Gender: A Toolkit for Youth Workers and created space to explore strategies for inclusion and innovation for youth arts programs.
We had a great conversation with Daniel Carter from Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Justine Abigail Yu from Living Hyphen, and Qwyn Charter MacLachlan from Community Music Schools of Toronto (expanding from Regent Park School of Music), and the workshop recording is now available for you to watch on our Knowledge Hub! 💻🏳️🌈🤝
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Watch two of our most recent webinars to expand how you approach engaging with youth and advancing wellbeing. 🤝💻
ICYMI, we co-presented an engaging, youth-led conversation on advancing the possibilities of youth-led organizing this summer with Leading in Colour, exploring why and how young people get involved in organizing, the issues driving their current activism, the benefits for youth, limitations and possibilities, and how adults can become allies. Watch the recording on our Knowledge Hub.
You can also revisit our webinar from April, presented with LGBT YouthLine, on how to ask youth about their gender identities to confront assumptions and challenge transphobia. This conversation, which you can also watch on our Knowledge Hub, unpacked Asking About Gender: A Toolkit for Youth Workers. The following month, @KhadijahKanji and I co-hosted a workshop on similar themes for the Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario‘s annual gathering, looking at strategies for inclusion and innovation for youth arts programs. Check it out!
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Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) is offering a NEW online, self-directed professional development training program for Settlement Service Providers: Serving Youth in Newcomer Communities. 💻📚
This newly developed course will be launched for the first time this year, from October 1st to November 10th, 2022. The registration deadline is September 25th, 2022.
Upon completion of the training, learners will be able to:
- Learn to unpack their biases and engage in self-reflective practice.
- Develop interpersonal and professional skills and knowledge to support diverse communities of newcomer youth.
- Critically analyze the various systems that newcomer youth come into contact with, that may cause or perpetuate barriers and/or trauma.
- Strategize interventions that respond to barriers and empower youth.
- Develop programming that centres youth and responds directly to community-identified needs.
This course is open to settlement workers and service providers who are working in or with the immigrant and refugee-serving sector across the province who are willing to:
- Commit to approximately 2-4 hours of learning per week.
- Engage in Serving Youth in Newcomer Communities 101 Group at http://www.SettleNet.org, a new national online Community of Practice for the Settlement Sector.
- Complete assignments within the given timeframe.
Please note this is a 5 Module online training program. At the successful completion of the entire e-course, you will receive a certification of completion from OCASI.
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I also agree that there needs to be a more inclusive hiring process and the importance of students seeing themselves in their educators. I don’t think that hiring more black educators will solve the issue of anti-black racism within the education system. I think it’s a bigger problem that needs to be addressed by revisiting the structure on which our education system was built. I think it would be a benefit for everyone in the education system to be held accountable in terms of educating themselves with the history of Canada and how complex and ingrained anti-black racism is. It’s not enough for school boards to say that they have hired more black educators. The presence of more black educators is important but it doesn’t make the issues of anti-black racism now become” isolated incidents”.
